For the week:

Nine games, 12 new teams (6 duplicates), 185 players, 946.8 miles

For the season 110 games, 164 teams (14 duplicates), 1716 players,  6720.9 miles

Or to Peñas Blancas, Guanacaste Province, Costa Rica (on the border with Nicaragua) and back

Earlier this season I was whining about games not being competitive. For three straight games to start the week I was treated to games coming down to the last possession. Two were decided by one point; all three had the home team falling. All Three had the losing team with the ball with the chance to win or tie. If you stretch this back to hosted sites (not neutral sites like Friday & Saturday at Rochester) then it was four straight games, with three straight one point games again with visitors winning and with the home team with the ball at the end. Those tight affairs came to a screeching halt the next two games at New London-Spicer and then Chisago Lakes. NLS was the only home team to come away with a victory all week. Rock Ridge (a combination of Virginia and Eveleth-Gilbert) won at CL Friday. Even Saturday, host St. Michael-Albertville saw their half time lead vanish to Benilde-St. Margaret’s.

Some other sadder news—Carl Pierson, former Waconia coach (with stints at Champlin Park, Chisago Lakes, and Red Wing). Pierson was inducted into the MN GBB Coaches Hall of Fame, was president of the GBB Coaches Association and published two books–The Politics of Coaching and the Other side of Glory.

Due to complications this week things are going to be abbreviated.

Look for the “A look at” for 4AAAA, 6AAAA and the Lake conference later this week.

REAR VIEW MIRROR

MONDAY: Martin County West 47, Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial 46

With the third attempt at a score on MCW’s last possession the Mavericks found success. Emily Anderson scored the game winner with about 23 seconds left. This was necessitated after a 3 by LCWM’s Grace Sandmeyer bounced twice before falling through for a 46-44 lead. Speaking of three cracks at scoring…LCWM had three in their last possession without the success enjoyed by MCW.

TUESDAY: Barnesville 57, Breckenridge 56

The Cowgirls had the ball with 48 seconds left up 56-55. They milked the clock, but an errant throw picked off by Ava Follingstad proved to be the back breaker. Follingstad raced down court, scored the lay up and final points. She ended up with 23 for the night. Breckenridge had another chance to score but never got the shot off in the last 15 seconds.

WEDNESDAY: Woodbury 66, Stillwater 63

The Royals surprised the host Ponies in their second confrontation this year. Mattea Henry was the hammer for the Royals inside on her way to 31 points (and a week’s best 53 in the 31 club). With 1:27 left Stillwater led 61-58. A Henry put back made it a one point game. Free throws were huge. Stillwater had a chance to add to their lead and missed both. The Royals only missed two free throws all night, right at the end, but by then they were up 66-61.

THURSDAY: New London-Spicer 68, Watertown-Mayer 31

When you shoot good, you look good. NLS cashed in on 14 3s at a 52% clip. Sophomore Ayla Caskey was deadly behind the arc at 7/10 for NLS on her way to 23 points.

FRIDAY: Rock Ridge 70, Chisago Lakes 42

RR starters shot 67% from 2s. The game got close enough to running time to smell it, but never saw the clock continually move. Anna Westby had 23 to lead the Wolverines.

SATURDAY

The Breakdown held their Community Clash at a variety of sites on Saturday with the epicenter being St. Michael-Albertville. The Lake took three of the games, but all three were wearing visitor white. Host STMA was the only Lake squad to fall.

GAME 1: Wayzata 54, Andover 49

The Trojans eight point lead disappeared when Andover took a 43-42 lead with 8 minutes left. They scored the next six points and held on. Wayzata made a living off second chances. They had 23 offensive rebounds.

GAME 2: Hopkins 68, Maple Grove 62

Hopkins built a ten point half time lead and had to fend off a hard charging Crimson crew in the second half. MG cut the margin to 44-41 before a 3 by Liv McGill put the Royals back on path.

GAME 3: Minnetonka 73, Providence 47

Too much length, and speed helped the Skippers stay unbeaten in a cross class clash. Minnetonka’s big 3 of McKinney, Crump, and Wright combined for 66 points.

GAME 4: Benilde-St. Margaret’s 76, St. Michael-Albertville 63

This was another case of a half time lead vanishing. BSM overcame a six point half time deficit and kept accelerating in the second half to beat the hosts in a battle of 2023 state champs. A 3 by Pressley Watkins broke a 46 all tie and the Red Knights found 27 more points. Foul troubles prevented the Knights from delivering their best line up.

PP100S

We just witnessed the best week for pp100 this season and it was not close. The 83.9 in week 10 separates from the second best in week 8 by 2.7. The rest of the regular season will be hard pressed to match it. This could very well be the best all year. The state has a chance to match it. Saturday’s Breakdown STMA games were a big reason for the improvement with 90.35. Take away Saturday and the week as a whole was a pedestrian 79.54.

Three teams were centurions led by Benilde-St. Margaret’s 105.6 against host St. Michael-Albertville in the battle of 2023 State champions. This week was helped by the limited number of teams sub-70 with only three.

Winners were ten points better than last week at 93.21. Losers also improved, even more so to 74.59, 13 better than week 9. The gap was 18.62 helped by the fact five games of the nine were decided by ten points or less. Only three games were “blowouts.” New London-Spicer rolled Watertown-Mayer in a Wright County match up by 56 points. The “best” game, if you measure by gap was the first game of the week won by Martin County West over Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial by 0.4. That was the first of two one point games. The “best” game measuring the losing team’s pp100 was the second game Saturday at STMA with Hopkins stopping Maple Grove. The Crimson had a very healthy 96.9 in a loss. That was actually better than five winning teams.

Winners dropped a dozen to 82.49, losers fell about six points to 61.16. The gap for the week was more competitive with 21.33, six points closer than last week. The largest gap involved LA in their loss to Pine Island (39.8). But there were much more competitive games. Two were in the double digits with St. Cloud Cathedral’s 1.5 margin over Little Falls the “best” in that measurement. Even though the pp100s didn’t get above 60 in that game it still had everyone’s attention down to the last touch. The “best” game using the losing team’s pp100 was Tuesday’s game at NRHEG won by JWP. The host Panthers had a 76.9 in their loss.

Clearly AAAA was the motor, not only on Saturday but also on Wednesday’s Woodbury vs. Stillwater. The big schools put up big numbers with 90.94. The window was 104.6 to 75.4. No other class could match that. AAA had a very healthy 86.17. A came in third at 77.2; AA trailed with 73.96.

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
6	Mankato East	105.3	75.73
7	Fairmont	108.0	81.26
8	Ogilvie	115.8	80.83
9	Rochester Lourdes	96.6	71.82
10	Benilde-St. Margaret’s	105.6	83.9

The Red Knights have been charted three times now. They are the second AAA team to lead the weekly list.

31 CLUB

We doubled up the 31 Club this past week with a sweet 16. Five of those entries have made it earlier this season. Saturday really pushed the numbers with ten entries. With high level teams, with highly skilled players, that should not come to a surprise. In the five days prior there were six entries. The Saturday Breakdown effect was also evident with the 41 Club: there four. AAAA was the driver with 10—eight alone on Saturday. AA had four entries, AAA two. A was shutout. For the first time this year a school had a trio of entries. Minnetonka’s three headed monster of senior Tori McKinney, junior Aaliyah Crump and sophomore Lanelle Wright all joined. This was Crump’s second time (in two viewings) this year. Leading the way was Mattea Henry of Woodbury with a 53. Henry scored 31 in Wednesday’s win over host Stillwater.

Juniors led the way with seven. Seniors were right behind at six. Sophs filled out with three. AAAA carried the load with ten entries. AA was second with four, AAA had two.

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	2026	44
6	Lauren Bengston	Cretin-Derham Hall	2024	42
7	Rylie Cother	Jackson County Central	2025	54
8	Grace Heins	Ogilvie	2024	51
9	Katelyn Olson	JWP	2026	38
10	Mattea Henry	Woodbury	2024	53

Henry is the third senior, and first (and only) AAAA player to lead the weekly leaderboard.

MILESTONES

3000 may be happening Tuesday at Providence. Sophs Tori Oehrlein and Maddyn Greenway have chances.

TOP OF THE LIST

The big classes are locked in with potential #1 seeds in each section. The biggest work to be done is in A. The good news is I usually didn’t get to A until sections in the past few years. I still have three solid non-playoff weeks before the clocks starts ticking to midnight.

AAAA: 1.000 8/8
AAA: 1.000 8/8
AA: .800 8/10
A: .385 5/13

In the polls AAAA is complete. Basically missing nine schools in the rest of the classes with three regular season weeks left.

AAAA 10/10 100%
AAA 8/10 80%
AA 8/10 70%
A 5/10 50%

QRF

A big swath was cut this week with 60 to go for 200 and seven for 100. Without sections in the way there are only 18 dates available. What will happen once sections roll around is multiple games will be held at multiple times at multiple sites multiplying my headaches and choices. 200 will not be completed. What % at 200 will be the question. It’s a dilemma. Last year, when I was still bound by coaching duties, I got to 84%. Throw in unpredictable weather or health issues and the whole project will be derailed. I feel pretty confident of 100 with 8 to go. I think down to 130 is doable that is 22 schools to go. 150 is a stretch. Last year I missed out at #110 as the first stop. That was Rock Ridge. They are now checked off for 2024.

Rank	Seen	%
1-10	10	100
1-25	25	100
1-50	47	94
1-75	71	94.7
1-100	92	92
1-125	108	86.4
1-150	126	84
1-175	135	77
1-200	140	70.2
1-225	145	64.4
1-250	150	60

The biggest fish left to fry? Albany at #32.

AAAA: 91.53%—5 to go
AAA: 71.88%—18 to go
AA: 37%—80 to go
A: 8.84%—134 to go

UNBEATEN

One (or is it two) is the loneliest number. Delano lost to St. Peter on Saturday taking the Tigers out of the running for season long perfection. That means Minnetonka is the last school standing. Or are they???

Pop! Metro Schools College Prep is now listed at 6-0. Or are they???? There are still four scores that have not been reported. But two scores are inputted twice. The MN GBB Hub has their next game listed as Dec 12(?), but that I am sure is a duplication of this season’s contest (2023 not 2024). Scrambling around I see Adams-Friendship, a Wisconsin school is due for a boy/girl double header on Groundhog’s Day.

Was 3 now 1 (or 1.4)

AAAA: 1 Minnetonka
AAA: none
AA: 1 Metro Schools College Prep
A: none

Danger ahead….Life is never easy in the Lake, Minnetonka sees top level teams Hopkins and then Wayzata this week. The Tuesday Hopkins game promises to be emotional for all involved.

MSCP is supposed to play Adams-Friendship Friday at?????. I see one location as the MSCP site, but then I see Lighthouse Academy of Nations as another location.

WINLESS

It was a good day to escape the list on Monday. Medford topped LeSueur-Henderson 43-27. That victory over the Giants snapped the Tigers AA leading losing streak. Also MN Deaf beat host Hiawatha Collegiate 45-34. That leaves three in AA, and ten in A left searching.

Was 18 now 16

AAAA: 1 Irondale
AAA: 2 Minneapolis Edison, Mound-Westonka
AA: 3 Albert Lea, St. Charles, Cristo Rey Jesuit
A: 10 Lyle-Pacelli, Immanuel Lutheran, Heron Lake-Okabena/Fulda, Community of Peace, North Lakes, St. Paul City, Ashby, Ortonville, Cook County, Littlefork-Big Falls

STREAKING

St. Peter is the new leader in AAA after halting Delano’s undefeated season. BLHS is no longer sharing the honors in A after Ogilvie lost.

AAAA: 18 Minnetonka
AAA: 8 St. Peter
AA: 16 Menahga
A: 15 Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart

There is a new leader (or is it trailer?) in AA now that Medford won—Albert Lea, who used to reside in AAA until this season.

AAAA: 34 Irondale 18 +16 last year
AAA: 19 Mound-Westonka 17+2 ly
AA: 21 Albert Lea 18+3 ly
A: 41 Ortonville 18+23 ly

ROAD AHEAD

A potential 3000 point-a-palooza could happen at Providence Tuesday night when Tori Oehrlein and the Crosby-Ironton Rangers visit Maddy Greenway and the defending AA champion Lions.

The Breakdown holds another Saturday event—this time at Alexandria with both boys and girls in the Winter Lakes Classic. Mostly teams involved are from the west central portion of the state with the three girls games.

SEEDING THE STATE

Benilde-St. Margaret’s returns to the top of the AAA list with a healthy Olivia Olson. The all too familiar churn at the lower ends of each seeds.

AAAA

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

AAA

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

AA

1. Providence (5)
2. Minnehaha (4)
3. Albany (6)
4. New London-Spicer (3)
5. Perham (8)
6. Winona Cotter (1)
7. Crosby-Ironton (7)
8. Glencoe-Silver Lake (2)

A

1. Goodhue (1)
2. Mountain Iron-Buhl (7)
3. Hancock (6)
4. Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart (2)
5. Mayer Lutheran (4)
6. Southwest MN Christian (3)
7. EGF Sacred Heart (8)
8. Braham (5)