A busy Friday morning delayed the release of the Thursday reports. Here it is.
D1 HIGH FIVE
Jo Langbehn, St. Thomas MN, Elk River 23
Liv McGill, Florida, Hopkins 20
Piper Carlson, Idaho State, St. Michael-Albertville 18
Sophie Hart, Minnesota, Farmington 18
Alayna Contreras, Kansas City, Hopkins 17
Mallory Heyer, Minnesota, Chaska 17
Totals: 96
D2 HIGH FIVE
Leah Dengerud, Concordia St. Paul, Totino-Grace 27
Bri Stoltzman, SW MN State, Mankato West 21
Audrey Swanson, SW MN State, Waconia 20
Abby Berge, MSU Moorhead, Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa 20
Julia Bengtson, Concordia St. Paul, Becker 18
Totals: 106
D2 beat D1 106-96. There was a wider range of D2 games to select from and I am sure there may have been other D2 scoring that did not make the list. I only examined the Northern Sun.
D1 had six players (only five scores count) and all six were AAAA players. Five of the six won titles—or at least made the ‘finalist’ level in the virus shut down. (Langbehn did not). D2 players had one AAAA with three others AAA and one A. All five made the state once. Three players were in title games with Dengerud and Bengtson achieving state titles. Both are now at CSP.
POINT PARADE-16
Parade starts at 25. If there is a player missing email kja8067@gmail.com
AAAA-6
Logan Miller, Andover 32
Katie Boulanger, New Prague 31
Kate Arnold, Chanhassen 28
Madlin Freking, Anoka 27
Lyric Singleton 27
Maddie Sundberg, Roseville 25
AAA-3
Mya Moore, Orono 31
Malin Youngberg, Little Falls 31
Keigan Cummings, Kasson-Mantorville 26
AA-3
Reagan Essig, Triton 37
Brooklyn Pettis, Minneapolis North 30
Alyvia Engler, Plainview-Elgin-Millville 25
A-4
Anna Neyens, Mountain Iron-Buhl 29
Jensyn Storhoff, Lanesboro 28
Lainey Braulick, BOLD 25
Aubry Boldt, Houston 25
RANKED RESULTS
Winner High 99 Northome/Kelliher
Winner Low 47 Silver Bay & Heron Lake-Okabena/Fulda
Loser High 88 Hillcrest Lutheran
Loser Low 6 Hmong Academy
Biggest Margin 73 Hope Academy v Hmong Academy
Smallest Margin 1 Chanhassen v New Prague; Hermantown v Mesabi East; Rochester Lourdes v Kasson-Mantorville
Most Combined: 181 Wheaton/Herman-Norcross v Hillcrest Lutheran
Least combined: 64 Minneapolis Washburn v Minneapolis Roosevelt
Margins 30 or more 29
Margins 5 or less 15
Average 53.65
Winner Average 64.97
Loser Average 42.34
Average margin 22.63
Average combined: 107.31
Ranked Upsets: For the second time this year #5AAA Orono topped defending AAA state champion Benilde-St. Margaret’s. This time it was convincing 77-51 at home. The ranks of undefeated are one less as #2 Hillcrest Lutheran was bumped off by Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 93-88. #9AAAA Lakeville North stopped #4AA Minnehaha 75-48. Technically a bigger class beating a smaller class doesn’t fall in the “upset” category, but the margin was perhaps surprisingly large.
AAAA Ave 53.81
AAA Ave 57.96
AA Ave 50.28
A Ave 54.43
AAA wins the day with A coming in second 3.53 behind. AAAA takes third with AA getting socked by single digit scores by Hmong Academy (6) dragging the average down. A 13 and six scores in the 20s didn’t help either.
AAAA
#1 Maple Grove 70, Rogers 33
#6 Prior Lake 55, Shakopee 33
#9 Lakeville North 75, #4AA Minnehaha 48
AAA
#4 Alexandria 76, Willmar 45
#5 Orono 77, #3AA Benilde-St. Margaret’s 51
AA
#9 Proctor 63, #10A Braham 42
#10 Jordan 82, New Ulm 65
A
#1 Goodhue 64, #6AA Caledonia 60
Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 93, #2 Hillcrest Lutheran 88
#4Mountain Iron-Buhl 84, Cherry 39
#6 Kittson County Central 78, Red Lake County 44
ABOUT LAST NIGHT….#1A Goodhue v #6AA Caledonia
Yesterday afternoon my car was repaired. It broke down last Monday when I was going to chart Caledonia at Mayer Lutheran. With the Warriors on the road at Goodhue it was an opportunity to good to let slip by. First it had two ranked teams; both leaders of their respective conferences—Caledonia in the Three Rivers; Goodhue in the Hiawatha Valley. Second both are odds on favorites to be the #1 seed in their sections. Technically Goodhue is not “metro” by any stretch, but I broke the self imposed mileage limitation. The roads were ideal and the travel time was ok with a one hour and twenty minute window.
As for the game both teams play a physical brand and that was the case right from the start. There was a loose ball scrum at the 11:15 mark in the first half that resulted in a Goodhue technical. Still the game remained physical. At that point (after the free throws & ensuing inbounding) the visiting Warriors led 14-11. They maintained that advantage up to a 24-19 spread with 5:19 to go. But the Wildcats were gold behind the arc in the first half hitting seven times at 47%. In the final 5:19 stretch in the first half Goodhue outscored their guests 20-6. At the start of that string Goodhue was in the midst of a seven straight scoring spree which included three 3s. All five starters converted in the first half behind the arc. Caledonia had issues with fouls. Aubrie Klug, one of their top scorers, had more fouls (3) than points (2) at the break. She was a collective 1/11 from 2s and 3s at that point. Goodhue was in the driver’s seat 39-30 at half.
Caledonia scored the first two times they touched the ball in the second half slicing their deficit to five (39-34). Then they went on a 13-possession drought, eight of which ended in turnovers. Oddly enough Goodhue only squeezed three points off those miscues. But Goodhue took advantage of that lack of scoring action and stretched out to a 51-34 lead, their high-water mark, with eleven minutes left in the game. Things looked bleak for the Warriors. Then a transformation came about. Soon the deficit was a distant memory and Goodhue was looking to hold on. Klug shook off the rust and started to ramp up her scoring. She scored 17 of her team high 21 points in that stretch going a collective 6/9 from the floor which included four 3s. With five minutes to go Goodhue led 57-47. She nailed two straight 3s on the next two Caledonia possessions (the middle of a four possession run) and the margin was now 57-52 with 3:52 left. We had now entered crunch/clutch time (according to NBA stats). Another two straight 3 possession string with Klug doing the scoring put them up 58-57 with two minutes to go. Klug was like a microwave scoring four 3s and 13 points in the span of three minutes (or seven possessions). What was ice was now red hot molten lava. Goodhue down this stretch was 1/9 and ¼ from the 2s and 3s almost 180 opposite their start. But they responded to the challenge. Goodhue’s Ava Walaker was fouled on a 3 attempt from the right corner and calmly converted all three free throws to put the Wildcats back in front 60-58. Goodhue would score their next two possessions after that to secure the win.
This game was kind of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde affair for both teams at various points. Goodhue was more consistent with a pp100 that ended the night at 86.5. Caledonia wasn’t that far behind at 82.2. But it was when. In the first half Goodhue was right at 100 scoring every 4.33 touches. Caledonia was 78.9 and with a few more touches on their score at 6.23. The last 11 minutes Caledonia won 26-13 with corresponding pp100s of 130 to 65.5. Down the stretch Caledonia remained hot in crunch time 133.3 and Goodhue regained a balance striking back to 100.
Both teams had one player that fell one point away from the 41 Club. Kendyl Lodermeier led Goodhue with 24 points. She also added 14 d stops and two distributions. She did set up her teammates 15 times, they just didn’t score off her pass. Matching her 40 score was Josie Foster with 10 points, 17 d stops and 13 distributions on 25 set ups.
Three point shooting was important. In the first half Nicole Banse was three for three for Caledonia. She didn’t get a chance to take another in the second half. Going one better at four for four for the game was Goodhue’s Mackenzie Lodermeier.
No one was more Jekyll and Hyde than Klug. She had four points in the first 25 minutes of play, 17 in the last 11 minutes.
DAY AHEAD
A busy Friday with 105 games on tap, five of which have ranked v ranked opponents.
RANKED V RANKED
#4AAAA Eastview at #10AAAA Rosemount
#5AAAA Wayzata at #8AAAA Minnetonka
#9AAA Delano at #10AA Jordan
#5AA Sauk Centre at #7AA Minnewaska
#3A Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s at #5A Mayer Lutheran
OTHER RANKED:
AAAA: #2 Hopkins; #3 Eden Prairie #9 Lakeville North;
AAA: #1 Marshall; #2 Monticello; #6 DeLaSalle; #7 Hill-Murray;
AA: #2 Crosby-Ironton; #3 New London-Spicer
A: #1 Goodhue; #7 Central MN Christian; #8 Breckenridge; #9 Hancock; #10 Braham