7 BIG SOUTH SATURDAY SHOWCASE GAMES
Another Saturday, another seven game basketball marathon. This time the destination was in Jackson with the Big South Showcase featuring the old Southwest v the old South Central (plus SW MN Christian to balance it out). Five Southwest (or now West) teams prevailed. This was a deep dive into AA and a smattering of AAA teams. There was two top twenty battles, but both were marred by absences due to key player injuries. Redwood Valley’s hopes to return to state took a big hit with Sydney Sommers’ ACL injury at the end of the volleyball season. St. Peter’s Sarah Conlon is set to return soon, but was held out against Marshall.
There were plenty of different styles/philosophies on display at Jackson. Using the stat program’s code there was 105 lines for the Pipestone game—-the most controlled, slow paced game of the day. In fact only six total free throws the entire game. That sharply contrasted with the “Loyola Marymount/Grinnell/Westhead” JCC game with 226 lines of code—-the 105 line was still 1:54 left to go in the first half. JCC at half had 50 points, that was higher than two of the other six winning totals, and just two shy of one other. Running & gunning did not necessarily improve the JCC pp100. They were sixth overall on the day including trailing Windom who lost to SW MN Christian in perhaps the most compelling game of the day. Even with the idea that there will be quick 3s using this system, JCC totaled only eight on the day, one in the last minute when New Ulm had cut their deficit to ten (81-71) with 1:08 left. The Huskies did not go to four corners, which would be an anathema to them, but stayed on script, firing away at the first hint of daylight. The light is always green. By that time three NU starters had fouled out, yet they were within shouting distance of a win (considering there was going to be several possessions—it turned out to be three—-in which they could possibly tie or win the game.
Worthington made Blue Earth even bluer with the best pp100 performance of the day at 98.5. Six teams failed to get north of 70. Only four teams made it past 80. The best game had to be SW MN Christian and Windom with the Eagles, who trailed by seven at half (42-35), had tied it at 59 with nine minutes left.
As far as individual performances—- with ramped up offenses it is easy to pile up numbers, even when you are limited in minutes. That is why the last two games of the day had seven of the nine 31 Club members. Let us look at the “V”s. The highest performance was Sadie Voss of JCC with 43. She had a good start with the point leg at 30. That means the value added for distributions and d stops was 13. Zoe Velde of Pipestone, in the slowest paced game of the day only had 12 points, but don’t let that fool you. Her value added was 26. Add in her pp100 of 120 and she tops Voss by 9. But examining the touches per turnover Voss was at 20, which is a decent mark for high school; Velde was six times higher at 121. Everything revolved around Velde. She was there to shepard the ball up court and initiate anything on offense. She had 30% of the Pipestone touches on the day. She also set up her teammates 18 times.
Personal connections: Once upon a time I taught school and coached in southwestern Minnesota. One of my first year students met and greeted me at Jackson on Saturday. She was working the scoreboard for the first six games and indicated she was now a grandmother. Puts things in perspective. We also caught up with her brothers and sisters’ stories. I missed out seeing Worthington coach Eric Lindner who was at his son’s wedding. He played against my team when I was coaching, and he is married to another former student of mine. On a side note, driving down to Jackson I pass through a variety of towns. One brought back memories of the name of a girl I had a crush on 40 years ago. I wonder what ever happened to her.
| LUVERNE | FAIRMONT | |
| POINTS | 49 | 45 |
| REBOUNDS/OFF | 32/11 | 33/13 |
| TURNOVERS | 22 | 27 |
| 2FGA/% | 39/51.28 | 26/30.76 |
| 3FGA/% | 3/0.00 | 22/36.36 |
| FTA/% | 21/42.85 | 9/55.56 |
| PP100 | 72.1 | 68.2 |
| TOP SCORER | Brooklyn Ver Steeg 17 | Maggy Totzke 12 |
TRENCH PLAYER: Mallory Thorson 15 points, 88.2 pp100, 25 in the 31 Club
| WORTHINGTON | BLUE EARTH | |
| POINTS | 64 | 26 |
| REBOUNDS/OFF | 41/24 | 37/14 |
| TURNOVERS | 14 | 35 |
| 2FGA/% | 44/36.36 | 24/29.16 |
| 3FGA/% | 21/33.33 | 9/0 |
| FTA/% | 21/57.14 | 22/59.09 |
| PP100 | 98.5 | 40.9 |
| TOP SCORER | Madisyn Huisman 20 | Arika Howard 7 |
TRENCH PLAYER: Madisyn Huisman, 20 points, 125.0 pp100, 27 in the 31 Club
| PIPESTONE | ST. JAMES | |
| POINTS | 37 | 20 |
| REBOUNDS/OFF | 42/16 | 27/10 |
| TURNOVERS | 15 | 18 |
| 2FGA/% | 30/26.67 | 26/23.07 |
| 3FGA/% | 20/35.00 | 15/13.33 |
| FTA/% | 2/0.00 | 4/50.00 |
| PP100 | 72.5 | 38.5 |
| TOP SCORER | Zoe Velde 12 | Two with 6 |
TRENCH PLAYER: Zoe Velde 12 points, 120 pp100, and a 38 in the 31 Club
| WASECA | REDWOOD VALLEY | |
| POINTS | 52 | 25 |
| REBOUNDS/OFF | 28/12 | 35/6 |
| TURNOVERS | 11 | 33 |
| 2FGA/% | 39/43.58 | 18/33.33 |
| 3FGA/% | 23/17.39 | 9/22.22 |
| FTA/% | 11/54.54 | 12/58.33 |
| PP100 | 80.0 | 38.5 |
| TOP SCORER | Gus Boyer 16 | Aubree Hicks 13 |
TRENCH PLAYER: Gus Boyer, 16 points, 94.1 pp100, 34 score in the 31 Club
| MARSHALL | ST. PETER | |
| POINTS | 64 | 45 |
| REBOUNDS/OFF | 31/9 | 37/7 |
| TURNOVERS | 20 | 37 |
| 2FGA/% | 44/40.90 | 29/55.17 |
| 3FGA/% | 13/15.38 | 10/10.00 |
| FTA/% | 33/66.67 | 19/52.63 |
| PP100 | 80.0 | 56.2 |
| TOP SCORER | Emily Meier 17 | Rhyan Holmgren 10 |
TRENCH PLAYER: Jordyn Hilgemann 14 points, 127.3 pp100, 24 in the 31 Club
| SW MN CHRISTIAN | WINDOM | |
| POINTS | 80 | 76 |
| REBOUNDS/OFF | 58/20 | 53/25 |
| TURNOVERS | 37 | 28 |
| 2FGA/% | 40/30.00 | 47/36.17 |
| 3FGA/% | 25/40.00 | 33/30.30 |
| FTA/% | 42/61.90 | 22/54.54 |
| PP100 | 82.5 | 79.2 |
| TOP SCORER | Jazlynn Prins 24 | Allison Letcher 20 |
TRENCH PLAYER: Jazlynn Prins 24 points, 100 pp100, 36 score in the 31 Club.
| JACKSON COUNTY CENTRAL | NEW ULM | |
| POINTS | 86 | 71 |
| REBOUNDS/OFF | 69/33 | 67/23 |
| TURNOVERS | 31 | 45 |
| 2FGA/% | 60/35.00 | 55/36.36 |
| 3FGA/% | 41/19.51 | 13/15.38 |
| FTA/% | 34/61/76 | 42/54.76 |
| PP100 | 77.0 | 61.6 |
| TOP SCORER | Sadie Voss 30 | Nora Windschill 22 |
TRENCH PLAYER: Sadie Voss 30 points, 111.1 pp100, 43 in the 31 Club. Using the timing stats Voss would have scored an astronomical 88.76 points in 36 minutes worth of action.