D1

There were 14 teams in action on Saturday.

*Jada Hood, St. Thomas MN, Roseville 22-W

*Jenna Guyer, Green Bay, Centennial 19-L

*Alyssa Sand, St. Thomas MN, Albany 17-W

*Olivia Olson, Michigan, Benilde-St. Margaret’s 16-W

*Piper Carlson, Idaho State, St. Michael-Albertville 12-W

Totals: 86 points, 4-1

Guyer and Hood set a new personal bests.

Olson and Sand now join McGill in the lead for the most entries with nine.

Three AAAA, and one each from AAA and A. All made the state tournament. Olson and Carlson won titles.

D2

There were 28 teams in action on Saturday.

Natalie Bremer, MSU Mankato, Lake City 25-W

Taryn Hamling, Minot State, Grand Rapids 25-W

Kassandra Caron, Bemidji State, Holy Angels 24-L

Teshaya Anderson, Point Park, Osseo 22-W

Vivica Bretton, Winona State, Rochester Lourdes 20-W

Anna Westby, UM Crookston, Rock Ridge 20-L

Nicole Maenke, Southwest MN State, Shakopee 20-W

Totals: 116 points, 5-2

Bretton is the 56 player to join the D2 HF listings.

Anderson and Westby set a new personal bests.

The only one of the seven NOT to get to state was Anderson.

There were three AAA; two AAAA and AA players.

D3

23 teams played on Saturday.

Katie Boulanger, Wartburg, New Prague 25-W

Lydia Schmitter, Northwestern MN, United Christian 23-W

Sydney Cotton, Crown MN, Grand Meadow 21-W

Hope Carlson, UW Superior, Proctor 20-L

Haylie Strum, Luther, Stewartville 20-L

Totals: 109 points; 3-2.

Boulanger, Carlson and Strum join the D3 HF list for the first time pushing the totals to 54.

Cotton and Schmitter set a new personal bests.

There were two A; and one each from AAAA, AAA, and AA.

DAY AHEAD

AAAA

#1 Hopkins 102, St. Paul Como Park 55

#2 Minnetonka 75, Moorhead 21

#9 Waconia 77, Eagan 67

AAA

No ranked action

AA

#2 Crosby-Ironton 62, Anoka 57

#6 Caledonia 77, LaCrescent-Hokah 27

#6 Red Wing 52, Mankato East 28

A

#8 Mayer Lutheran 59, #10 Hayfield/Schaeffer Academy 50

#6 Central MN Christian 65, Hull Western Christian, IA 39

POINT PARADE

Missing? Contact kja8067@gmail.com with name and point totals.

AAAA & AAA—none reported

AA

Aubrie Klug, Caledonia 28

A

Clara Keaveny, Mayer Lutheran 28

RANKED RESULTS

Winner High 102 Hopkins

Winner Low 36 Bloomington Kennedy

Loser High 67 Eagan

Loser Low 21 Moorhead

Biggest Margin 60 Menahga v Verndale

Smallest Margin 3 Bloomington Kennedy v Bloomington Jefferson, Dassel-Cokato v Blake

Most Combined: 157 Hopkins v St. Paul Como Park

Least combined: 69 Bloomington Kennedy v Bloomington Jefferson

Margins 30 or more 12 (31.58%)

Margins 5 or less 6 (15.79%)

Average 54.013

Winner Average 65.84

Loser Average 42.18

Ranked Average 68.78

Nonranked Average 52.03

Average margin 23.66

Average combined: 108.03

Ranked losses: one

AAAA Ave 60.417

AAA Ave 50.917

AA Ave 57.538

A Ave 49.591

ABOUT LAST NIGHT…..MAYER LUTHERAN V HAYFIELD / SCHAEFFER ACADEMY

Keeping with the ranked v ranked theme this week #8 Mayer Lutheran won a battle of ranked A teams on Saturday afternoon in Mayer knocking off the #10 Vikings of Hayfield (& Schaeffer Academy—a private school in Rochester 32.5 miles away from the Vikings home). The Crusaders record is now 5-4, but that is misleading in a sense. All four of those losses have come to ranked teams including (at the time) AAA Totino-Grace. Their schedule has been beefed up on the front end, because their MCAA conference will not feature power teams. The Vikings 4-2 with their only other loss to AA (and former 1A power) Goodhue.

String theory played a big part in this game. The Vikings scored right off the tip and led 10-5 with 12:43 remaining in the first half. Starting at possession 12 for ML, the Crusaders scored four straight times and grabbed a 13-10 lead. Twice in that sequence Clara Keaveny had steals that ended up as Crusader points either on transition or a put back. After two possessions off, ML cobbled together another three-possession string starting on possession 17. Clara Keaveny had five in that burst capped by an &one with 8:46 left in the half. ML led 20-12 at this stage. But fouls forced ML to dip into their bench. Hayfield put together their first string starting on possession 27 they had a six-possession scoring spree turning a 22-16 deficit into a 27-22 advantage. ML had shifted to their 1/3/1 zone during this point to protect them from foul issues. Four different Vikings contributed in this run led by recent 1000-point scorer Lily Morrisey with five of the 11 points. Hayfield went to the locker room up 33-26.

The home team got their third run of the game (three possessions) starting at possession seven. That cut the Hayfield lead to 35-33. Again defense keyed that spurt with two straight steals. That also prompted a Hayfield time out at the 13:45 mark. That stopped the bleeding for a while, but the Viking offense wasn’t producing. Clara Keaveny again used an &one for the Crusaders to go back in front 40-37 with 10:26 to go. Both teams were getting in rhythm a few possessions later with Hayfield starting off on a run of three and Hayfield joining in with their own three string. When the dust settled ML led 49-43 with 6:53 left. Neither side added any three string (or more) scores after that point. ML stretched their advantage to 59-47 before a late 3 by Christopherson ended the scoring and the game.

The officiating was tight throughout the game with a combined 41 fouls being whistled. Neither side exploited that advantage at the free throw line keeping below the season average (unfortunately—I want closer to 70%, not 60%). One player fouled out for Hayfield with a pair with four fouls. ML also had a pair with four fouls. The Vikings Jenna Christopherson drew the most fouls with seven. She also was 6/9 at the line.

Team	Pt	PP100	OR/DR	FTm/a	2m/a	3m/a	TO/TOTO
Mayer Lutheran	59	72.5	7/32	14/23	9/24	6/17	25/12.64
Hayfield	50	84.3	13/26	17/29	18/40	2/17	13/29.15

Clara Keaveny was the force in this game no doubt. She reached the elevated 51 Club with a 53 score. She was golden at 116.7 pp100. But it was definitely on defense where Keaveny shined. She had 20 d stops including seven steals. Off the ball, when ML was playing man, she would read the pass, snag it and then take off down court. On those seven steals the Crusaders converted six of seven times. When she sat down with fouls in the two fouls with 5:08 left in the first half ML led 22-16. The Vikings lived it up when she sat, outscoring the hosts 17-4 the rest of the half. When she was on the court ML “won” 55-33. The best Hayfielder was Christopherson with 26, five off the mark.

Hayfield has a stiffer road in the postseason. ML is in 4A which has not had a history of competitive foes. Hayfield, now dropping down to A, has NRHEG, also a drop down who made state last year from section 2AA, among other teams, to battle through. The Panthers also have productive twins on their roster.

I now have seen half the top ten in A, the second best mark after the complete ten for ten in AAAA.

UNBEATEN

Look out below. We went from 58 to 33. Expect more to drop this week. Only A has more than ten teams left.

AAAA: 6 Alexandria, Forest Lake, Minnetonka, Park Center, Rosemount, Spring Lake Park

Leaving the list Elk River and Waconia

AAA: 4 Benilde-St. Margaret’s, Little Falls, Minneapolis Roosevelt, Richfield

Leaving the list Fergus Falls, Marshall, Rock Ridge

AA: 9 Fairmont; Frazee; Menahga; New London-Spicer; Norwood-Young America; Pipestone; Plainview-Elgin-Millville; Roseau; Wadena-Deer Creek

Ten teams left the list last week.

A: 14

Ten teams also left the list last week.

STREAKING

We have new leaders at AAAA with Waconia falling to Mayo and St. Clair and Windom dropping games in AA. AAAA has multiple leaders including Mayo. Benilde-St. Margaret’s is the only team with a streak lasting over two seasons.

AAAA: 6 Alexandria; Bemidji; Forest Lake; Minnetonka; Rochester Mayo; Spring Lake Park

AAA: 17 Benilde-St. Margaret’s (12 from 2025 +5 2026)

AA: 6 Pipestone

A: 7 Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s

QUEST FOR

QRF is now up and running. What is intesting is the initial lists tend to be a little wonky. The biggest fish on the list not seen is #2 Forest Lake….which is ahead of current #1 in the polls Hopkins (#12); Benilde-St. Margaret’s (#8); Providence (#17) and Mountain Iron-Buhl (#56). Leading the QRF is undefeated and current #3AAAA Rosemount.

10: 7/10—-.700

25: 14/25—.560

50: 20/50—.400

TOP 10S

Four teams were added including Elk River, Northfield, Red Wing and Hayfield.

AAAA is still complete. Next prime target: AAA.

AAAA: 10/10-1.000

AAA: 6/10-.600

AA: 3/10-.300

A: 5/10-.300

Overall, it is 24/40 .600 up from .488 last week.

#1S IN EACH SECTION

AAAA is up one, AAA up two; and AA up one.

AAAA: 6/8-.750

AAA: 4/8-.500

AA: 1/9-.111

A: 1/10-.100

Grand totals: 12/35-.343 up from .229. The pace is glacial. It will be harder to get to the smaller classes.

SEEDING THE STATE

There are some sections that are not clear at this stage. Section 5AAA is a coin flip. 2AA has a new listing. Braham returns in A.

AAAA

1. Minnetonka (2)
2. Hopkins (6)
3. Rosemount (3)
4. Maple Grove (5)
5. Rochester Mayo (1)
6. Elk River (8)
7. East Ridge (4)
8. Forest Lake (7)

AAA

1. Benilde-St. Margaret’s (6)
2. Marshall (2) Stewartville (1)
3. Stewartville (1)
4. Cretin-Derham Hall (3)
5. Hill-Murray (4)
6. Rock Ridge (7)
7. Fergus Falls (8)
8. Totino-Grace (5)

AA

1. Providence (5)
2. Crosby-Ironton (7)
3. New London-Spicer (3)
4. Rochester Lourdes (1)
5. Minnehaha (4)
6. Sauk Centre (6)
7. Menahga (8)
8. Norwood-Young America (2)

A

1. Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s (2)
2. Mountain Iron-Buhl (7)
3. Kelliher-Northome (8)
4. Central MN Christian (3)
5. Hillcrest Lutheran (6)
6. Braham (5)
7. Mayer Lutheran (4)
8. NRHEG (1)

WEEK AHEAD

One full week before the Christmas Holiday break.