WILD CARD SEMIS
An abbreviated Holiday Tournament season tipped off on
Wednesday with the WildCard tournament, this time held in New London. The dicey weather held off until after the games started. It was a bear getting home. The 70+ mph was restricted to 30s on 23 and a top of 53 on 94. The weather was so treacherous that Albany will not be returning tomorrow. The games were originally set for tomorrow night, but the Minnehaha/New London-Spicer championship game is now scheduled for 11 AM—-weather permitting.
MINNEHAHA 61, WILLMAR 55
#7AA Minnehaha survived their 26 turnovers and foul trouble to top #4AAA Willmar (the CARD in the Wildcard tournament). MA had one player foul out and had two on the edge with four.
A sluggish first nine minutes which saw an anemic 6-5 advantage for Willmar eventually morphed into a MA 23-18 half time lead. The Red Hawks spread that lead to 47-37 with 6:51 left. With 1:27 left Willmar was knocking on the door (thanks to sloppy ball handling and ill advised fouls). A pair of free throws from Tatum Rhoades, who had a day’s high 27 points, got MA back on track. Willmar was unable to find the bottom of the basket in their next three possessions, and the threat passed.
If you wanted to CSI this game, you would look no further than the shooting percentages. The Red Hawks were at 50, 23 points higher than Willmar. You can credit eight lay ups for part of that success.
| MINNEHAHA | WILLMAR | |
| POINTS | 61 | 55 |
| REBOUNDS/OFF | 34/8 | 39/15 |
| TURNOVERS | 26 | 21 |
| FTA/% | 26/76.9 | 26/84.6 |
| 2FG%/3FG% | 50.0/31.3 | 27.9/18.8 |
| PP100 | 80.3 | 72.4 |
| TOP SCORER | Tatum Rhoades 27 | Abby Berskow 13 |
TRENCH PLAYER: Tatum Rhoades with 27 points, 87.1 pp100, and a 39 in the 31 Club.
NEW LONDON-SPICER 62, ALBANY 52
Control of the boards clearly belonged to NLS in this win, the taller Wildcats had 57 boards, 23 more than the Huskies. NLS dominated the offensive glass with 27, only seven less than the total for Albany all night. NLS also took advantage of Albany’s slow start with an 8-0 jump out of the gate. The 12 point (29-17) half time lead would disappear in the second half as Paige Meyer led a rally to tie it at 41 with 9:21 left in regulation. A free throw followed by two straight possessions when Ava Kraemer scored (on a put back and then on a post-up) staved off the threat.
| NEW LONDON-SPICER | ALBANY | |
| POINTS | 62 | 52 |
| REBOUNDS/OFF | 57/27 | 34/7 |
| TURNOVERS | 8 | 9 |
| FTA/% | 30/56.7 | 13/76.9 |
| 2FG%/3FG% | 31.9/25.0 | 36.6/28.6 |
| PP100 | 96.9 | 81.2 |
| TOP SCORER | Mackenzie Rich 22 | Paige Meyer 23 |
TRENCH PLAYER: Ava Kraemer of NLS with 19 points, 146.2 pp100, and a 35 in the 31 Club