SATURDAY 6 PACK: HEART O’LAKES SHOWCASE
Thank goodness the weather cooperated (at least for the trip up). It
seems that lately the northwest is my destination. For the last three weekends I have spent my time up 94 in the vicinity of the Red River Valley. Two weeks ago, Stillwater traveled to Moorhead. Last Saturday I was in Fergus Falls. Groundhog’s Day I was in Fargo. No, it was not to see North Dakota teams, but six games with the Heart O’Lakes Conference sponsoring games basically against 8AA rivals. The HOL won the series 4-2 with East Grand Forks and Roseau beating the Bs (Breckenridge & Barnesville). There was a 1000 point celebration too.
A clear separator in this series was ball handling. Pressure, especially full court led to turnovers which led to lay ups. Five of the six winners “won” the turnover differential. The exception came in the last game where Pelican Rapids had one more than Crookston. Five teams were north of 80 pp100 including Barnesville who lost to Roseau. The 31 Club gained five members, but three actually made the 41 Club and one of those joined the exclusive 51 Club (only two members so far this year).
My return trip took longer thanks to the thick fog starting around Fergus and lasting all the way to St. Michael. The MPH was a bit slower on the way back as a result. I didn’t need to see what goes bump in the night.
EAST GRAND FORKS 61, BRECKENRIDGE 44
This was the only game where the winning team wore white. EGF had a 31-17 lead at the break. After the Cowgirls’ Chase Yaggie took a nasty spill in a collision near half court delaying action as she was taken away, Breckenridge closed the margin to seven (49-42). The last four minutes belonged to the Green Wave 12-2.
| EAST GRAND FORKS | BRECKENRIDGE | |
| POINTS | 61 | 44 |
| REBOUNDS/OFF | 34/11 | 31/11 |
| TURNOVERS | 21 | 30 |
| FTA/% | 20/65.00 | 15/80.00 |
| 2FG%/3FG% | 50.00/28.57 | 41.93/12.50 |
| PP100 | 85.9 | 62.9 |
| TOP SCORER | Macy Skyberg 20 | Ashtyn Kaehler 12 |
TRENCH PLAYER: 5-6 senior guard Macy Skyberg, 20 points (8/9 on 2s), 142.9 pp100 and a 35 score in the 31 Club.
DILWORTH-GLYNDON-FELTON 70, WADENA-DEER CREEK 39
Turnovers equal lay ups is a simple equation DGF exploited early and often. The Rebels were 13/17 in lay ups and the Wolverines were 3/3. That is a 20 point differential. DGF was tantalizingly close to running time but never was able to push it to that mark. It was 38-11 at the break.
| DGF | WADENA-DEER CREEK | |
| POINTS | 70 | 39 |
| REBOUNDS/OFF | 38/15 | 32/9 |
| TURNOVERS | 22 | 36 |
| FTA/% | 31/61.29 | 23/56.52 |
| 2FG%/3FG% | 52.50/25.00 | 36.36/16.66 |
| PP100 | 92.1 | 51.9 |
| TOP SCORER | Katlyn Brenna 20 | Ashley Adams 11 |
TRENCH PLAYER: 5-5 senior guard Katlyn Brenna with 20 points (6/8 on 2s, 8/11 at the line), 125 pp100 and a 33 score in the 31 Club. Also a team best 40 touches per turnover.
ROSEAU 81, BARNESVILLE 62
Roseau has won section 8AA for every year of Kacie Borowicz four year high school career, including a state title her soph year and runner up last year. She intends to finish her career at the state tournament again with some more hardware. But this year the Rams are missing the traditional 6-0 post that can cement defense in the middle. But with sister Katie they hope to overcome that limitation this year. One other factor they need to avoid in order to make a return trip to state is managing fouls. Katie picked up three and had to sit in the first half, much to her displeasure. Roseau did not have the shooting night they usually enjoy as well. Perhaps that is because they had a top 10 battle with Ada-Borup the night before and the tank was running low on fuel. Barnesville kept it close with a 3 from Claire Meyer tying the game at 23 with five and a half left in the first half. The Rams closed with 15-8 finish to lead 38-31 at the break. The Trojans could not pull any closer than six the rest of the way and that came early in the second half.
| ROSEAU | BARNESVILLE | |
| POINTS | 81 | 62 |
| REBOUNDS/OFF | 48/25 | 24/7 |
| TURNOVERS | 15 | 20 |
| FTA/% | 10/60.00 | 24/62.50 |
| 2FG%/3FG% | 54.68/8.33 | 54.28/25.00 |
| PP100 | 109.7 | 86.1 |
| TOP SCORER | Kacie Borowicz 36 | Claire Meyer 17 |
TRENCH PLAYER: 5-8 senior guard Kacie Borowicz 36 points, 116.1 pp100, 46 score in the 31 Club
PERHAM 60, STAPLES-MOTLEY 35
Pressure equals lay ups. Much like the second game Perham exploited their defense to create separation from the Cardinals. The Yellowjackets didn’t work the lay up machine like DGF, but they deliver six 3s. Perham displayed balanced scoring with four of their starters scoring between 8 and 15 points. This was another tantalizingly close game to running time. Perham led 32-18 at the break and stretched it to 46-19 early in the second half.
| PERHAM | STAPLES-MOTLEY | |
| POINTS | 60 | 36 |
| REBOUNDS/OFF | 40/16 | 26/5 |
| TURNOVERS | 17 | 27 |
| FTA/% | 30/60.00 | 19/52.63 |
| 2FG%/3FG% | 48.00/26.08 | 34.78/30.00 |
| PP100 | 90.9 | 53.0 |
| TOP SCORER | Mesa Schultz 15 | Tabatha Allen 12 |
TRENCH PLAYER: 5-8 senior forward Mesa Schultz with 15 points, 136.4 pp100 and a 22 score in the 31 Club
HAWLEY 51, MAHNOMEN/WAUBUN 39
The first Minnesota 2020 player to verbal showed why in the Nuggets 51-39 win over Mahnomen/Waubun (the only non 8AA team invited to the event). 6-2 Paige Thompson scored 26 points, grabbed 24 rebounds (13 defensive), swatted away five shots, plus led her team in distributions with 7. And that was done in 26 minutes of action. She is the second player this year to make the 51 Club. Hawley needed all that scoring to get past Mahnomen/Waubun. The Thunderbirds have their own 6-1 post in Nicole Swedberg, but she was held to 10 points.
| HAWLEY | MAHNOMEN/WAUBUN | |
| POINTS | 51 | 39 |
| REBOUNDS/OFF | 41/16 | 43/19 |
| TURNOVERS | 14 | 18 |
| FTA/% | 17/52.94 | 15/53.33 |
| 2FG%/3FG% | 45.65/0.00 | 31.81/7.14 |
| PP100 | 79.7 | 60.0 |
| TOP SCORER | Paige Thompson 26 | Makena Spaeth 11 |
TRENCH PLAYER: 6-2 junior post/guard Paige Thompson with 26 points, 108.3 pp100 and a 52 score in the 31 Club
PELICAN RAPIDS 52, CROOKSTON 42
Last year this was the first game of the day at 10 am. Wisely Pelican Rapids took the last slot with more recovery time for their players this year. Still Crookston had upset plans again. This was the tightest game of the day in final margin and it was back and forth until there was 12 minutes left in the game. Pelican did have a 19-12 lead at the break, but the pace/style of the game tilted to the Pirates. They tied it at 27 thanks to the best long ball shooting of the day with seven 3s. If you see below their 2s & 3s % were exactly the same. They only made seven 2s and that was an issue. Pelican finished the night with a 27-17 performance the last 12 minutes. The run began on an &1 from Greta Tollefson. Kaylie Isaman made two 3s down the stretch with her second coming with 3:21 left in the game put her over the 1000 career point mark. It also left little time to mount a Pirate comeback with the Vikings up 46-31. They closed with an 11-6 finish but time ran out on any more scoring.
| PELICAN RAPIDS | CROOKSTON | |
| POINTS | 52 | 42 |
| REBOUNDS/OFF | 33/8 | 27/11 |
| TURNOVERS | 11 | 10 |
| FTA/% | 19/68.42 | 14/50.00 |
| 2FG%/3FG% | 50.00/31.25 | 31.81/31.81 |
| PP100 | 96.3 | 79.2 |
| TOP SCORER | Greta Tollefson 17 | Emma Borowicz 12 |
TRENCH PLAYER: 5-10 PR junior post Greta Tollefson with 17 points, 141.7 pp100 and a 25 score in the 31 Club