The focus this week was on the west side of the state with a heavy emphasis on Wright County action, plus West Central and Central Lakes conference. It was a Dreier week with both father Mike at NLS and son Matt at Annandale picking up wins. The week ended on the dryer note for Alexandria with an epic 17 possession dry spell, over ten minutes of no scoring in the loss to Marshall.

MONDAY New London-Spicer 57, Rockford 41

This was a chance to see the legend. Mike Dreier of NLS picked up win #1001. The previous Friday the 1000 milestone was reached in the win over Watertown-Mayer. Wildcat Avery Rich cashed in for 31 points.

TUESDAY Montevideo 54, BOLD 47

With caucus night moving many games to Monday, only a smattering of games were available on Tuesday. And they had to start at 8:01 to avoid interference with the civic duties. That window gave me a chance to go to Montevideo, over 2:30 away after practice. It would not have happened earlier in the day. The Thunderhawks were able to pull this game out against conference rival BOLD, but needed a strong finish to do so. Avery Koenen, the 6-2 listed post for Monte, had a game high 24 points.

WEDNESDAY Blaine 44, Armstrong 38

The lowest scoring game of the week also had the comeback/finishing clutch mode on. This Northwest Suburban contest was tight throughout. The Bengals broke away late with Allison Terry slicing to the rim for a game high 15 points. It was Jade Bryant’s 3 with about 2:10 left that bumped the Bengal margin to four and helped secure the win. Armstrong’s Savannah McGowan was held to a season low 12 points, still the game high for the Falcons.

THURSDAY Annandale 60, Kimball 58

Obviously the most dramatic of the games with the Cardinals pulling off the comeback at the buzzer on Lauren Campbell’s shot. Annandale had the ball at the baseline just after Kristen Hilbert tied it up with 5.2 seconds left. The hosts trailed by ten to start the second half. The Cubs still led by five with two minutes remaining. A three by Faith Simon put the Cards up by two. This was an inside v outside game with the Cubs Ellie Kuechle delivering a game high 23 points, some keyed by five steals on defense. Annandale was anchored inside by Kali Jones who led the home team with 15.

SATURDAY 1 Sauk Centre 62, Pine City 54

This was the “best” game of the week if you measure the losing team’s pp100 (93.1) just eking out past Kimball’s 92.1 on Thursday loss to Annandale. Two Dragons kept it interesting. Karly Jusczak and Kloey Lind had 22 and 20 points for PC, but they only had help from two other scorers. The ‘Streeters had three in double digits with Jenna Gapinski-Vogt matching 22 points as game high. SC could also afford to rest their inside players with Tory Jennissen, a 6-2 ninth grader coming off the bench. PC had fouls and SC used that opportunity to isolate their bigs to good success.

SATURDAY 2 Albany 59, Menahga 50

The last time I charted the Huskies, they were being used as a punching bag by Minnehaha. This time the defending AA champs ended the Braves winning streak. Menahga, a former A team forced up to AA, stayed competitive, but could not match the size. Albany shot 48% inside to 32% for Menahga. Maryn Pinoniemi had a game high 22 points for Menahga.

SATURDAY 3 Becker 73, Fergus Falls 58

The defending AAA champs utilized their speed, shooting and balance to overcome the Otters. FF used to be a AAA team, but now find themselves in a smaller class. They have yet to return to state missing out the last two seasons to Pelican Rapids after going to the show in AAA. Ellie Colbeck delivered a week’s high 35 points in the attempt to get the Bulldogs. Becker’s experience and balance (four in double digits) stymied that performance. The Bulldogs didn’t erupt for 3s like I saw against St. Cloud, but 11 was the most anyone had this week as a team.

SATURDAY 4 Marshall 55, Alexandria 43

The Tigers overcame a 13 points second half deficit (36-23) to shock Alexandria. With over 10 minutes left in the game Alex scored their last points of the night—a three by Alli Haabala. Marshall kept chipping away with three players in double digits led by Ashleigh Steinbach with 19 points. She ignited the comeback with two 3s in three possessions cutting the gap to 43-36. She then put them over the top with another 3 (45-43). She also was 6/6 at the line down the home stretch.

Alex had issues with fouls most of the night. Hadley Thul was saddled with two right at the start of the game and never was able to showcase her game. One area Alex can immediately get better at is at the free throw line with only 4/13 on the night (30.8%). By contrast the Tigers were 13/16 (81.3%).

31 CLUB—13 ADDITIONS

Three players made the coveted 41 Club. One of those players took it to the next level—-Ellie Colbeck of Fergus Falls reached the 51 Club. She made the 31 Club just on points alone with 35 in the loss to Becker. She added 16 more in d stops & distributions. Avery Rich of NLS got to 44 again with points equaling the 31 Club right on the nose—value added of 13. Alaya Brown of Becker got the 41 Club number with a triple double—19 points, 10 distributions, 12 d stops. The only player of these 3 to achieve that recognition. Rich had the best pp100 of the three with a 134.8.

Jenna Gapinski-Vogt of Sauk Centre has made the club each of the three times I have charted. And she had the best pp100 of any of the 13 players this week at 183.3 pp100. 9/11 shooting helps. Mahtomedi, Pine City & Becker each had two players make the listing this week. 7^th grader Mya Wilson of Mahtomedi has now made the 31 Club four times this year.

DOWN THE STRETCH

Four of the nine games this week featured contests decided in the home stretch. The home team won the first three times, but the visitors pulled out the last one Saturday. The biggest gap overcome was Marshall’s 13 point hole in the second half to host Alex. They held the Cards scoreless for the last 10 minutes of the game….17 empty possessions. Six of those chances ended in turnovers; five on missed 3s, two missed chip shots near the rim, and three opportunities at the free throw line without finding the bottom of the net. Prior to the epic drought Alex was at 110.0 pp100. After that dry spell the pp100 plummeted to 76.8.

In the table below the bold games are the games down the stretch. The other contests were decided earlier. The earliest “decision” was Becker when they reached seven points and never trailed after. Sauk Centre was the latest of the non-stretch games pulling in front after halftime. The other five teams had leads of over 15 with 10 possessions (or about five minutes) left in the game.

Team	Margin	time	x/10	score	Pp100	Lead for good
New London-Spicer	+21	6:30	2	4-9	40.0	12:30 (1H) 10
Rockford	-21		4	9-4	90.0
Montevideo	0	5:00	7	13-6	130.0	4:50 (2H) 43
BOLD	0		3	6-13	60.0
Blaine	0	6:40	6	12-6	120.0	4:00 (2H) 37
Armstrong	0		3	6-12	60.0
Annandale	-2	6:32	6	14-10	140.0	0:00 (2H) 60
Kimball	+2		4	10-14	100.0
Mahtomedi	+13	3:47	4	10-4	100.0	2:45 (1H) 30
Two Rivers	-13		3	4-10	40.0
Sauk Centre	+15	5:30	2	4-11	40.0	17:30 (2H) 35
Pine City	-15		5	11-4	110.0
Albany	+10	5:10	3	7-8	70.0	8:40 (1H) 17
Menahga	-10		3	8-7	80.0
Becker	+15	5:00	5	10-10	100.0	14:30 (1H) 7
Fergus Falls	-15		4	10-10	100.0
Marshall	-3	5:30	7	15-0	150.0	4:00 (2H) 45
Alexandria	+3		0	0-15	0.0

STREAKING

There is a chance that three of these teams keep their streaks going until March 19. Too many obstacles in AAAA for Rogers to survive unscathed.

AAAA: 13 Rogers
AAA: 10 Becker
AA: 16 Holy Family
A: 22 Hayfield

UNDEFEATED

And then there was one. South Ridge fell to Esko this week leaving Hayfield as the sole unblemished team in the entire state. What a difference a year makes.

AAAA: none
AAA: none
AA: none
A: Hayfield

RANKED

AA was the big pick up this week. I charted #6, #7, #8, & #9. For some it was the second or third time through. That leaves just #10 out there in AA (Pequot Lakes).

AAAA 100%
AAA 100%
AA 90%
A 20%

QRF

Knocking off Blaine secured a top 25 look. Top 50 will fall next. Biggest fish left is Orono in that category (#39). 75 is in sight. 100 will be a stretch. A big stretch with only three weeks left of the regular season and 19 left. It is important to see all the AAAA type teams prior to sections since they generally play on the same date. It is hard to be in two places at once. Looking at the list I have to go on there are 5 AAAA teams left; 3 AAA;  8 AA and 3 As on the 19 remaining teams.

1-10 100%
1-25 100%
1-50 98%
1-75 85.3%
1-100 81%
1-125 73.6%

SEEDING THE STATE

Slight adjustments. Top teams remain. I saw Becker, NLS, & Sauk Centre over the course of the week.

AAAA

1. Hopkins (6)
2. Chaska (2)
3. Michael-Albertville (8)
4. Maple Grove (5)
5. Stillwater (4)
6. Rosemount (3)
7. Lakeville North (1)
8. Centennial (7)

AAA

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

AA

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

A

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