For the week: Nine games, 18 new teams, 180 players, 688.3 miles

For the season: 37 games, 70 teams (4 duplicates); 718 players (39 duplicates), 1413.5 miles.

I went after some unbeaten teams this week—New Prague, the victor on Tuesday over another then unbeaten South St. Paul, Eden Prairie, Bemidji and Cloquet. Only EP and Cloquet are still without a loss. It was a heavy week of heading south on 169 early with the Southwest corner of the metro sites for the first three games. Then the road pointed northwest as Bemidji made a close appearance at Cold Spring, as in Rocori. At an hour away that easily was on my menu. I stayed in section 8AAAA on Friday going to the Elk River and Buffalo contest. Saturday, I braved the weather (actually it wasn’t that big of a deal going to Cloquet, it was more dicey returning). Lumberjacks seemed to be the theme of the week with both Bemidji and Cloquet being charted.

REAR VIEW MIRROR

MONDAY: Chanhassen 69, Farmington 53

The Storm trailed most of the first half and just inched ahead 35-34 scoring on their last possessions of the first half, the last coming on a elbow shot by Kate Arnold. They rode that momentum at the start of the second half by going on a 7-0 run (42-34). Translated that was nine straight empty trips across two halves by the Tigers.

TUESDAY: New Prague 64, South St. Paul 49

The host Trojans jumped out to a 10-2 lead in the first three minutes and eight minutes later it was 28-4 in a battle of then unbeatens. NP led 36-15 at the break. NP did get to a 35-point advantage, but that came prior to the nine-minute mark in the second half (59-23). The Packers avoided running time cutting a 32-point disadvantage with nine minutes left with a 26-5 finish. NP had substituted with five minutes left.

WEDNESDAY: Eden Prairie 66, Prior Lake 51

This was a battle of top 10 AAAA teams, and both live in section two so this was an important contest for seeding and hosting in March. The host Lakers held narrow leads in the first half pushing out to a 29-26 lead scoring on their last possession of the half. After EP’s Tori Schlagel hit an opening 3, the contest remained close. EP took their first lead around the 15-minute mark of the second half on a put back by #20 (35-34). PL went up 44-39 on a 10-4 run with an &1 by #13 with 10:40 left in the game. Then the Lakers dried up for the next eight possessions, five of which ended as turnovers. Meanwhile, the Eagles soared scoring 18 unanswered points initiated by an &1 on a putback by #20 (57-44). That forced a PL time out with 5:48 left. PL had one last gasp, cutting the margin to seven (57-50).

THURSDAY: Bemidji 52, Rocori 39

This game was selected by the simple fact Bemidji just doesn’t get very close to the metro. An hour’s trip to Cold Spring (the CO part of Rocori) helped cross of a section 8AAAA team and saved me time. What I found interesting was Bemidji started two guards around 5-0 and used two more about that size. It did not prevent the Lumberjacks from grabbing a 12-4 lead in the opening nine minutes with no bus-lag. Four minutes later it was 23-9. By half the visitors were up 31-15. This game was not in danger of going to running time, but the host Spartans did fight back, outscoring Bemidji in the last nine minutes 16-4.

FRIDAY: Elk River 67, Buffalo 41

The visiting Elks spoiled Buffalo’s parent night in a 8AAAA section match up. After four and a half minutes the game tilted to ER 11-2. That soon increased to 26-7 with eight minutes to go in the first half. The trajectory didn’t change at halftime 38-12. This was another game that was extremely close to tipping into running time territory. ER led 52-18 with twelve minutes left in the game. RT does not kick in until nine minutes remain, and the Bison kept the clock stopped outscoring ER 23-11 the last dozen minutes.

SATURDAY: Lake Superior Conference Day at Cloquet

GAME 1: Proctor 67, Duluth Denfeld 21

This game was not in doubt in the first half with the Rails scoring the first ten points in three minutes. Halftime had Proctor up 34-11, which was 13 more points than they needed to win the game.

GAME 2: Duluth Marshall 96, Hermantown 66

The Hawks led early 8-6, but one minute and a half later they trailed 14-8. DM led at the break 44-29. The game was close to running time, but never crossed over keeping with the theme of the week.

There were a combined 23 3s in this game with the Hilltoppers notching a lucky 13. That was the best combined and individual team mark for the week. If you add in former DM player Ava Meiretto now at Superior, that mark goes to 18. DM’s 8^th grade point guard Chloe Johnson had 34 points, better than two teams Saturday at this event.

GAME 3: Superior, WI 65, Hibbing 25

This game did get to running time. The Bluejackets struggled on offense all day with only sixteen points with ten minutes left in the game. The Spartans had enough in the bank to win the game with three minutes left in the first half (28-9).

GAME 4: Cloquet 67, Grand Rapids 49

The hosts picked up big wins in the conference race and section 7AAA with this victory. The Lumberjacks got off to a quick start (12-2) and maintained that margin throughout. The Thunderhawks were hampered by foul trouble early to Jessika Lofstrom who had to sit a chunk of the first half. Despite that she scored a team high 25 points. This game also featured two players who were up for Miss Volleyball in the fall. In that battle Ava Carlson of the ‘Jacks came out on top of Braya LaPlant scoring a game high 30.

ARE GAMES AS COMPETITIVE?

Looking at the same dates from ten years ago and five years ago the quick answer is no. The winners have increased their totals. PP100s have moved from 90.8 in 2013 to a similar 90.47 in 2018 to an even bigger rise this year to 95.26. The losers have dropped precipitously 2013 came in at 66.97, 2018 down to 63.63, this year barely hung on to the sixties with a 61.2. The gaps therefore have dropped as well from 23.83 in 2013 to 26.84 five years ago to 34.06 today. The range is the telling stat. The window goes from 64.5 to 15.6 today; In the past the gap was 61.6 to 2.7 ten years ago; 48.6 to 1.2 in 2018.

First off, the same calendar window in 2013 was week two then, not three. The Breakdown was a featured portion of the games in 2013. 2013 was also my last year before joining the coaching staff at Stillwater meaning 2013-14 is like 2023-24 in that I can go watch whatever games I want to. I used 2018 as another sample because that was the first season I attended the Lake Superior event.

Of the 35 games held on Saturday seven had gaps wider than the 35 point running time total. The average margin was 21.9. Five games were decided by one possession, with four more decided by single digits—somewhat compelling contests.

Looking back to 2013 on the comparable Saturday there were 41 games with seven blowouts (30+) or 17%. There were 13 games decided by single digits (9-) or 31.7%. Those numbers are almost flipped now. In 2023 there were 35 games with eleven blowouts—31.4%; and 9 single digits—25.7.

So why are girls’ basketball games less competitive? I think we must point to several factors and causes. One favorite cause is the 2020 virus. Perhaps. But the numbers have been dropping in participation for several years. It continues today. When Burnsville only fields one team. When schools are now pairing that were section contenders a few years ago (like Rush City) there is an issue. Obviously, the teams that win and put time in during the offseason find value in the activity. That isn’t the case for more and more children. That is where the crisis is. The best schools are still getting better. But the hollowing out of sports continues unabated. When youngsters (think single digits) jump sophs and juniors they look to find the exit. The fact that most practices are designed without fun involved. I have never heard one player call another and say “do you want to work…” name the sport. No. They say play. And the play is not as evident.

The losing teams need to inject leadership that will create an environment that is willing to make sports fun again, that value the contributions of all and connect with the goals, aspirations and health for the next generation.

PP100S

The week’s pp100 checked in at 78.23, up from week two’s 76.78. Winners were flirting with the century mark with a 95.26 score. Losing teams had trouble connecting at 61.2. That meant the competitive gap was 34.06. That makes for many uninteresting games.

For the second week in a row the AA teams topped all with a 103.8 in two games, both wins. The AAAAs had a respectable 81.54 going 5-3. AAA severely trailed at 63.36 going 1-6. Included in those losses were a pair to AA.

There were three Centurions with Duluth Marshall topping all, the first smaller class (AA) school to lead the pack with a 115.7. AAAA and Wisconsin each had a Centurion.

The “best” game measured by the losing teams pp100 was Eden Prairie’s win over Prior Lake on Wednesday (81.0). If you wanted to measure the narrowest gap, then New Prague’s win over South St. Paul was the “best” with a 15.6 gap.

THE BEST THIS SEASON

Week	Leader	Pp100	All pp100
1	Minnetonka	122.2	80.18
2	Rosemount	138.1	76.78
3	Duluth Marshall	115.7	78.23

31 CLUB

The 31 Club was more exclusive this week with only 10 players in the nine contests getting in. Of those 10 three jumped up to the 41 Club. Of those three one zoomed out to the 61 Club. Eighth grader Chloe Johnson of Duluth Marshall topped the week with a 63 score. Besides scoring, she led all players in the week on D stops with 15. Add on to that impressive number is 14 distributions, also the best for the week. The continuing improvement will be interesting to watch in the upcoming years.

Juniors were the grad class with the most representation with five. Seniors followed with three and one each for freshmen and 8^th graders. Both AAAA and AA had four each with AAA contributing two.

Chanhassen, Duluth Marshall and Proctor each had two members.

THE BEST THIS SEASON

Week	Player	School	Grad	Score
1	Maddyn Greenway	Providence	2026	56
2	Tori Oehrlein	Crosby-Ironton	2026	68
3	Chloe Johnson	Duluth Marshall	2028	63

Interesting to note all leaders are from AA schools and all are sophs or younger. And two live in section 7AA.

MILESTONES

I was not in the house for any of the milestones this week. There were five players that crossed over to1000 points this week, two from the same team in the same game: Kylan Gerads and Alyssa Sand of Albany, both seniors, crossed the line on Tuesday in the win over Holdingford. That is the sixteenth time teammates have done so in the same game (that we know about). This is the third time 2024s did it. Last year Olivia Wren & Jaida Walker of Minneapolis Roosevelt and twins Kristi & Rachel Kottke of Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart did it as juniors. Michelle Bennett and Kara Grussendorf of Hermantown are the first known pair to do it and that came on Jan. 27, 1996, vs. Cook County.

Also joining 1000 included Reagan Ludovissie a Verndale senior, Brooklin Hinze a soph from St. Clair and Morgan Korf a soph from Pelican Rapids.

TOP OF THE LIST

Here is how many of the top teams in each section I have charted so far. At some point the AA and A may have more sections (north / south or east/west). Right now, all sections are lumped together. It won’t be that way in March in the smaller sections.

AAAA: .625 5/8

AAA: .500 4/8

AA: .375 3/8

A: .000 0/8

UNBEATEN

The unbeaten ranks fell quite a bit in week three from 105 down to 58. Expect more to drop in week four—maybe to 30-25 range.  Six dropped from AAAA, eight fell in AAA.  13 in AA; and a whopping 20 in A. We now have the first listings in AAAA & AAA of the unblemished. On those lists I am at 50% of the AAAA and 30% of the AAA. Battle of undefeateds in the bigger classes this week include Eden Prairie at Maple Grove on Tuesday; Totino-Grace at Spring Lake Park on Wednesday.

AAAA: 8
Rochester JM, Eden Prairie, Minnetonka, Maple Grove, Mounds View, Osseo, Spring Lake Park, St. Michael-Albertville

AAA: 10
Byron, St. Peter, Two Rivers, Minneapolis South, St. Paul Harding, Totino-Grace, Delano, Richfield, Cloquet, Rock Ridge,

AA: 18

A: 22

Furthermore, looking at the entirety of each class I am already over 50% of teams charted in AAAA.
AAAA: 52.5%—28 to go
AAA: 26.6%—47 to go
AA: 9.4%—115 to go
A: 2.7%—143 to go

STREAKING

The Como Park Cougars were knocked out of the leader spot in AAA with a 74-59 loss to St. Croix Lutheran on Thursday. That means AAA now has a pair sharing the top honors with St. Peter & Two Rivers.

AAAA: 13 St. Michael-Albertville
AAA: 5 St. Peter & Two Rivers
AA: 32 Providence
A: 6 Sleepy Eye

ROAD AHEAD

A relatively quiet week for multiple game events. There is a smattering of events, however. Long Prairie will host a Friday/Saturday holiday tournament. Saturday there are three games at Thief River Falls in the “Northern Blast” with mostly A schools. There are two MN schools headed to Decorah, Iowa for a “Border Bash” with Iowa schools.

SEEDING THE STATE

Changes at the top in two classes.

AAAA

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

AAA

1. Benilde-St. Margaret’s (6)
2. DeLaSalle (4)
3. Alexandria (8)
4. Peter (2)
5. Totino-Grace (5)
6. Byron (1)
7. Cloquet (7)
8. Minneapolis Roosevelt (3)

AA

1. Providence (5)
2. Albany (6)
3. Minnehaha (4)
4. Crosby-Ironton (7)
5. Dover-Eyota (1)
6. Perham (8)
7. Fairmont (3)
8. NRHEG (2)

A

1. Mountain Iron-Buhl (7)
2. Hancock (6)
3. Hayfield (1)
4. Sleepy Eye (2)
5. Fosston (8)
6. Walker-Hackensack-Akeley (5)
7. Mayer Lutheran (4)
8. Minneota (3)