Thursday Reports 3.6.2025

D1 HIGH FIVE

Liv McGill, Florida, Hopkins 29

Gianna Kneepkens, Utah, Duluth Marshall 23

Olivia Olson, Michigan, Benilde-St. Margaret’s 21

Adalia McKenzie, Illinois, Park Center 16

Kierra Wheeler, Norfolk State, Cooper 15

Totals: 104

Conference tournaments are in full swing. All five above were either state champs, or had a chance to be except for the virus. Olson & McKenzie were Miss Basketball winners.

 

POINT PARADE

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

AAAA-2

Autumn McCall, Centennial 29

Jordan Ode, Maple Grove 25

AAA-3

Aneisha Scott, DeLaSalle 29

Mya Wilson, Hill-Murray 27

Chloe Nuss, Totino-Grace 25

AA-0

A-0

RANKED RESULTS

Winner High 74 Benilde-St. Margaret’s; Hopkins; Eastview

Winner Low 40 White Bear Lake

Loser High 69 Rosemount

Loser Low 27 Grand Meadow

Biggest Margin 40 Maple Grove v Park Center

Smallest Margin 1 White Bear Lake v Roseville

Most Combined: 143 Eastview v Rosemount

Least combined: 73 Goodhue v Grand Meadow

Margins 30 or more 1

Margins 5 or less 6

Average 56.72

Winner Average 62.94

Loser Average 50.50

Ranked Average 63.94

Nonranked Average 49.50

Average margin 12.44

Average combined: 113.44

Ranked over Ranked upsets: Hopkins over Wayzata; BSM over Orono;

Unranked over ranked Upsets: Brainerd over STMA; Cromwell-Wright over MIB; Chaska over Minnetonka

AAAA Ave 55.29

AAA Ave 64.17

AA Ave 51.75

A Ave 48.50

Whew! A whipsaw night with plenty of stunners.

Three teams that were either #3 or #4 seeds in the section tournaments are in the state tournament when last year all #1s made the AAAA event. So far this year only three #1s are in from AAAA. The AAA could have seven of the eight teams #1. The exception? Defending champion Benilde-St. Margaret’s. Byron would be the seventh #1 in that class to make it.

The Lake Conference, who had as many as five teams in the top ten, only will be putting up Hopkins. The NW Suburban, Central Lakes, Suburban East, and the Metro West will have two each. The South Suburban could have two. Hold on to your hats….the conference that could have the most is the West Central. Minnewaska is in. Sauk Centre, West Central, and BOLD could join the Lakers. That would be a whopping four. All have 20 wins.

There were three unrankeds stopping a ranked team last night. Brainerd overwhelmed St. Michael-Albertville in the second half 47-26 in pulling their upset. Cromwell-Wright got revenge for an earlier loss to Mountain Iron-Buhl. Chaska did the same with their victory over Minnetonka. Both Brainerd and Chaska were in the top 10 poll briefly this season. CW did not get a spot.

There were some narrow escapes last night with more tight games (as should be expected) and only one game that made running time status. The tightest was the one point win of White Bear Lake over Roseville. Anoka had a one possession win over Centennial. Both WBL and Anoka did not reach 50. #1AAA Monticello dodged a bullet with an overtime win over Totino-Grace. The year before the Eagles edged out the Magic. Another team that failed to reach 50 was #1A Goodhue.

AAAA

2

#4 Chaska 55, #3 Minnetonka 52

3

#1 Eastview 74, #3 Rosemount 69

4

#3 White Bear Lake 40, #4 Roseville 39

5

#1 Maple Grove 68, #6 Park Center 28

6

#2 Hopkins 74, #1 Wayzata 60

7

#1 Anoka 47, #2 Centennial 44

8

#3 Brainerd 70, #1 St. Michael-Albertville 54

AAA

3

#1 Cretin-Derham Hall 65, #2 Two Rivers 53

4

#1 DeLaSalle 69, #2 Hill-Murray 65

5

#1 Monticello 73, #2 Totino-Grace 66 OT

6

#2 Benilde-St. Margaret’s 74, #1 Orono 53

7

#1 Rock Ridge 73, #2 Hermantown 54

8

#1 Alexandria 73, #2 Fergus Falls 52

AA

1

#1 Caledonia 63, #2 Dover-Eyota 53

3

#2N Minnewaska 53, #2S Fairmont 38

A

1

#1 Goodhue 46, #3 Grand Meadow 27

3

#2N MACCRAY 54, #1S Hills-Beaver Creek 44

7

#2 Cromwell-Wright 62, #1 Mountain Iron-Buhl 58

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

Three on a match is hard. It is much harder when a player is injured. This was kind of a theme for the night along with Hopkins v Wayzata.

During the course of the year Orono topped defending champ Benilde-St. Margaret’s twice. The first time came at BSM on January 7 76-68. Round two at home had an even bigger margin 77-51. In those two games Ally Moore had 11 and 17. Thursday night she was wearing a boot and was unavailable. This was the second game she had missed and that cut into the Spartans rhythm and depth.

The Red Knights were laser focused at the start. Zahara Bishop on the first BSM possession struck a 3 and then after an Orono turnover the Red Knights were up 5-0. Less than 30 seconds had expired. That set the tone. The visitors had a dozen on the scoreboard before Orono connected on their seventh possession. BSM should have been called the Red Hot Knights in the first half as they nailed nine 3s. Their starters were almost invincible at 8/11 or 73%. They were just as effective at 2s with 67%. As a team they were at 134.2 pp100 the first 18 minutes as they led 51-23. The starters were even sharper at 160. The lowest starter checked in with a 125 pp100. Kendall McGee delivered a 200 pp100. Mya Moore had to do the heavy lifting for the Spartans. She ended up with a game high 21 points, 16 of which came in the first half. To indicate the struggles on offense Orono needed 10.35 touches for every point, BSM only 2.98.

There was regression to the mean in the second half. Still BSM was in control. They stretched the lead to 72-41 with about six minutes left and they started to pull starters. Orono outscored the visitors 12-2 the rest of the way.

For the game BSM had a 107.2 pp100; Orono 75.7. One interesting note in this game each team was gold at the line with a perfect 8/8 on both sides.

The only 31 Clubber in this game was Moore with 32. She had 21 points and a 91.3 pp100. The best of a balanced BSM squad came from Kendall McGee with 28. She had 10 points, 8 d stops, was 10/18 on her distributions and had zero turnovers on 64 touches. Her pp100 was a healthy 166.7.

No doubt McGee will be looking forward to playing in the state tournament. She went down with an injury as a soph in the semis. She missed the entire 2023-24 campaign.

REVISED SEEDING THE STATE (BIG CLASS)

With seven of the eight sections decided and with heavy carnage on the AAAA side it is time to adjust the seeds. AAA seems to be the tournament with the best field going forward. Seven of the eight are #1 seeds with defending champ Benilde-St. Margaret’s a extremely strong 2. The revisions for AA & A will have to wait until Saturday’s posting.

AAAA

1. Hopkins (6)
2. Maple Grove (5)
3. Eastview (3)
4. Lakeville North/Rochester Mayo (1)
5. Chaska (2)
6. Brainerd (8)
7. Anoka (7)
8. White Bear Lake (4)

AAA

1. Benilde-St. Margaret’s (6)
2. Monticello (5)
3. Marshall (2)
4. Alexandria (8)
5. DeLaSalle (4)
6. Byron/Stewartville (1)
7. Rock Ridge (7)
8. Cretin-Derham Hall (3)

DAY AHEAD

The final 13 teams will punch their tickets to state.

RANKED V RANKED

#1AA Providence v #10AA Jordan at Augsburg

#2AA Crosby-Ironton v #9AA Proctor at UMD

OTHER RANKED

AAAA: #10 Lakeville North

AAA: #8 Byron

AA: #4 Minnehaha; #7 Sauk Centre

A: #4 Mayer Lutheran; #5 Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s; #6 Northome-Kelliher;  #7 Braham; #9 West Central