D1 HIGH FIVE
Two teams were in action on Tuesday.
Nora Francois, Arizona, DeLaSalle 4-L
D2
Jaelyn Choi, Bridgeport, Osseo 3-L
D3
Daeserae Williamson, Lasell, Fridley 7-W
MN GBB RESULTS
AAAA
#2 Hopkins 77, #1 Wayzata 74
#3 Maple Grove 71, St. Michael-Albertville 57
#4 Rochester Mayo 95, Faribault 40
#6 Rosemount 80, Prior Lake 49
Lakeville South 58, #8 Eastview 53
#9 Monticello 92, North Branch 10
#10 East Ridge 66, Park-Cottage Grove 34
AAA
#1 Orono 85, #7AAAA Chanhassen 64
#2 Stewartville 82, #8 Byron 51
#3 Benilde-St. Margaret’s 80, New Prague 54
#4 Marshall 77, #7AA Fairmont 50
#6 Cretin-Derham Hall 60, Irondale 38
#7 Delano 69, Jordan 57
#9 Northfield 80, Rochester JM 22
AA
#2 Crosby-Ironton 79, Proctor 66
#5 Duluth Marshall 87, Cloquet 43
#10 Foley 73, St. Cloud Cathedral 44
A
#2 Northome/Kelliher 94, Pine River-Backus 66
#4 Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s 82, Nicollet 35
Pipestone 67, #6 Central MN Christian 55
#7 Mayer Lutheran 61, Holy Family 44
#9 EGF Sacred Heart 65, Climax/Fisher 55
SECTION PLAYOFFS
1AA
#17 Kenyon-Wanamingo 69, #16 St. Charles 63
RANKED RESULTS
Winner High 101 West Central
Winner Low 33 Hmong Academy
Loser High 84 Windom
Loser Low 10 North Branch
Biggest Margin 83 West Central v Montevideo
Smallest Margin 1 Kimball v Royalton; Bagley v Warroad
Most Combined: 174 Springfield v Windom
Least combined: 55 Hmong Academy v Great Oak Academy
Margins 30 or more 41 (32.54%)
Margins 5 or less 19 (15.20%)
Average 58.726
Winner Average 69.857
Loser Average 47.595
Ranked Average 72.333
Nonranked Average 57.294
Average margin 22.262
Average combined: 117.45
Ranked Losses: six
AAAA Ave 60.182
AAA Ave 60.432
AA Ave 56.692
A Ave 58.851
POINT PARADE
AAAA
Haley McNamara, Rochester Century 31
Jaliyah Diggs, Hopkins 29
Erma Walker, Hopkins 26
AAA
Telilie Lange, Willmar 28
Audrey Shindelar, Stewartville 27
Lauren Schaefer, Kasson-Mantorville 26
AA
Tori Oehrlein, Crosby-Ironton 28
Brylee Miller, Fairmont 26
Anna Ostertag, Kenyon-Wanamingo 25
A
Brielle Jansen, MACCRAY 35
Ruby Klinger, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 30
Kaida Helgenset, Benson 28
Kylee Binkley, Kelliher/Northome 25
Mazie Hoie, Bagley 25
Kate Thayer, Kelliher/Northome 25
MILESTONES
Londyn Bowers, Granada Huntley East Chain/Truman/Martin Luther reached 1000 point mark with 23 points in a 54-36 win over Mankato Loyola.
Alana Almich of Yellow Medicine East reached the 1000 point mark with 13 points ina 73-63 loss to Benson.
Senior Alexa Pietig of Pequot Lakes reached the 100 point mark with 24 in a 70-50 win over Pierz.
ABOUT LAST NIGHT….HOPKINS V WAYZATA
Right now the series between #1 and #2 is split with one game apiece. Next up will be the right to go to state from 6AAAA. Defending state AAAA champ Hopkins evened the mark at the home of the Trojans on Tuesday with a defensive battle with Wayzata. You might be asking how can it be defensive if both teams were north of 70 points? Hopkins was better over the course of the game and on a key possession late that sealed the Trojans fate.
First off, Hopkins defense ruled the day. The Royals played half court man the entire night. Wayzata started off in man, but had to switch over to zone because they could not contain Jaliyah Diggs, who led all scorers with 29 points, who either found her way to the rim for lay ups (10/14) or found her way to the free throw line 9/13. Diggs also avoided needless fouls and didn’t pick up her first foul until deep in the second half. Wayzata’s defenders were too upright. The Royals were able to scoot past their opponents in the half court.
Hopkins had the advantage with eleven steals to six. Of those live steals the four of them led to eight points in the first half alone. The Royals had the lead 38-33 at the break. There was another sequence in the second half where Hopkins scored four points on three straight steals (two of which ended in one made free throw). Add in the second chance after a missed free throw and the grand total is 14.
That leads to the next factor the offensive glass. Hopkins ORebound rate was 43.3%, Wayzata 37.5. Not that steep of a difference but still a difference. Hopkins was simply quicker to the ball. With the score 75-73 for Hopkins, Wayzata had a ten touch possession that never generated a clean look. That miss ended up in the hands of Erma
Walker who had a strong second half and ended the night with 26 points. Walker picked up her second foul on back to back possessions and sat down with 9:53 left in the first half. Getting to the bench first with two fouls was Wayzata’s Kate Amelotte who exited at 11:05. She had two points at that stage. She avoided foul issues in the second half and added 15 more points to her total. But Hopkins won that battle when both those impact players exited. At the break Hopkins’ pp100 was an even 100. Wayzata was 84.2. The Trojans had trouble either moving the ball or having their players vacate space and move with authority to new space. That worked to Hopkins’ advantage. Still Hopkins could not put the Trojans away.
The Royals had leads as big as seven in the first half and again in the second at 44-37. Wayzata managed to tie it up with seven unanswered points. Diggs & Walker scored the next eight Royal points and Lanaia Durant added two points of her own for a 54-44 lead with 11:40 left. Wayzata called time after the first four scores. Then the pendulum swung back to the hosts. The scored eleven unanswered points to grab a 55-54 lead with 9:03 left. Cupito hit the only 3 for the Royals on the next possession. Hopkins stretched their advantage back to six (66-60) but Wayzata still had another comeback. The Trojans had an 11-4 burst to grab another one point lead 71-70. Amelotte had four and Day had five in that sequence. Hopkins evened the score with one free throw. They took the lead at 73-71 on a Walker put back. After two free throws by Annika Kieser, Walker scored again on the right block. That led to the defensive stand on ten touches. The rebound went to Walker and Diggs was intentionally fouled with 20.8 left. She failed to convert but Hopkins still had the ball. She didn’t miss on the next free throw opportunity for the final margin.
The second half saw Wayzata’s offense become alive. Perhaps that was due to Amelotte being available for action. Perhaps it was the focus of a team with time expiring and every possession vital. The Trojans pp100 was 120.6 in the second half. Hopkins wasn’t far behind at 118.2. Erma Walker had 20 points after halftime and a pp100 of 153.8. Diggs pp100 was even better at 183.3. However the best second half pp100 belonged to Mallory McBeth with a 250 thanks to a perfect 2/2 from 2s and 3s good for 10 points on only four possessions.
In the aftermath expect Hopkins and Wayzata to flip spots in the last Coaches Poll. I don’t know if the split entitles Hopkins to host the 6AAAA finals (which I expect both teams to reach). That may echo the state AAAA title as well. If Wayzata were to win they would need to shore up their defense; prevent easy second chancers, and have an offensive effort to withstand the constant harassment of Hopkins.
| Team | Pt | PP100 | OR/DR | FTM/a | 2M/A | 3M/A | TO/TpTO | LEAD |
| Hopkins | 77 | 108.5 | 13/20 | 22/32 | 26/45 | 1/9 | 17/17.71 | 10 |
| Wayzata | 74 | 102.8 | 12/17 | 21/26 | 19/36 | 5/13 | 22/15.32 | 2 |
Diggs made the 41 Club. She already was at 29 at half time. Walker had 25 of her 37 in the second half. Day was even throughout with 18 in the first half and 16 in the second half.
| Player | School | 31Club | PP100 |
| Jaliyah Diggs | Hopkins | 44 | 126.1 |
| Erma Walker | Hopkins | 37 | 144.4 |
| Maren Day | Wayzata | 34 | 100.0 |
SEEDING
3AAN: #1 New London-Spicer; #2 Minnewaska; #3 Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg
3AAS: #1 Fairmont; #2 Pipestone; #3 St. James
DAY AHEAD
AAA
#5 Hill-Murray travels to North St. Paul
#10 DeLaSalle travels to Visitation