ELK RIVER 73, ROGERS 60
The Mississippi River Battle this year went to host Elk River 73-60.
This is a school district battle between Rogers and Elks with a combined girl/boy double header and an alumni welcome back too. Abi Scheid among other former Elks were in the house. This battle also will be used in the seeding decisions in 8AAAA.
The Elks only trailed at 4-2, but Lydia Haack put ER up for good with a driving right hand lay up plus the free throw after the foul. Despite losing 6-2 post Johanna Langbehn to early fouls in the first half the Elks put the pedal to the metal and led 39-21 at the break. Langbehn only played about 13 minutes in the game. Less than two minutes into the second half she found herself parked on the pine after racking up another two quick fouls. That 18 point lead seemed to be in some jeopardy as Rogers inched their way back in the game, cutting the margin to 10 points with over 8 minutes left in regulation. ER met the challenge with four straight scores and pushed the lead back to 13. The game settled into a status quo for the duration.
ER starters shot 60% from 2 (if you added their FT, 2FG and 3FG % it would have totaled 198) and had a pp100 of 120.4 for the night. Four of the starters ended up in double figures, led by Lydia Haack with 26. Getting back to the shooting, with 11 lay ups plus 8 buckets on the inside, it is clear that points in the paint mattered. Haack knew exactly where the rim was with a 7/9 effort on lay ups.
Next year it is expected the two will battle at least twice since Rogers is vacating the Mississippi 8 for the Northwest Suburban Conference.
This was another battle in the quest for all 64 AAAA teams. 21 teams are left to see.
| ELK RIVER | ROGERS | |
| POINTS | 73 | 60 |
| REBOUNDS/OFF | 38/13 | 32/13 |
| TURNOVERS | 16 | 21 |
| FTA/% | 26/80.8 | 24/70.8 |
| 2FG%/3FG% | 48.8/30.8 | 44.7/20.0 |
| PP100 | 104.3 | 85.7 |
| TOP SCORER | Lydia Haack 26 | Ellie Buzzelle 16 |
TRENCH PLAYER: Lydia Haack with 26 points, 136.8 pp100, and she cracks the 41 Club with a 43. Haack had 8 d boards, all this at a listed 5-4. Haack was part of the undefeated state title team in 2017.