Reports from Monday 2.17.2025
D1 HIGH FIVE
Olivia Olson, Michigan, Benilde-St. Margaret’s 26
Kierra Wheeler, Norfolk State, Cooper 18
Liza Karlen, Notre Dame, Stillwater 3
Totals 47
A high trio. Two won state titles, Karlen made it to a final. When these players were active Cooper was AAA so a two AAA and one AAAA in the class breakdown. Cooper now is back in AAAA.
POINT PARADE-8
Parade starts at 25. If there is a player missing email kja8067@gmail.com
AAAA-0
AAA-1
Hadley Thul, Alexandria 37
AA-2
Maddyn Greenway, Providence 41
Kallin McColm, Holy Family 28
A-5
Morgan Mathiowetz, Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s 38
Kate Thayer, Northome/Kelliher 33
Anna Neyens, Mountain Iron-Buhl 31
Kylee Binkley, Northome/Kelliher 29
Kara Henning, Heritage Christian 27
TOP OF THE CLASS (GRAD)
2025: Hadley Thul, Alexandria 37
2026: Maddyn Greenway, Providence 41
2027: Morgan Mathiowetz, Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s 38
2028:
RANKED RESULTS
Winner High 89 Northome/Kelliher, Providence
Winner Low 34 St. Paul Humboldt
Loser High 75 Alexandria
Loser Low 14 Lincoln International
Biggest Margin 50 Nicollet v Medford; Cromwell-Wright v Barnum
Smallest Margin 2 Mountain Lake/Comfrey v Adrian/Ellsworth
Most Combined: 164 Providence v Alexandria
Least combined: 55 St. Paul Humboldt v Hiawatha Collegiate
Margins 30 or more 12
Margins 5 or less 4
Average 51.03
Winner Average 61.74
Loser Average 40.31
Average margin 21.44
Average combined: 102.1
Ranked Upsets: none
AAAA Ave none
AAA Ave 54.00 1-3
AA Ave 49.36 12-10
A Ave 51.36 24-26
AAA wins the point production contest despite losing three of the four games played. AA is the lowest point production despite having the best winning percentage of any class.
AA
#1 Providence 89, #5AAA Alexandria 75
A
#4 Mountain Iron-Buhl 81, Ogilvie 45
#6 Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s 65, Mankato Loyola 29
#8 Braham 60, Mora 24
MILESTONES
Senior Hope Counts of Providence reached the 1000 point mark in the win over Alexandria.
SEEDS
Earlier we posted 1AA & 1A seeds. here are the lastest seeds
AA
2: #1 Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton; #2 NRHEG; #3 Tri-City United
3N: #1 New London-Spicer; #2 Minnewaska; #3 Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg
3S: #1 Jackson County Central; #2 Fairmont; #3 Windom
A
2: #1 Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s; #2 BOLD; #3 Sleepy Eye
3N: #1 Central MN Christian; #2 MACCRAY; #3 Minneota
3S: #1 Hills-Beaver Creek; #2 Adrian/Ellsworth; #3 Southwest MN Christian
ABOUT LAST NIGHT…..Providence v Alexandria
Providence completed their Minnesota portion of their schedule with a make up game against Alexandria and for the 24th time this season came away a winner in an 89-75 victory at home. Originally this game was supposed to take place on Saturday, January 18. What was significant in this victory is for the 15th time this year the Lions have beaten a ranked team. Providence has taken down currently ranked AAAA teams #1, #2, #3, #8, #9; AAA teams #2, #5 (Monday’s opponent Alexandria), #7; and AA teams #4 (twice); and #8. Throw in Iowa’s #2 in class 5A. Awaiting next is a road trip to Wisconsin to face #9 in D1 (Hortonville) on Friday; the Lions then face Green Bay Notre Dame on Saturday.
What also was significant was the fact that the Cardinals had the tightest margin (14) since an eleven-point win at Jordan on January 28. Providence has had three wins under ten points all year with the closest coming against Dowling Catholic of Iowa 71-69 at the WBL Thanksgiving Tip-Off.
Some other key parts to this game: Hope Counts got to the 1000 point level at the 12:31 mark in the first half on a put back. That pushed Providence to a 16-8 lead. Alex would compete throughout the game and battled back to tie it up at 22. That forced a Providence time out at the 9:21 mark. The game still remained tight with both team’s leading scorers delivering key baskets. Senior Hadley Thul from Alex and Maddyn Greenway are the tent poles for their respective teams. And the Lions caught fire toward the end of the first half and left the Cards in the dust with a 21-6 close over the last six minutes. Providence’s consistency was sharp scoring strings of four sprinkled with twos. Their dry patches usually lasted one possession during this time. At the break Greenway had 24 points and had already made the 31 Club with three to spare. Thul was nipping at the heels with 18 points and was well on the way to the 31 Club with a 26 score.
The second half saw Providence continue to roll, pushing their 49-33 half-time advantage to 60-38 and at the widest 76-50 with about ten minutes left. Alex was still fighting and Thul was knocking down almost every shot. She finished 7/8 from 2s was 5/10 on 3s and 8/10 at the free throw line for 37 points on the day. That put her in the 51 Club with one to spare. Greenway won the scoring battle with 41 points and won the 31 (or 51 Club) with a score of 59. But interestingly down the stretch Thul switched over to guard Greenway and the junior guard did not score again the last ten minutes. In fact, Alex dominated the end of the night 25-13 or translated 138.9 pp100 to 72. 2. Providence was struggling to score with one point scored every 6.23 touches. Alex got hot at 3.72 touches. The problem for the visitors was the deficit hole was too steep.
As a whole Providence had 111.2 pp100 for the game, down slightly from the 116.7 they enjoyed at half. Alex improved from 80.5 at half to 96.2 for the game. Part of that improvement can be tied to being more aggressive on the offensive boards. They were rebounding at a 26.1% clip in the first half. For the game it improved to 38.5. That means they were getting after their own misses at a 48.3% clip. Alex also was more aggressive to the rim gathering more free throw attempts. They were getting to the line every 19.1 touches in the first half; and 13.75 for the game. Alex won the free throw attempt battle 28-11. They made more free throws (19) than Providence attempted (11).
Providence had a couple of players that helped lift the burdens. Newly minted 1000-point member Counts also got to the 31 Club with two to spare. Guard Emma Millerbernd was one off membership. Alex did not have any other players near 31.
Not every team has a 6-2 Hadley Thul that has the shooting range plus the mobility to guard a dynamo like Greenway. The impact of this finish may not be a good sign for Providence opponents going forward as they will look for exclamation points at the end of the night.
DAY AHEAD
The busiest day of the week has 135 games in store plus the sections start. AAAA has nine ranked teams in play. The first section game is a pig tail game in 1AA with St. Charles at LaCrescent.
RANKED V RANKED
#2AAAA Hopkins at #8AAAA St. Michael-Albertville
#4AA Minnehaha at #4AAAA Wayzata
OTHER RANKED
AAAA: #3 Eastview; #5 Eden Prairie; #6 Prior Lake; #7 Minnetonka; #9 Lakeville North; #10 Elk River
AAA: #1 Monticello; #2 Orono; #4 Benilde-St. Margaret’s; #7 Hill-Murray; #8 Byron; #9 Mahtomedi; #10 Delano
AA: #6 Minnewaska; #7 Sauk Centre; #8 Duluth Marshall; #9 Proctor; #10 Visitation
A: #2 Mayer Lutheran; #4 Kittson County Central; #5 Breckenridge; #6 Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s; #7 Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa;