Recaps of Thursday 1.16.2025 action from MN GBB.

D1 HIGH FIVE

Macy Smith, Oakland, Spring Lake Park 25

Nunu Agara, Stanford, Hopkins 23

Marisa Frost, North Dakota State, Centennial 23

Anna Miller, Drake, Rochester Mayo 21

Jade Hill, St. Thomas MN, Minneapolis South 15

Adalia McKenzie, Illinois, Park Center 15

Totals: 107

There are six that squeeze into the five. All six are AAAA players, with three from the Northwest Suburban. Four racked up over 20 points last night. Only Agara and McKenzie reached the state tournament.

POINT PARADE-22

Parade starts at 25. If there is a player missing email kja8067@gmail.com

AAAA-3

Ashna Ramlall, Rosemount 41

Maggie Dyer, Rochester Mayo 28

Kaia Kirkeby, Rochester Mayo 25

AAA-7

Zoe Verhasselt, Hutchinson 31

Mya Moore, Orono 30

Aneisha Scott, DeLaSalle 29

Reese Drake, Marshall 28

Zahara Bishop, Benilde-St. Margaret’s 25

Makenzie Carrier, Kasson-Mantorville 25

Samantha Voll, Monticello 25

AA-11

Chloe Johnson, Duluth Marshall 37

Aubrie Klug, Caledonia 37

Sadie Sanders, Lake City 36

Tori Oehrlein, Crosby-Ironton 34

Livia Tennessen, Cannon Falls 33

Brooklyn Pettis, Minneapolis North 31

Tatem Votava, East Grand Forks 30

Ma’Lon McCoy, St. Agnes 26

Grace Schroeder, Chatfield 26

Brita Westman, Aitkin 26

Rachel Johnson, Belle Plaine 25

A-1

Sienna Duininck, Central MN Christian 27

RANKED RESULTS

Winner High 106 Rochester Mayo

Winner Low 19 Hmong Academy

Loser High 81 Belle Plaine OT

Loser Low 8 St. Paul Harding

Biggest Margin 85 Legacy Christian v Mounds Park Academy

Smallest Margin 1 Lakeville North v Rosemount OT; Houston v Lanesboro

Most Combined: 167 Tri-City United v Belle Plaine OT

Least combined: 36 Hmong Academy v Lincoln International

Margins 30 or more 43

Margins 5 or less 14

Average 51.69

Winner Average 64.63

Loser Average 38.75

Average margin 25.89

Ranked Upsets: #7A Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa lost to Royalton, a school in AA, 62-53.

AAAA Ave 57.00

AAA Ave 47.67

AA Ave 54.17

A Ave 49.49

Why did AAA crater? Harding (8) and Edison (15) don’t help pull the average up. Eliminate those two and it is a more respectable 52.22, still lower than the 54.17 in AA.

AAAA

#4 Eastview 55, Farmington 39

#6 Prior Lake 47, Eagan 43

#9 Lakeville North 72, Rosemount 71 OT

#10 Rochester Mayo 106, Winona 30

AAA

#1 Marshall 80, New Ulm 53

#3 Monticello 74, North Branch 39

#4 Orono 86, New Prague 61

#5 DeLaSalle 81, Bloomington Kennedy 24

#6 Benilde-St. Margaret’s 90, Chanhassen 55

AA

#2 Crosby-Ironton 72, Pequot Lakes 35

#3 New London-Spicer 69, Eden Valley-Watkins 32

#5 Sauk Centre 57, Melrose 31

#6 Caledonia 75, Lewiston-Altura 45

#7 Proctor 75, Hermantown 52

#8 Minnewaska 82, Morris/Chokio-Alberta 25

#9 Duluth Marshall 102, Grand Rapids 38

#10 Jordan 72, Hutchinson 46

A

#1 Goodhue 72, Kasson-Mantorville 70

#2 Mayer Lutheran 68, BOLD 57

#3 Hillcrest Lutheran 72, Battle Lake 39

#6 Kittson County Central 73, Warroad 18

Royalton 62, #7 Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa 53

#8 Hancock 62, Brandon-Evansville 40

#10 Central MN Christian 68, Canby 28

MILESTONES

Lily Smith of Proctor made it to the 1000 point mark with 16 points in a 75-52 win over Hermantown.

Sophomore Olivia Bungum of United South Central got to 1000 points with 15 in a 77-47 loss to Hayfield. She is the first from the 2027 class to make the list this year.

Even younger…2028 (freshman) Elsa Retzlaff of Hillcrest Lutheran Academy in Fergus Falls is the first from ’28 to make the 1000 point list this year in a win over Battle Lake on Thursday.

On Wednesday Erin Herman of Hill-Murray got win #600 in her career.  South St. Paul was the opponent.

ABOUT LAST NIGHT….Benilde-St. Margaret’s v Chanhassen

Heading into this game I was expecting offensive fireworks. On Tuesday BSM scorched St. Louis Park with 101 points; Chan & Waconia combined for 163 points. I got half of what I expected. The Red Knights continued to surge while all was relatively calm with the Storm. #6AAA BSM racked up 90 points and got to running time while Chan, who was #11 overall in the state in the QRF, was limited to 55.

Benilde established their authority early with three straight 3s on possessions two, three and four while the Storm struggled three turnovers in their first four possessions. Chanhassen never really recovered as the margins jumped to 17-3, 31-9 (prompting a second timeout for the visitors) and finally 50-27 by half. The trajectory did not change much in the second half. BSM scored on their first five possessions to make the 61-30. The game then was flirting with running time. Eventually, after the benches were cleared, BSM got to the running time with 20 seconds left.

BSM was more assertive defensively and faster on offensive decisions. Every play starts with either a steal, defensive rebound, or dead ball situation whether after an opponent’s score or a dead ball turnover or rebound. I measured the effectiveness of for both

Team	D rebound	DR conversion	Steal	S conversion
Benilde-St. M	8/18	44.4	8/17	47.1
Chanhassen	4/17	23.5	2/2	100

A couple of things jump out: Both teams had about the same amount of d rebounds, but BSM converted at a better rate of +21 over Chan. Chanhassen cashed in every time they had a steal, but were limited to two. BSM had a whopping +15 advantage in total steals, or to think of it another way it was 16-4 after a steal in favor of the Red Knights.

This is the third time I have charted BSM and they are much more fluid on the offensive end with more togetherness. The first two times were against Minnetonka in the Breakdown Tip Off and then when Byron came to town in December. Early on they were adjusting to life without last year’s Miss Basketball Olivia Olson and Kendall McGee’s return after missing out over a year of action. Last night BSM had a pp100 of a robust 120. And the scary thing is they could get better. They are doing a better job of realizing who is open when drawing defense. But still, they did not convert on nine steal opportunities. Another area of improvement that will help in their quest for a three-peat is their offensive rebound rate. They let Chanhassen get the O board 42.1 (remember the NBA average is 26.8. Another factor in the win was their ability to attack the basket and get to the line. They had 29 free throw attempts to 19 for Chan.

BSM had two players get into the 31 Club: Zahara Bishop had a 39 off 25 points, 9 d stops and 5 distributions; Kendall McGee made it on the nose with 13 points, 11 d stops and 7 distributions. Her growth in maturity and game awareness will make it dangerous for the rest of the AAA field. Chanhassen’s pp100 got to 72.4. But, while BSM scored every 3.31 touches, the Storm struggled to score with 7.42 touches per point. Defensively they need to level it up. BSM forced 30 turnovers to only 15 for Chan.

DAY AHEAD

There are 88 games on Friday, a drop from Thursday’s 110. Three of the games are Ranked v Ranked.

RANKED V RANKED

#3AAAA Eden Prairie at #5AAAA St. Michael-Albertville

#8AAA Hill-Murray at #2AAA Alexandria

#9A Walker-Hackensack-Akeley at #5A Mountain Iron-Buhl

Ranked teams in action:

AAAA

#7 Wayzata; #8 Minnetonka

AAA

#3 Monticello, #7 Mahtomedi; #9 Totino-Grace,

AA

#1 Providence, #4 Minnehaha, #5 Sauk Centre, #6 Caledonia,

A

#2 Mayer Lutheran, #4 Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s, #7 Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa, #8 Hancock