For the week:

Seven Games, 14 new teams (0 duplicates) 128 new players, 1070.1 miles

For the season, 112 games, 177 teams (11 duplicates) 1763 new players, 8789.7 miles

Or to Blaine, WA to Chula Vista, CA to South Padre Island, TX, to Key West, FL to New Bern, NC back home.

There were website issues that needed tweaking and since I am no engineer this was handled by GoDaddy. They fixed it and we are back and running.

This last week saw large cats take four straight games, with Panthers snaring the last two. There was a dose of Skyline, a dose of 8AA, and 7A. I also saw two new gyms (for me) and both were in Class A. The smallest class will remain the focus as I am near completion in the bigger classes.

The other story of the week was space and pace. The shot clock has altered the game. Some teams want to milk the clock. Some take the first shot open.

REAR VIEW MIRROR

MONDAY: St. Clair 73, Alden-Conger/Glenville-Emmons 62

The Cyclones survived a spirited comeback by host ACGE. St. Clair, on the strength of eleven 3s in the first half (50%) with a 136 pp100, built what looked like to be a commanding 45-26 lead. I don’t know if the floor sloped to the home bench side, but the Knights stormed back to trail 52-48 (22-7) with 7:16 left. That is when the gas tank turned empty or St. Clair awoke from their slumber. Clara Jeddeloh, who ledy the Cyclones with 20 points, nailed two straight 3s (she made six for the night) to give some cushion for the visitors 58-50. St. Clair cashed in eight free throws over the last five possessions in the last 1:12 to secure the win, all from Brooklyn Hinze’s hand. She ended up with 18 points. Macy Mattson for ACGE led all scorers with 21. She was smothered and swarmed every time she touched the ball.

TUESDAY: Shakopee 70, Apple Valley 31

Last year this was a running time game…in the first half. This year running time did not kick in until the appropriate nine-minute mark of the second half. Also the Sabers used their starters in the second half, unlike last year. So this was an improvement so to speak for the Eagles. AV is now a AAA school moving to section 6AAA. The Shakopee starters came through with a 128.1 pp100, 17 more than the team total. Sadie Hall and Olivia Pawlicki each had a sweet 16. The hosts also connected eleven times behind the arc.

WEDNESDAY: St. Croix Prep 77, Breck 39

Another day, another running time contest. But this was an odd one. Not the running time, or the score. But Catherine Walker of Breck scored 23 points and was one shy of the 41 Club. How can a team that sees that still have a player doing that heavy lifting. Walker provided a dozen d stops along with five distributions on a potential dozen. The Lions roared right out of the gate building a 19-2 lead with 11:20 left in the first half. Avary White led SCP with 17. She is the sister of a player I used to coach at Stillwater.

THURSDAY: South Ridge 30, Cromwell-Wright 29

On Friday two players in the same game scored 63 (Karly Jusczak of Pine City) and 62 (Grace Heins of Ogilvie). Both players outscored these two teams by themselves. In other words, this was a low scoring game. Was it defense? Or something else?

Four of the ten lowest possession games this season have occurred in February. And by low we are talking 61 possessions or less. Are coaches adjusting to the clock and using the ticks longer to set the tempo? Usually, these teams are not picking up full court on defense. Offensives are walking it up. No sense of urgency is involved.

You know my mantra—there is no such thing as good defense, just bad offense. (There is such a thing as bad defense however.) What I have noticed is that perhaps shot selection is being attempted in the final seconds of the shot clock by a third or fourth option. Usually out of range. Usually off balance. Usually with a hand in the face. That is why floor percentages are down with smaller possessions. The shot clock is NOT making the game better in that regard. What has changed is the elimination of the continual cat and mouse keep away at the end with a free throw parade. Which leads me back to bad offense. Free throws are the same in every gym, same distance, on balance, no one is blocking the shot. All was not right for Cromwell-Wright at the line in this game. They were 9/19 at the line and that does not point to the second opportunities missed because the front end was missed. The Cardinals probably wish to have those chances back.

The hosts led at half 18-12. CW scored the first nine points of the second half, regaining the lead at 19-18. Two straight baskets by Madelyn Moorse put the Panthers back up 22-21. At 9:07 Moorse picked up foul number four. In class A the benches are not deep. And with SR already suffering a season ending ACL injury the benches become very thin. She picked up number five at 6:56. Now the leading SR scorer had to watch the remaining action from the bench. True to form CW missed the charity attempt. The lead seesawed back and forth with neither team leading by more than one. With 2:26 left it was SR’s turn to miss a free throw. They got the rebound and Svea Snickers scored on a drive to put them up 26-25. On the next SR possession, Maya Vanderscheuren, the reserve now in the game, gave the Panthers an insurance basket from the left block. CW made a pair of free throws with 1:27 left to get the margin back to 28-27. SR cashed in one free throw with 1:02 left to play. CW missed two free throws with 42 seconds left. With 16.4 seconds left Kaija Snickers made the front end and that was the game winner. CW attempted a 3, and Isabella Anderson grabbed the miss and scored the put back as time expired.

Class A benches are not deep. When

This was my first time at South Ridge. Where is South Ridge? They do have a water tower, but there is no town. SR is located four miles west of US 53 off Swan Lake Road. The mailing address is Culver. South Ridge is a combination of former schools AlBrook (itself a combination of Alborn and Brookston plus Cotton and Toivola-Meadowlands.

FRIDAY: Park Rapids 73, East Grand Forks 70

For the second straight day a home town Panther team was victorious. For the second straight day they were the underdog. It was a celebratory mood in the PR gym prior to the game. Many of the faithful came to see Gabriela Sherpersky cross the 1000 point mark for the Panthers. She needed five. She cashed in on a 3 on the first PR possession. Then it was a drought for the rest of the first half. The visiting Green Wave took advantage of that to build a 34-25 half time lead. Earlier in the week EGF traveled to Kittson County Central and scored 101 points in two overtimes to win. On possession number three of the second half, Sherpersky got her basket to the joy of the crowd. That also uncorked the bottle so to speak. She made up for lost time and ramped up her scoring in the second half finishing with a team high of 21 points. Part of her arsenal is the 3. She cashed in on five. PR started the second half with a 15-6 run to tie it at 40. It seemed like EGF weathered the storm and went back in front 53-47 on Tatem Votava’s 3. Votava ended up as the game’s high scorer with 22. There would be four more lead changes with the final lead change coming on Sherpersky’s 3 (63-61) with around four minutes left. The Panthers would not relinquish the lead after that. Another Votava 3 made it 69-67 with about a minute left. A turnover gave the Green Wave the chance to tie or take the lead. They missed on a 3 and PR’s #21 scored on a drive to give them insurance. Votava made her third 3 at the buzzer.

SATURDAY

This day was spent in the southeast quadrant of the metro. First stop was in Woodbury at New Life Academy. After that it was fifteen minutes to Inver Grove Heights and Simley High School.

GAME 1: New Life Academy 52, Christ’s Household of Faith 47

The host Eagles launched 42 3s, they never met a 3 they didn’t like, and delivered on eleven of them to beat the Lions. The first window open the shot was up. This was sort of an anti-ball control/possession concept. Four different Eagles scored behind the arc led by Samantha Bennett, who made six, on her way to a game high 22 points. CHOF also made 3s, but it was not their signature calling card. The Lions did lead 18-12 with 6:37 remaining in the half. But with the 3 as a weapon you can make up ground in a hurry. And Bennett scored a 3 at the buzzer to put NLA up 25-22. CHOF was able to tie the game three times in the second half, the last coming at 47 with 4:07 left on #24’s 3. Prior to that NLA led 43-35. That 3 would be CHOF’s final score in the game. One factor in the game was the lack of fouls, hence the lack of free throws. This is probably because of the lack of drives to the rim by either team. This put CHOF in the awkward  position of having to foul late. They picked up four fouls in a desperate attempt to put NLA at the line. All this with 40.6 to go. The Eagles turned it over with 11.8 left but CHOF never got a shot off and turned it over.

GAME 2: Kasson-Mantorville 60, Simley 41

The Komets found themselves in a 15-point hole in the first 4:30 minutes. In fact, they had not scored. They had to burn a timeout after two minutes. But the Spartans could not maintain their torrid 150 pp100 start after ten possessions and their floor percentage of .700. Eleven minutes later KM took the lead at 22-20 with a 22-5 run. One change KM made was to a match up. Simley’s Glissa Gorter had eight points in that 15 point ignition. She was shut out the rest of the way. She took her shots close to the rim at the start. Then she was launching deep. The Spartan offensive struggles continued at the start of the second half. Another 23-6 surge left no doubt to the outcome. Remember the Simley start of 150 pp100 and .700 floor %? The rest of the way it was 52.5 pp100.

A LOOK AT: SECTION 2AAAA

2AAAA

School	PP100
Shakopee	111.1
Minnetonka	109.8
Eden Prairie	104.7
Chaska	101.5
Chanhassen	88.5
Prior Lake	81.0
Waconia	63.2
Ave	94.06

2AAAA is located in the southwest corner of the metro with a slice of the South Suburban (Scott County schools Shakopee and Prior Lake), Metro West (Carver County schools Chaska and Chanhassen) and the Lake (southwest portion of Hennepin County schools Minnetonka and Eden Prairie). Far and away, it is currently the roughest toughest top to bottom section in AAAA. Four schools have made the Centurion list. But this current power has not always been evident at the state level. Only two champions have been crowned from this selection. Of the seven completed AAAA sections they are last in state entrants with 27 trailing by 22 section 4AAAA who surprisingly leads with 49.

This season 2AAAA is 6-2 when I hack away at the keyboard. They are a commanding dozen points ahead in the pp100 mark with 96.19. With four schools in the Centurion club that helps explain that score. Do not be misled by the highest totals in the Centurion Club. Shakopee’s mark came against Apple Valley who is struggling. Minnetonka’s two scored averages have come against Lakeville South and Providence, two schools ahead of AV by some measure. Quality matters. Context matters. But still the Sabers are in front. But take it with a grain or two of salt.

With highly skilled scores it is no surprise that the 31 Club has the most members of any section with nine. Leading the way here is Minnetonka junior Aaliyah Crump who has entered twice and both times in the 41 Club. Her 49 is the top mark. The Skippers have three members, the most from any school in any section. Chanhassen has a pair.

SECTION	T IN	STATE	TITLES	PP100	100+	31C
2AAAA	6/7	27/21	2/2	96.19	4	9
3AAAA	6/7	36/20	10/3	84.34	1	2
1AAAA	6/8	42/34	4/3	83.875	2	2
7AAAA	All	40/30	0/0	79.93	0	5
6AAAA	6/7	43/26	13/8	78.34	1	7
5AAAA	All	34/22	5/3	77.27	0	3
4AAAA	6/7	49/35	5/3	72.33	0	3
8AAA				75.6	0	3

A LOOK AT THE SOUTH SUBURBAN CONFERENCE

School	Pp100
Rosemount	138.1
Lakeville North	127.5
Shakopee	111.1
Burnsville	88.2
Eastview	83.3
Prior Lake	81
Farmington	67.9
Eagan	58.6
Lakeville South	50
Apple Valley	49.2
Totals	85.49

The South Suburban is one of the five power conferences in the state. It is based south of the river (Minnesota) and straddles Dakota and Scott counties. Before it became the SSC, most of the schools were involved in the Lake Conference. Prior to that you can scratch the older schools and find plenty of ties to the old Missota Conference. Nine of the ten teams in this conference have made the state tournament with three earning state titles. Since the four-class era Burnsville, who won three titles and appeared eight times, has been shut out. This conference has the most state entries with 54, but, if you look at the four-class era, they fall to second place to the Lake 44-39. They also pale when it comes to titles since 1997 finishing third of the conferences so far completed to the Lake and Metro West.

This year the SSC is 5-5 when charted with a pp100 of 85.49. Three schools are Centurions, but it should be kept in mind the quality of the opposition when reaching triple digits. The stronger the opposition, the more weight should be place on the score. Both Rosemount and Lakeville North surged past 120. Despite the lift of the teams on the Centurion list, it does not carry over into the 31Club. Only two have reached that pinnacle. The top of the line there is Braja Torry of Eastview with 39.

A LOOK AT THE METRO EAST CONFERENCE

School	Pp100
Hastings	89.1
Hill-Murray	87.0
Tartan	73.6
Mahtomedi	72.1
South St. Paul	67.1
Simley	59.4
Two Rivers	57.3
North St. Paul	51.9
Totals	69.96

The Metro East is the AAA Conference located, well….in the East Metro. The area code is 651. They are the smaller version in the shadow of the bigger Suburban East. At various times most of the schools were in the St. Paul Suburban Conference before morphing into the Classic Suburban before morphing into the Metro East.

Seven of the eight have been to the big show. Hastings is the only school to win it all, and that came in the final year of the two-class system in 1996. Hill-Murray has come close three times, finishing second. It may surprise readers, but Mahtomedi has never been to state. Mahtomedi is also an outlier as they were members of the Skyline, and Metro Alliance before coming aboard the Metro East.

Without all conferences charted it is probably not wise to make blanket statements. But of the conferences charted the Metro East is the lowest rated at 69.96, seven points lower than the Suburban East. Most of the conferences examined so far are AAAA. But three conferences are heavy AAA and the Metro East is distance behind both the Central Lakes and Lake Superior. The record is the only sub .500 mark of the seven at 3-6. The best pp100 belongs to Hastings at 89 when they lost to Rochester JM.

Not only are the pp100s below the other conferences, the 31 Club membership is also the lowest with a single member. Isabelle Kirchner of Two Rivers is the soloist in this listing.

CONFERENCE	T IN	STATE	TITLES	w-l	Pp100	100+	31Club
Lake	7/7	49/44	13/12 (4)	7-4	87.23	3	12
South Suburban	9/10	54/39	6/3 (3)	5-5	85.49	3	2
Central Lakes	7/8*	36/28	1/1 (1)	5-3	79.55	0	4
Lake Superior	8/8	37/26	0/0	4-5	78.39	2	7
Metro West	7/8	43/25	12/7 (6)	5-3	78.39	2	7
Suburban East	8/10	44/33	2/2 (2)	6-5	76.10	0	6
Metro East	7/8	29/17	1/0 (1)	3-6	69.96	0	1

The outlook for the rest of the year looks like I will complete the Big South Conference (both East & West) plus the section looks for the 2AA South and 3AA South. That should be a wrap on Saturday. Also, I will have all AAAA teams charted by Wednesday with Rogers. Which reminds me the NW Suburban will be finished then too along with section 8AAAA.

PP100S

The drop was expected after a couple of weeks of Breakdown Saturday influenced action. The pp100 fell to 76.14, down five points. This is the seventh time this year the weekly numbers were in the 70s. The window this week went from 111 to 47. But not all news was dire. Four centurions cracked the list.

Despite the centurions the winning pp100 fell hard to 88.3 from 94.2 the week before. Part of the issue was two winners checked in under 70 with a low of 49.2. The previous low for a winner was 55. Shakopee led the week with a 111.1. The losers fell to 63.99 even with the help of East Grand Forks 94.6 in their loss to Park Rapids. Four teams did not crack 60, two of which were under 50. The gap was a bit tighter from last week down to 24.31 from 25.87. But with two running time games that offset the three single digit margins.

The “best” game with the losing teams pp100 was East Grand Forks with 94.6 in the loss to Park Rapids on Friday. This is the fourth highest total this year for the losing team. Looking at the spread, the “best” game was the day before with a 1.7 separating South Ridge and Cromwell-Wright. Now that game also featured both teams failing to crack 50 pp100.

With Shakopee holding the only spot in AAAA, it is no surprise that AAAA won the week at 111.1. AA was not far off with a solid 90.14 with three centurions and one 90 in the mix. After that we plummet to the 60s. AAA was a distant third with 65.2. A bottomed out at 61.72. Only one team was able to get above 70.

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
11	Pelican Rapids	118.2	81.26
12	Shakopee	111.1	76.14

Shakopee is the fourth South Suburban team to lead the list this year showcasing a resurgence in that conference.

31 CLUB

Nine made the 31 Club for the week, with no additional levels reached. There was no bump on Saturday like the previous two weeks. There were two games that did not contribute to the list. For the week the 31 Club was almost split 5-4 with winners and losers.

Juniors and sophomores each had three members for the week with freshman next in line with two. Seniors were only able to get one in the Club. Recent 1000 point scorer junior Catherine Walker of Breck led the way with a score of 40, one off from the 41 Club. Walker scored 23 of the 39 Mustang points in a running time loss to visiting St. Croix Prep on Wednesday. Walker added a dozen d stops along with five distributions (meaning 33 of the 39 points had Walker’s fingerprints on it).

AA again led the way with five members. A chipped in three with a soloist from AAAA. AAA was shut out with three teams charted. No school had a pair.

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
11	Alexis Rose	Becker	2024	57
12	Catherine Walker	Breck	2025	40

This marks the second straight week where a player from a team that lost leads the 31 Club. This is the fourth time this year this has occurred, but this is the first time the leader is from a team that had running time put on them. This was the second time a weekly leader failed to get to the 41 Club.

MILESTONES

The first 2025s made the 2000 list (not counting the 2026s). Gabrielle Fineday of Cass Lake-Bena and Addison Hoof of Lester Prairie are the newest additions.

Two players both topped 60 points in a game on Friday. Karly Juczak of Pine City had 63. Ogilvie’s Grace Heins had 62. Let’s just assume they both were on “shoot first, ask questions later,” type teams—the Fun & Run (& Gun) or “I never met a shot I didn’t like,” or within the zip code is my range.

TOP OF THE LIST

One team left the top of the list in A (Cromwell-Wright). The Cardinals are still ahead of South Ridge despite two losses to the Panthers. That leaves eight total to see or check off. Expect a heavy duty cross off this week. A potential five more could come off in A leaving just three for the last regular season/first section week, better known as Feb 19 to Feb 24.

AAAA: 1.000 8/8
AAA: 1.000 8/8
AA: .900 9/10
A: .385 6/13

Six to go for the complete set—-mostly A bound in the top 10s. That will take more than one week to slim down.

AAAA 10/10 100%
AAA 9/10 90%
AA 10/10 100%
A 5/10 50%

QRF

Six regular season dates before some sections kick in. A fairly good chance that the top 100 and even the top 120 to be wrapped up by next Saturday night. Then the question will be where does the ride stop? Top 125? Top 150? My guess is the 160 to 170 range is possible before multiple games on the same night stop the quest for 200.

Rank	Seen	%
1-10	10	100
1-25	25	100
1-50	49	98
1-75	74	98.7
1-100	97	97
1-125	1187	94.4
1-150	134	89.3
1-175	147	84.0
1-200	157	78.5
1-225	166	73.8
1-250	168	67.2
1-275	175	63.6
1-300	180	60.0

The biggest fish left to fry? Marshall at #36.

As for the completeness of each class

AAAA: 98.31%—1 to go
AAA: 78.13%—14 to go
AA: 46.46%—68 to go
A: 12.24%—129 to go

1 more in AAAA—Rogers is due off on Wednesday. That will complete 8AAAA and the NW Suburban.

UNBEATEN

No one (finally). Metro Schools College Prep lost to Adams-Friendship out of Wisconsin on Friday, February 2 47-13. I had to find this on the Wissports site. The MSCP reporting to MN sites has been spotty all season.

SOLOISTS

In a 3A final preview Minneota stopped Southwest MN Christian 57-53 knocking the Eagles (used to be E-gals) off the soloists charts.

Was 8 now 7

AAAA: none

AAA: St. Peter, Delano

AA: Albany, Menahga

A: Hancock, Fosston, East Grand Forks Sacred Heart

Danger ahead: Albany hosts Pequot Lakes on Tuesday. Also on Tuesday EGF Sacred Heart hosts Park Christian in a battle of potential #1 seeds (8AW v 6AN). Menahga travels to Wadena-Deer Creek on Thursday. Saturday, Hancock rolls into Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart.

WINLESS

Irondale exited this list with a victory on Thursday against St. Paul Humboldt 47-20. In class A Heron Lake-Okabena/Fulda left this list as they edged out Red Rock Central 47-45 on Friday.

Was 15 now (unlucky) 13

AAAA: none

AAA: 2 Minneapolis Edison, Mound-Westonka

AA: 2 Albert Lea, Cristo Rey Jesuit

A: 9 Immanuel Lutheran, Community of Peace, North Lakes, St. Paul City, Ashby, Ortonville, Cook County, Fond du Lac Ojibwe, Littlefork-Big Falls

STREAKING

No changes on the win side.

AAAA: 14 Hopkins
AAA: 13 Benilde-St. Margaret’s, St. Peter
AA: 21 Menahga
A: 20 Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart

Jefferson is the new leader (or is it trailer) in AAAA with Irondale’s win Thursday. All the Jaguars’ losses on this streak are in the current season. All other classes cross two seasons.

AAAA: 21 Bloomington Jefferson 21 (all this year after opening with a victory)
AAA: 23 Mound-Westonka 21+2 ly
AA: 26 Albert Lea 23+3 ly
A: 45 Ortonville 22+23 ly

ROAD AHEAD

The last week before some section action awaits. Conference races, if they have not been decided yet, will have key match ups. The Lake should have plenty of competition. The Big South East vs. West holds their event in Blue Earth on Saturday.

Seeds should be out for three of the A & AA sections along the southern border.

As for me this is a big haul week with many top level A teams on the menu. I expect to see 13 games with 17 new teams, and a potential seven #1 spots from A. The roads expect to be clear.

SEEDING THE STATE

The picture is becoming clearer in the smaller classes. With two weeks left in the regular season in the bigger classes there is still room for movement. Also did you notice this week that in the fall of 2024 (next season) volleyball and football will be seeding 1-8. Expect that to follow in basketball in 2024-25. No more unseeded teams. If you can seed 1-18 in sections you should be able to seed 1-8 in state. Hooray! Now the next level seeding would be something like the NFL does….If a 7 beats a two then 1 vs. 7 in the semis and 3 vs 4 in the other semi. Some section will have to test pilot this idea.

AAAA

1. Hopkins (6)
2. Maple Grove (5)
3. Minnetonka (2)
4. Michael-Albertville (8)
5. Lakeville North (1)
6. Rosemount (3)
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. Rock Ridge (7)
7. Totino-Grace (5)
8. Minneapolis Roosevelt (3)

AA

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

A

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