From D1 High Fives to the limited action on the HS scene Wednesday plus a recap of the Benilde-St. Margaret’s win over Byron.
D1 HIGH FIVE
Marisa Frost, North Dakota State, Centennial 27
Lauren Jensen, Creighton, Lakeville North 23
Jo Langbehn, St. Thomas MN, Elk River 19
Amber Scalia, St. Thomas MN, Stillwater 19
Mallory Brake, Creighton, Hastings 17
POINT PARADE
AAAA
Erma Walker, Hopkins 25
A
Olivia Louis, Liberty Classical 26
RESULTS
AAAA
Eastview 68, #1 Hopkins 61
AAA
#1 Benilde-St. Margaret’s 58, Byron 56
ABOUT LAST NIGHT: BENILDE-ST. MARGARET’S V BYRON
My Game-Dar was back last night. This was the best (if measuring margin) game available and the #1 Red Knights picked up their first win of the new season by surviving previously undefeated Byron 58-56. It was a close call. BSM had opened the season with three straight losses all to power teams like #1AAAA Hopkins and then #2AAAA Minnetonka plus the perennial Iowa large school power Dowling Catholic. Still BSM defied gravity by staying in the #1 slot. The Red Knights opened the game scoring the first six points and jumping out to a 12-1 lead. It appeared statement time was in order. A healthy 32-22 lead at the half was pointing in that direction. But there were speed bumps ahead. Two straight 3s by North Dakota bound Kendra Harvey suddenly made the game a contest at 36-28. Still the margin hovered around ten. Fouls started to pile up and BSM was shackled with two techs in the space of 30 seconds, one on the bench unhappy with calls and one on the floor ditto. Despite the opportunity for the Bears to tack on eight points with the free throws and ball back they were only able to add two. Nevertheless the momentum had now shifted Byron’s way with another Harvey 3 cutting the margin to 47-44 with slightly over nine minutes left. Byron got as close as one several times, but could never cross over the hump. With 9.7 ticks left BSM went to the line up 58-56. They missed and after Byron grabbed the missed shot called time out with 8.2 seconds left. Harvey was expected to take the shot, and the BSM defense was aware. Instead Kayla Stork took a top of the key 3 that was snuffed out by Mira Wismer and the Red Knights escaped with their first win.
Despite the hot start BSM cooled off with a pp100 of only 75.3 nearly matching the 72.7 of Byron. Measuring just starters Byron “won” (by a fraction) 80-79.3. No player reached the coveted 31 Club with the bests coming in at 27. If one factor resulted in the victory it was control of the boards with a whopping 22 board differential for BSM. That led to eleven more field goal attempts. BSM had a dozen second chance points alone in the critical second half. BSM struggled with decision making all night and won despite coughing up the ball 29 times (seven more than Byron) or one turnover every 10.6 touches—not the mark of a championship level team.
DAY AHEAD
There are 92 games slated for today.
Unbeaten teams still standing and facing each other include
Minneapolis Washburn at Richfield
Mounds View at Park-Cottage Grove
Jackson County Central at Pipestone
Maranatha at Watertown-Mayer
Hillcrest Lutheran at Hancock
Warren-Alvarado-Oslo at EGF Sacred Heart