For the week: five games; 10 new teams (no duplicates), 91 players, 492.4 miles

For the season: 51 games, 94 teams (4 duplicates), 969 players, 2223.8 miles…..Or to Temple, Texas & back

This starts three straight weeks of only five calendar game days thanks to holidays pre-empting certain dates. This is the least number of games per week of the three due to no multiple opportunities to chart, which usually happens on Saturdays. Next week will have five days, but only one of those days will have a single game opportunity. That will be the busiest week (most games) of the three. The first week of the new year will have a Saturday window with more than one chance to chart.

There was a heavy dose of AAAA this week with sections 6AAAA leading the way with three teams, 3AAAA and 8AAAA each had a pair. No smaller classes were seen. I completed one conference and am getting close to several more plus complete sections will be on the way during January.

REAR VIEW MIRROR

MONDAY: Burnsville 60, Bloomington Jefferson 34

Over 30 years ago these two teams were battling for supremacy in the Lake Conference and combined for four straight titles. The glory that was Rome. Today (or Monday) was a different story with these to rivals a shell of those Halcyon days. This was another non-competitive game. The Blaze had enough in the bank by halftime to defeat the Jaguars (35-15). Burnsville broke free scoring four straight times and seven of eight possessions (including three 3s) missing only a pair of free throws to cement an eight-possession scoring spree. During this five-minute stretch during the first half the hosts outscored BJ 17-4. That flame was doused at halftime as Burnsville “won” the first six minutes of the second half 4-2 with a dozen possessions (or 33.3 pp100).

With BJ checked off the list the entire Metro West is first conference to be completed this season (more below). Burnsville in the South Suburban is awaiting two more schools to wrap it up.

TUESDAY: Sauk Rapids-Rice 60, Brainerd 51

Host Sauk Rapids-Rice knocked down a 3 in their opening possession and stormed out to a 10-2 lead, and never trailed in a win over visiting Brainerd. It was SRR’s first Central Lakes Conference win in five tries. This win was in a sense a surprise. Brainerd had beaten two of the CLC teams that topped SRR by healthy margins. This game simply boiled down to a matter of shooting. SRR was better than the Warriors. The visitors shot 23.25 on 43 attempts as a team. The Storm was not much better at 30.95, but they were much more effective on 3s with the starters cashing in at 50% on 14 attempts. Brainerd attempted 31 on the night. All nine players that got in for SRR scored. Brainerd also had nine who scored. It was simply the inability to convert that hamstrung the Warriors. They were 6/26 inside (23.1%). It was warmer outside in the elements than it was to shoot for Brainerd.

WEDNESDAY: Robbinsdale Armstrong 59, Minneapolis Washburn 36

Armstrong scored on seven straight possessions to establish a healthy 13-2 advantage over host Minneapolis Washburn in a section 6AAAA contest. But the Millers firmed up their defense and outscored the Falcons 19-12 the rest of the half only to trail 25-21 at the break. It was not Miller time for the second half. Both teams struggled early in the half with Armstrong finally breaking the ice on their sixth possession (or three minutes into the half). For the first nine minutes of the second half Armstrong ruled 20-6. There was to be no rally to finish for the hosts.

THURSDAY: Minneapolis Southwest 63, St. Anthony 58

Southwest held on to edge out a hard charging St. Anthony squad. The game was a whipsaw of leads, rallies, comebacks, and white-knuckle lurches. The host Huskies got off to a 13-4 start prompting a Laker time out after seven minutes. The inspired Lakers scored the next 18 points over the course of four minutes to flip the script 22-13. The second St. Anthony time out stopped the leakage and the hosts finished the half down six 30-24. The Lakers maintained that margin in the first moments of the second half (39-32). The Huskies scored on four straight possessions tying the game at 41. The long ball helped the hosts regain the lead at 44-43 with Leilani Abraham’s 3, who finished 4/5 beyond the arc for the night and led both teams with 23 points (her number). The widest Husky margin came with about nine minutes left on a long two by Maiyah Allen (46-43). Southwest’s Alice Ewert on the next possession put the game back at even with her 3 from the left side. The Lakers reestablished their halftime lead and then some at 53-46 as the fouls piled up for the Huskies and SW took advantage at the line. With 45 seconds left Greta Schumann scored on a putback for St. Anthony and the margin was a slim 59-58 for Southwest. Ewert provided needed insurance with a 3 from the right corner, her second of the night.  St. Anthony was not able to respond any more in the next two chances.

St. Anthony point guard Meghan Przybilla did not play as she left on a family vacation in the morning. For the first 4:20 of the game a boys basketball was used. Perhaps that is why there was a low score of 3-2 in favor of the Huskies.

FRIDAY: Winona 55, Mankato West 46

This had the makings of an interesting game in the first half with the host Winhawks holding a nine point lead at the break 31-22. Winona was playing at a 91 pp100 clip dialing 4/8 for 3s. That would have put Winona as the best team pp100 wise for the week. That did not continue in the second half with their pp100 dropping to 61.5. The spread remained the same, but the shooting considerably cooled down. There was another twist in the weekly top spots—usually the top member of the 31 Club comes from a winning team. Not this time. Livi Downs of Mankato West topped the charts with 44. Not only that, she was one away from the 31 Club—in the second half alone. She racked up 18 of the 24 MW points in that half. Downs was hampered by fouls in the first half getting her second at the 13:46 mark. To illustrate the slow start at this point the Scarlets led 2-1. To illustrate how sharp both teams were in the first half behind the arc it was 9/32 or 28%. To illustrate how frosty it got behind the arc in the second half it was 2/21 or 9.5%. Only Downs connected.

This game was not securely in the bank until Winona’s Adriana Bregeman made a steal & lay up to make it 51-43 with 1:15 left.

ESSAY: BOARDS

Securing rebounds goes a long way in determining the winner of a game. Or does it? We can look at total offensive rebounds; percentages on offense and defense and offensive conversion rates. Pure offensive rebounds does not necessarily lead to victory. First off it means your team is not scoring on the initial offense. Using the stats of the past week Brainerd had 24 rebounds, four more than the next team, but they failed to garner victory at Sauk Rapids. Teams with the highest offensive total rebounds were only 3-3. A better measure is the offensive rebound percentage. There Burnsville led the way with a 41.7% mark. Teams at 34.1% or more were 4-1. The exception again was Brainerd. Teams that had 66.7% or more defensive rebounds were also 4-1. Winona led the way with 75% here. Mankato West was the outlier with 68% and losing. The offensive conversion rate is another important metric. The more points you can create off the missed opportunity, the better it is for your chances of victory. Last week the best score belonged to Armstrong and Burnsville converting at 0.80. Converting at 50% or better is another 4-1 mark. The lowest total was Brainerd who only converted 25% of their second (or more) opportunities. The best indicator (5-0)? Scoring more points, even just one more, than the other team. The biggest differential belonged to Burnsville with a +9.

A LOOK AT THE METRO WEST

The Metro West is a relatively new conference with parts and pieces from the Lake, the South Suburban, the Wright County, and the Missota. It is not contiguous. It lives in the shadow of the mighty Lake. But the teams in this conference have had past success when it comes to girls’ basketball. Of the eight teams in the MWC six have been crowned state champ at one stage or another in either AAAA or AAA. Chanhassen and Waconia are without a title. Benilde, last year, picked up their third title in AAA. Seven schools have made it to state with Chanhassen awaiting their first appearance.

Here is their points per 100 when seen this year.

School	Pp100
Chaska	101.5
Orono	101.4
Chanhassen	88.5
New Prague	82.7
St. Louis Park	81.2
Waconia	63.2
Benilde-St. Margaret’s	57.9
Bloomington Jefferson	50.7

 

I do not believe that Benilde will linger long at that 57.9 mark. They are wounded right now with key players sitting. That is giving experience to others. Plus in the game I charted one of their big scorers were saddled with fouls and had to ride the pine.

So far there have been five 31 Clubbers with two players cracking the 41 Club: Senior guard Evelyn Schmitz of St. Louis Park made it in the win over Kennedy at Hamline back on Thanksgiving Saturday with a 44. Sophomore guard Mya Moore from Orono, on the same day and same venue, made it with one to spare at 42. Chanhassen had a pair of 31 Clubbers: Lauren and Kate Arnold. and Audrey Brown rounds out that five from Waconia. Brown is the only one whose team did not win when I charted. The average 31 club score for the group is 38.4

PP100S

The weekly pp100 continues to drop. It fell another 2.51 this week to 73.14. The only week to average in the 80s was the very first week of the season (Thanksgiving aftereffects). This week the winning teams did not keep pace with the previous standards with an average of 83.3, the first sub 90 in that category. Losing teams edged up from the previous week to 62.98, 3.52 better than the crater of week 4. That meant the competitive gap was a dozen better than week 4 at 20.32. Only one contest was sub double digits, however.

Only two classes were charted this week—AAAA and AAA with the largest class providing 70% of the action. They narrowly edged out AAA 73.37 to 72.6. Two schools in the 50s dragged the AAAA down.

Centurions were shut out. The highest pp100 score came on the first day of the week with host Burnsville netting an 88.2 in their win over Jefferson. That best is 27 behind the lowest weekly best total this season.

The best game with the losing team pp100 was also the best game with the closest margin. That game was at St. Anthony on Thursday when the visiting Minneapolis Southwest Lakers hung on with a margin of 5.6 and St. Anthony notching 79.5 in the loss. That was ten points under last week’s best losing total. There were two games this week with margins over 30.

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
4	Lakeville North	127.5	75.65
5	Burnsville	88.2	73.14

 

This marks the second straight week a team from the South Suburban has been at the top of the charts and the third overall this season. There is a resurgence in that league, but it still trails the mighty Lake in total substance. Clearly the SSC is now pulled into second.

31 CLUB

This week saw the fewest members in the 31 Club with five, one less than the week before. Only one of the five cracked the 41 Club. Livi Downs of Mankato West was top performer of the week with 44 in the loss to Winona Friday (with 30 of those coming in the second half). What is significant on this score is it is the first time a AA player did not lead the pack (but to be fair I did not chart a AA team this week), and it was the first time a losing team had the leader.

Three seniors made the cut this week with one junior and sophomore. AAA topped AAAA three to two in providing members. The last two games of the week had four players, one each from each of the teams. There was no doubling up of teammates this week.

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
4	Jocelyn Land	Holy Family	2024	49
5	Livi Downs	Mankato West	2006	44

 

Sophs have led the 31 Club three of the weeks so far.

MILESTONES

The first 2000 points scorer actually happened the week before: senior Tresa Baumgard of Chisholm scored 56 in the win over Littlefork-Big Falls last Monday.

This past week saw seniors Claire Clusiau of Nashwauk-Keewatin and Faith Neilsen of NRHEG joining 1000 points on Monday.

On the horizon…..there is a 3000 date (perhaps). Junior Addison Mack of Minnehaha is averaging 31 ppg and is sitting at 2944. Could it happen against Providence on January 2? Senior Jordan Zubich of Mountain Iron-Buhl is coming up on that mark too at 2853. When Olivia Olson of Benilde-St. Margaret’s returns she is hovering close to the 2000 mark with 1836 (we think) on the ledgers.

TOP OF THE LIST

More split sections in A with 7 & 8 joining 6.That is why you see eleven sections not eight.

AAAA: .750 6/8
AAA: .625 5/8
AA: .250 2/8
A: .091 1/11

Looking at the top 10s:

AAAA 7/10 70%
AAA 6/10 60%
AA 5/10 50%
A 4/10 40%

QRF

I was at 47% in week five last year. I am at 53% this season. Partly that is because I am avoiding duplicate chartings. So far only four times. The other is the weather is FANTASTIC for driving. No delays, no cancellations. It has been a dream. Can El Nino keep it going? Fingers crossed yes.

But I am behind 2022-23 in % in 10s, 25s at this stage. Partly that is because I was on the east court at Hopkins at the Breakdown Tip Off this season.

Rank	Seen	%
1-10	8	80
1-25	18	72
1-50	34	68
1-75	45	60
1-100	53	53
1-125	63	50.4
1-150	68	45.3
1-175	71	40.6
1-200	74	37

 

Furthermore, looking at the entirety of each class, I am already near 80% of teams charted in AAAA. A lucky 13 await. There is an outside possibility I could see all the AAA teams too this year.
AAAA: 78%—13 to go
AAA: 39.1%—39 to go
AA: 11.8%—112 to go
A: 2.7%—143 to go

UNBEATEN

Now the smaller classes are listed. Three unbeatens fell to other unbeatens in the short week. All in one possession games. The epic AA championship rematch went to Albany in their home win over Providence on Tuesday. Dover-Eyota won the battle of unbeatens twice during the week. On Monday at home over Byron in a cross class clash, then Thursday night again at home vs Winona Cotter. So now the question is will any of these 23 unbeaten teams remain untarnished in March? My outlook is doubtful. The schedule is robust for the AAAA teams, the best shot at finishing with zero losses. The other three classes might not even have the champion listed at this stage.

Danger ahead….Totino-Grace and Minnehaha are both at the Hill-Murray tournament. One (or possibly both) could fall in this eight team bracketed event. Rock Ridge and Cloquet meet on Wednesday in Cloquet’s event.

Minnetonka, Albany, Pequot Lakes, Crosby-Ironton and Hancock are all at some venue in the Granite City event, with multiple sites over Friday and Saturday. Games are already prescheduled.

St. Michael-Albertville, Cloquet, New London-Spicer, Pelican Rapids all host their own events.

Was 34….now 23

AAAA: 3 Minnetonka, Maple Grove, St. Michael-Albertville

AAA: 4 Totino-Grace, Delano, Cloquet, Rock Ridge,

AA: 10 Dover-Eyota, New London-Spicer, Minnehaha, St. Agnes, Lakes International Language Academy, Metro Schools College Prep, Albany, Pequot Lakes, Crosby-Ironton, Pelican Rapids

A: 6 Hayfield, Sleepy Eye, Southwest MN Christian, Braham, Hancock, Fosston

STREAKING

The Providence loss to Albany on Tuesday stopped a 37-game win streak. STMA is the only school to have a hold over win streak from the 2023 season at this point.

Suddenly it is crowded in A with five schools with nine straight wins. Only MIB has a loss early to Roseville in that bunch.

AAAA: 16 St. Michael-Albertville (7+ this year)
AAA: 9 Delano
AA: 11 Dover-Eyota
A: 9 Hayfield, Sleepy Eye, Braham, Mountain Iron-Buhl, Fosston

ROAD AHEAD

This is holiday tournament week. Some are “events” with predetermined schedules; some have a traditional bracket look.

Tournaments galore in the week between holidays. One event gets things rolling on Tuesday. There are 22 events beginning Wednesday followed by 24 on Thursday, 16 on Friday and 8 on Saturday. The biggest is the Granite City Classic which starts Friday and is held at seven different venues. There are 22 contests on Saturday alone. Hill-Murray and Pelican Rapids have bracketed eight team events starting Thursday.

SEEDING THE STATE

DeLaSalle moves to the top of the list in AAA. A few tweaks in each class.

AAAA

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

AAA

1. DeLaSalle (4)
2. Alexandria (8)
3. Totino-Grace (5)
4. Delano (6)
5. Marshall (2)
6. Cloquet (7)
7. Winona (1)
8. Minneapolis Roosevelt (3)

AA

1. Albany (6)
2. Providence (5)
3. Minnehaha (4)
4. Pequot Lakes (7)
5. Dover-Eyota (1)
6. New London-Spicer (3)
7. Pelican Rapids (8)
8. NRHEG (2)

A

1. Mountain Iron-Buhl (7)
2. Hancock (6)
3. Hayfield (1)
4. Sleepy Eye (2)
5. Fosston (8)
6. Braham (5)
7. Mayer Lutheran (4)
8. Southwest MN Christian (3)