MN GBB: Wednesday 2.26.2025 reports; High Five; 9 Paraders; Ranked Results; the Day Ahead & a review of Richfield v Holy Angels

Wednesday 2.26.2025 reports.

D1 HIGH FIVE

Jo Langbehn, St. Thomas MN, Elk River 28

Jade Hill, St. Thomas MN, Minneapolis South 25

Ronnie Porter, Wisconsin, St. Paul Como Park 13

Annika Stewart, Minnesota, Wayzata 13

Lily Fandre, Lehigh, Eagan 11

Macy Smith, Oakland, Spring Lake Park 11

Totals: 90

D2 HIGH FIVE

Abby Berge, MSU Moorhead, Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa 10

Kylan Gerads, St. Cloud State, Albany 10

Kristi Kottke, St. Cloud State, Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart 6

Rachel Kottke, St. Cloud State, Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart 6

Maya Fitzpatrick, Wayne State NE, Champlin Park 4

Totals: 36

D1 drubs D2 today. True there were only four teams in action at D2 with one not featuring a Minnesota player. Still three of the D2 HF were single digits. Another day where six players squeeze into five slots at D1. All were AAAA players except for Porter who was AAA. The NW Suburban had the post conference points with 43 (across both divisions). City schools came up with 38. With the D2 three came from A; one AA and one AAAA.

POINT PARADE-9

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

AAAA-5

Mara Holle, Blaine 28

Amisha Ramlall, Rosemount 26

Kate Arnold, Chanhassen 25

Kendal Damon, Forest Lake 25

Mya Tautges, Brainerd 25

AAA-4

Madison Ohm, Byron 32

Lexi Lamppa, Rock Ridge 30

Pressley Watkins, Benilde-St. Margaret’s 28

Audrey Shindelar, Stewartville 27

TOP OF THE CLASS (GRAD)

2025 Mara Holle, Blaine 28

2026 Madison Ohm, Byron 32

2027 Pressley Watkins, Benilde-St. Margaret’s 28

RANKED RESULTS

Winner High 96 Benilde-St. Margaret’s

Winner Low 42 Owatonna

Loser High 64 New Prague

Loser Low 13 Minneapolis Edison

Biggest Margin 80 Two Rivers v Minneapolis Roosevelt

Smallest Margin 4 Owatonna v Lakeville South

Most Combined: 138 Benilde-St. Margaret’s v Mound-Westonka

Least combined: 75 Red Wing v Faribault

Margins 30 or more 19

Margins 5 or less 3

Average 54.83

Winner Average 69.43

Loser Average 40.22

Ranked Average 78.23

Nonranked Average 50.97

Average margin 29.22

Average combined: 109.65

Ranked Upsets: none

AAAA Ave 55.39

AAA Ave 54.26

Three upsets last night with two 5s over 4s and one 6 over a 3. Owatonna, who had up to a few weeks ago, the longest winning streak going in AAAA fell to #6 seed, but they traveled to Lakeville South and caged the #3 Cougars 42-38 in 1AAAA action. #5 Andover needed an extra four minutes to get by #4 Blaine in 7AAAA. The last 5 over 4 was Northfield over Austin in 1AAA.

The story of the night was the #2s crushing #7s. No one was “Irondaled” last night. The average #2 score was 73.31 to 35.69 with the average margin 37.62. Eight of the 13 contests ended up in running time. The tightest 2v7 match came at Elk River with the Elks topping school district rival Rogers 58-49—eleven points.

AAAA

1

#1 Lakeville North 71, #8 Rochester Century 38

#2 Rochester Mayo 58, #3 Rochester JM 40

#4 Farmington 71, #5 New Prague 64

#6 Owatonna 42, #3 Lakeville South 38

2

#2 Prior Lake 74, #7 Shakopee 23

#3 Minnetonka 78, #6 Waconia 36

#4 Chaska 74, #5 Chanhassen 62

3

#2 Eagan 72, #7 Burnsville 57

#3 Rosemount 85, #6 Bloomington Jefferson 41

#4 Hastings 58, #5 Park-Cottage Grove 42

4

#2 Stillwater 61, #7 St. Paul Central 26

#3 White Bear Lake 62, #6 Tartan 39

#4 Roseville 61, #5 Woodbury 42

6

#2 Hopkins 94, #7 St. Louis Park 29

#3 Edina 72, #6 Minneapolis Southwest 38

#4 Armstrong 56, #5 Minneapolis Washburn 45

7

#2 Centennial 64, #7 Duluth East 42

#3 Forest Lake 62, #6 Cambridge-Isanti

#5 Andover 62, #4 Blaine 57 OT

8

#1 St. Michael-Albertville 65, #8 Bemidji 41

#2 Elk River 58, #7 Rogers 49

#3 Brainerd 67, #6 Moorhead 53

#4 Sartell 66, #5 Buffalo 61

AAA

1

#1 Byron 69, #8 Winona 36

#2 Red Wing 45, #7 Faribault 30

#3 Stewartville 60, #6 Kasson-Mantorville 53

#5 Northfield 68, #4 Austin 57

2

#2 New Ulm 87, #7 Worthington 42

#3 St. Peter 80, #6 Hutchinson 57

#4 Mankato West 57, #5 Mankato East 44

3

#1 Cretin-Derham Hall 82, #8 St. Paul Highland Park 14

#2 Two Rivers 95 #7 Minneapolis Roosevelt 15

#3 St. Paul Como Park 61, #6 Simley 21

#4 South St. Paul 51, #5 Minneapolis South 34

4

#1 DeLaSalle 88, #8 Minneapolis Edison 13

#2 Hill-Murray 81, #7 Minneapolis Camden 36

#3 Mahtomedi 69, #6 North St. Paul 42

#4 St. Anthony 68, #5 Blake 45

6

#1 Orono 77, #8 Cooper 16

#2 Benilde-St. Margaret’s 96, #7 Mound-Westonka 42

#3 Delano 74, #6 Bloomington Kennedy 38

#4 Richfield 66, #5 Holy Angels 52

7

#1 Rock Ridge 92, #8 Hibbing 22

#2 Hermantown 68, #7 Duluth Denfeld 33

#3 North Branch 60, #6 Chisago Lakes 45

#4 Cloquet 67, #5 Grand Rapids 48

ABOUT LAST NIGHT…..Richfield v Holy Angels

Section 6AAA is a rough section. Richfield and Holy Angels met for the third time this year as a #4 and #5 seed. This was the rubber game with the Spartans winning the first meeting at home 71-59, and the Stars taking the last contest seven days ago on Wednesday 65-57. Both teams are 19-8 now. Richfield got the fourth seed and used a strong second half punctuated with the Stars going on droughts to advance to the semifinals at Orono Saturday against the #1 seed Spartans.

The first half and second half were a tale of collapse (shooting) for HA, and consistency for Richfield. At the end of 18 minutes both teams were tied at 31. Richfield at that point had  a pp100 of 100. At the end of 36 minutes it was the same score. HA had a better number in the first half at 103.3. For the second half it plummeted to 60. A big reason was the three point shooting. In the first half the Stars were shining with 6/13 from long distance. The second half was a 180 turnaround with only 1/11 behind the arc. Two other factors played a big role in the Richfield win. The Spartans’ offensive rebound rate was a whopping 55%. Remember the average in the NBA is about 27%. They had 17 second chance opportunities for the night. HA wasn’t too far off with an offensive board rate of 42.6%, still a healthy amount with 14 second chancers. Richfield won the total rebound war 49-38. The other factor was at the free throw line. There was almost a 180 differential here too…at least with attempts. Richfield only tried four in the first half and ended up with 17. Now some of that was at the end of the game when HA was trying to get the ball back quickly. Five of the last six Richfield possessions involved some sort of free throw. HA tried ten in the first half, but added only six more in the second half.

The consistency of Richfield also came from the youth on their bench. They provided 27 points and a 128.6 pp100 for the game. The Spartans’ leading scorer was Iona MacNabb off the bench with 18 points and a healthy 180 pp100. She had the range behind the arc with four deliveries on nine attempts. 8th grader Zuri Hayes scored five, but her value added was 11. Earlier in the year against Fridley I charted Richfield and Desirai Chappell made the 31 Club. Her ability to get to the rim was limited last night, but her value added was 17.  The HA fans around me also were insistent in reminding players that #14 (senior Anilya Johnson) knew how to knock down 3s. She had three.

HA tied the game at 31 right at the end of the first half on a 90 foot foul. They then started the second half with the ball. They would not score until their eighth possession. Richfield moved back in front slightly. The Spartans stretched their lead to 42-35 after a MacNabb 3. HA kept within shouting distance at 50-47 with about six minutes to go. I was expecting crunch/clutch time action. It never arrived. HA’s offense went into a nine-possession siesta as Richfield scored twelve unanswered points to lead 62-47 with 40.9 seconds left. HA was only able to get one shot at the rim during that stretch. Five of their shots came either from 3 or elbow type shots. Three of those possessions ended on turnovers.

The top performer of the night did go to HA with senior Celia Lind scoring a game high 20 with a 111.1 pp100. But her help evaporated in the second half. She also had the best 31 Club score from either squad with 28.

DAY AHEAD

Thursday happens to be the busiest day this week with 78 games—most of them will be first round action in A and AA classes. There are no AAAA contests. AAA has seven games with sections 5 and 8 in quarterfinal mode. Class A will have eight ranked teams taking steps to Williams Arena. But the biggest game will be at Marshall with the first ranked team destined to fall. Why? Two are facing each other in the 3AA North championship: 3 New London-Spicer and #6 Minnewaska. The Wildcats won the only previous match up at NLS by seven in early December.

RANKED V RANKED

#3 (#1seed) New London-Spicer v #6 (#2seed) Minnewaska in the 3AA North semis at SW MN State.

OTHER RANKED

AAA: #1 Monticello

AA: see above

A: #2 Mountain Iron-Buhl; #3 Breckenridge; #5 Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s; #6 Northome/Kelliher; #7 Braham; #8 Kittson County Central; #9 West Central; #10 Hillcrest Lutheran

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