GBB Week That Was #10 Plus Seeding the State

Week 10 review

It was a heavy dose of Mississippi 8 with four of the eight teams this week. Of course, every week has a heavy dose of teams from the Metro East Conference. So how do these two primarily AAA conferences do over the week. The ME had a better pp100 of 75.7, the M8 only 67.

Most of the games this week were not red-letter. The exception was the final game on Saturday. With the Big 9 race now in a scramble, each game is vital.

Injuries and knees also took center stage in this week. Some returners with players sporting iron, some away from my eyes but will impact the races to state. Monday had two players with the iron. Away from my eyes, and from I understand on the final plays of games, both Mara Braun of Wayzata, who returned to action, and Kiani Lockett of Minnetonka left the game with knee injuries. The severity and the extent of each injury is unknown, but the fate of those teams will be impacted.

I will say the travel this week was MUCH better than the week before. Same return trip Saturday was faster by at least 40 minutes.

MONDAY: SARTELL-ST. STEPHEN 61, ST. FRANCIS 40

Knees right from the start. Avery Templin of Sartell started the night with an old fashioned three point play. Templin sports a brace on the knee. It didn’t slow down the Sabre. She ended up as the game high scorer and was close to the 41 Club with 39. However, it didn’t work out as well for Madison Rothbauer of St. Francis. She knocked down a triple from the right side to tie the game at 3, but on the very next possession she crumpled to the floor and had to leave the court with assistance. It looked like she was done for the night. Her absence may have been a factor in the Saints final result. St. Francis trailed 10-7 shortly after that, but Sartell soon expanded that lead to 21-8 (11-1 run) over the course of four straight possessions capped by two straight 3s. Rothbauer did return to action ten minutes later, but there was another floor incident, and she was out of commission with four minutes left in the half not to return. Sartell led by 21 at half, and that remained the final margin 18 minutes later.

THURSDAY: CHISAGO LAKES  54, CAMBRIDGE-ISANTI 42

Cambridge did not recover from Mikayla Aumer’s prolonged absence in the first half. The Bluejacket senior picked up two offensive fouls in the first six minutes of action and had to park on the bench. At that point the host Wildcats led 9-7. When she returned to action with 2:51 left in the half they were staring at an eight point deficit (22-14). CI closed the gap to five by half. In the second half the margin hovered between nine and twelve. I was sitting among CI fans, and they were unhappy with the officiating. CI was whistled for 18 fouls on the night to six for CL. CL went to the line for 18 attempts, to only two attempts for CI. The conversion rate was 14-1. That was a huge part of the game. CL did shoot better from the floor at 47% to 38%, and they drained seven 3s to five. Emily Erickson had a hot hand for CL there with 4/6 on her way to a game high 22 points.

SATURDAY 1: CLOQUET 67, NORTH BRANCH 26

The Lumberjacks had 18 steals which led to 12 points in transition. All five Cloquet starters ended up with pp100 at 100 or over. Shooting 61% from 2s helps. Madelyn Young led the way with 16.

SATURDAY 2: ROCHESTER MAYO 68, AUSTIN 64

For the second straight game the #1 team in AAA stumbled. Friday #1 Austin lost at home to Mankato East 62-59. In another tight contest, the host Spartans shot 12/26 on 3s—a 46% clip—to upend the Packers. Only one Spartan starter failed to reach double digits—and then she was only two points off. This game see-sawed back and forth all night. Austin led 11-6. Two 3s and a free throw later the Spartans led 14-12.  Ties were endemic. Mayo broke a 31 all mark with, of course, a 3. They stretched the margin to 36-31. Austin knotted it up at 36. With 0.1 ticks on the clock Kaia Kirkeby made one free throw to put the home side up at break 37-36. Hannah Hanson tied it at 43 for Mayo after Austin took a three point lead early in the second half. There were ties at 49 and 54. With 45 seconds to go Emma Dudycha scored on a drive to put the Packers up 64-63. Adit Koth delivered the game winner with a 3. Austin took time at that point, but wasn’t able to score on their next drive. A rebound by Kirkeby and foul led to two free throws for the final margin. Austin shot 51% from 2s, but was offset by Mayo’s 46% from 3s. Neither team was spectacular at the free throw line with Austin only converting 5/13 (38%) while Mayo was marginally better at 8/15 (53%)

31 CLUB

This was a limited club this week with only five members in the six games I charted (twelve teams). For the third straight game against Mahtomedi, a senior opponent reached the highly regarded 41 Club, but their teams all fell to the Zephyrs. Victim three was Chomp Danso of Simley. She had the best 31 Club score of the week with 44 and had a 131.2 pp100. Of the 31 Clubbers Emily Erickson of Chisago Lakes had the best pp100 with a 157.1 in their upset win over Cambridge-Isanti.

The Wildcats had two members. This was Alyssa Hempel’s second appearance on the list. She had a 36 vs Mahtomedi early in January.

The best pp100 for a team this week belonged to Cloquet with a 109.8.

UNDEFEATED

And then there were two. Hayfield and South Ridge are the only two left standing unbeaten teams on the last Sunday of January and both reside in Class A. Perhaps both can stay unblemished in February. Maybe one survives until the state tournament. What a difference a year makes. Last yar the unbeaten teams in state numbered four alone in AAAA.

AAAA; AAA; AA: none

A: Hayfield, South Ridge

STREAKING

Looking at the streakers my guess is none of the below will be state champions. The best chance of the six schools below would be Hayfield. I think three have a good chance to get to state however.

AAAA: 11 Rogers, Rosemount, Stillwater
AAA: 8 Mahtomedi
AA: 15 Menahga
A: 19 Hayfield

CHECKLIST

TOP 10s

With Austin done the top two classes are now at 100%. Next on the list is AA.

AAAA 100%
AAA 100%
AA 70%
A 20%

QRF

Taking out Sartell and Austin leaves just one in the top 25 (Blaine at #22). The top 50 is down to four. With 15 available regular season dates, I believe it is possible to get to the top 75. It is going to be difficult to get to 100 even with postseason dates—-with 26 missing in action.

1-10 100%
1-25 96%
1-50 92%
1-75 82.67%
1-100 74%

SEEDING THE STATE

There was one big game in 2AAAA on Saturday and the Skippers now hold an advantage for the #1 spot in the section with a win over Chaska. Eden Prairie will have something to say about that with a game Friday and then the following Saturday. Of course, #1 Hopkins is a Wednesday match up for the Skippers. Injuries will impact that outcome.

Austin’s two straight tight losses do drop them down in the seeds.

AAAA

  1. Hopkins (6)
  2. Minnetonka (2)
  3. Michael-Albertville (8)
  4. Stillwater (4)
  5. Maple Grove (5)
  6. Rosemount (3)
  7. Rochester Mayo (1)
  8. Centennial (7)

AAA

  1. Becker (5)
  2. Holy Angels (6)
  3. Paul Como Park (3)
  4. Mankato East (2)
  5. Austin (1)
  6. Grand Rapids (7)
  7. Totino-Grace (4)
  8. Willmar (8)

AA

  1. Minnehaha (4)
  2. Holy Family (5)
  3. Goodhue (1)
  4. New London-Spicer (3)
  5. Sauk Centre (6)
  6. Fergus Falls (8)
  7. Pequot Lakes (7)
  8. Glencoe-Silver Lake (2)

A

  1. Mountain Iron-Buhl (7)
  2. Mayer Lutheran (2)
  3. Hayfield (1)
  4. Hancock (4)
  5. Minneota (3)
  6. Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa (5)
  7. Cass Lake-Bena (8)
  8. New Life Academy (4)

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