D1

There were three teams in action on Saturday.

*Amber Scalia, Miami OH, Stillwater 14-W

Totals: 14 points, 1-0

D2

Lexi Karge, UM Duluth, Mankato East 16-W

Myra Moorjani, UM Duluth, Eden Prairie 14-W

Keiara Anderson, Lincoln Memorial, St. Cloud Apollo 13-L

Lydia Haack, Concordia St. Paul, Elk River 13-W

Ashley Fritz, UM Duluth, Eden Prairie 10-W

Totals: 66 points, 4-1

This if the first appearance for Fritz. That brings the player total to 80.

Three players were AAAA based (two from EP), two from AAA.

Haack was a state champion.

D3

Sydney Cotton, Crown MN, Grand Meadow 18-W

Morgan Bednarek, Crown MN, Sibley East 13-W

Malia Nelson, UW LaCrosse, Dover-Eyota 9-L

Alexa Snesrud, Concordia Moorhead, Cloquet 8-L

Kaia Gack, Concordia Moorhead, Sartell 6-L

Grace Knupp, UW LaCrosse, East Ridge 6-L

Totals: 54 points, 2-4

This is the first appearance for Gack. That brings the player total to 92.

There were two players that were based in AAA and AA, one each from AAAA and A.

 

MN GBB STATE RESULTS

AAAA

#2 Rosemount 63, #1 Hopkins 62

#3 Rochester Mayo 69, #4 Maple Grove 60

AAA

#2 Benilde-St. Margaret’s 75, #1 Stewartville 63

#3 Marshall 68, #4 Cretin-Derham Hall 51

AA

#1 Providence 95, #2 Duluth Marshall 60

#5 Perham 66, #3 New London-Spicer 52

A

#2 Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s 80, #1 Mountain Iron-Buhl 63

#6 Central MN Christian 64, #4 Hillcrest Lutheran 55

#7 Mayer Lutheran 47, #8 Braham 42

RANKED RESULTS

Winner High 95 Providence

Winner Low 47 Mayer Lutheran

Loser High 63 Mountain Iron-Buhl & Stewartville

Loser Low 42 Braham

Biggest Margin 35 Providence v Duluth Marshall

Smallest Margin 1 Rosemount v Hopkins

Most Combined: 155 Providence v Duluth Marshall

Least combined: 89 Mayer Lutheran v Braham

Margins 30 or more 1 (11.1%)

Margins 5 or less 2 (22.2%)

Average 63.056

Winner Average 69.667

Loser Average 56.444

Ranked Average 63.056

Nonranked Average no unranked teams

Average margin 13.222

Average combined: 126.11

Upsets: five (55.56%)

AAAA Ave 63.50

AAA Ave 64.25

AA Ave 68.25

A Ave 58.50

POINT PARADE

AAAA-none

AAA

Audrey Shindelar, Stewartville 29

AA

Maddyn Greenway, Providence 33

A

Morgan Mathiowetz, Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s 27

Olivia Schieffert, Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s 25

ABOUT LAST NIGHT….CHAMPIONSHIP SATURDAY

Championship Saturday was a good day to be #2. Three champs were second seeds. The only exception was Providence a five-peater. I suppose they could get tats on their fingers—one for each year and then the other hand spelling champ. Maddyn Greenway capped her career as the all time leading point scorer in history to go along with five crowns. The Lions also had a running time victory, the only one that reached that stage during the day. Two other wins were in the comfortable outcome range with SESM picking up their first ever crown and the first of three straight private school wins. BSM, like Providence, is getting used to multiple titles. Their dynasty is now at four in a row. Rosemount, celebrating St. Patrick’s Day a few days early, upended a long-time dynasty preventing #1 Hopkins from back-to-back titles. It was also the only game to be decided by one point. The last one-point title game also involved the Royals getting dethroned, with St. Michael-Albertville winning 71-70 in 2023. Hopkins has been in five straight AAAA title bouts winning two in 2022 and 2025. More about the Rosemount finish later.

The day started for me away from the championship floor up in the Williams Arena club with the celebration of the 50^th anniversary of the State Tournament. 14 former Miss Basketball players were honored with a brunch  and then were recognized on the floor of the title game. I was fortunate enough to be associated with this group along with Pat Barret, Dorothy McIntyre and Sharon Eurele. Therefore, I do not have any of my stats since my computer was idle. I was a fish out of water during this game. SESM jumped out to an early lead and MIB struggled with early fouls. That combination gave the Knights a title.

Then came more Knights—Red ones. Followed by Lions (Tigers were slain in the AAA final) and then Irish.

And I want to examine the last minutes of the contest. This is where discussion and debate (at least internally in my head) reside. Decision makings, who stepped up, who didn’t seize advantage, and strategy all are under a microscope. In any one point game any decision or play would be ripe for review. But things are magnified in the end of a game. Rosemount opened up the game using the Hopkins defense as leverage against them scoring on several back door occasions. The Irish were the first to score on the opening possession (back cut); first to get to 10 (11-6) and first to score on a string—(possessions five to eight—11-6). They also were the first (and only team) to get to a double digit margin (26-15) with 6:45 left to go in the first half. Their three quarter court press with Amisha Ramlall at the spearhead was forcing the Royals to spend time taking it up court and it forced Erma Walker into a ball handling role. But the Royals can score with a flurry. A 15-0 run changed the mood of both sides of the arena. The world (according to Hopkins faithful) had been righted with a 30-26 lead. Rosemount suffered through a nine possession scoring drought with two strings of three straight turnovers (the wrong kind of strings). At the break Hopkins led 32-29.

In the second half Rosemount tied it at 40. Another Royal surge put them up 48-40. An &one by Ashna Ramlall (again keeping with the sisterhood theme we have noticed all week), made it 50-47 Hopkins with 9:29 left. A triple by Jaliyah Diggs put the Royals in front 60-53 with about five minutes left. This was a familiar position. But Rosemount didn’t bend or buckle at this point. They responded on the next possession with an &one opportunity by Amisha Ramlall. She missed the &one and sister Ashna scored on the putback. That was four points on one possession and it was now back to a one possession game. For the next five minutes (and seven possessions) Hopkins would only score one more time. Meanwhile, on the other end of the court, the Irish found gold on two consecutive 3s by Gianna Carpentier to tie it at 60 and then by Kaylee Dilger to make it 63-60. That would be the dagger. Erma Walker capped the scoring on the next Hopkins possession with an elbow jumper. But there were still about 2:45 left in the game.  Neither team would score again. Rosemount had four chances to add to their lead including two missed front ends. It didn’t prove fatal. The Rosemount defense locked down Diggs and Walker forcing others to take critical shots. Shots that were behind the arc late in the shot clock by players not used to taking the money shot. Down the stretch the Irish used three time outs (including back to back at 1:07). Hopkins never took a time out. With 3.6 ticks left they had the ball on the left block. Diggs lofted a shot from the left corner 3 pocket at 3.3. Silk got a piece of the ball. Marianna Davis grabbed the miss, but was off line for the shot at 0.9 as time expired. Walker had zero shot attempts down the stretch. Diggs’ was the corner three. There was a turnover also in that mix. Rosemount (for the first time) and the South Suburban (for the first time since 2018) returned to the championship circle.

The pp100s for A are based on 67 possessions.

Team	PP100
SESM	119.4-103.9
Providence	117.3
Benilde-SM	111.9
Rosemount	98.5
Stewartville	95.5
Hopkins	95.4
Mt Iron-Buhl	94.0-81.8
Duluth Marshall	75.0

 31 CLUB

Maddyn Greenway was the only player in the tournament to get to the 61 Club. Jaliayah Diggs was the only other player to be in a higher level club—41 for her. But both were sub 100 as centurians. The best pp100 for 31 Clubbers was Lexi Nicolai’s 190. This was her first time in any of the Lions games this year she was in the 31 Club with me charting. The only other school with multiple 31 Clubbers other than Providence was SESM with Olivia Schieffert joining Morgan Mathiowetz who already was a member of the Club in the quarters and semis. Their pp100 is not calculated. The only none 31 Club school on Saturday was MIB.

Player	School	31 Club	PP100
Maddyn Greenway	Providence	64	97.1
Jaliyah Diggs	Hopkins	43	90.9
Sydney Friedly	Benilde-SM	40	160.0
Audrey Shindelar	Stewartville	38	120.8
Morgan Mathiowetz	Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s	37
Olivia Schieffert	Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s	37
Lexi Niciolai	Providence	35	190.0
Amisha Ramlall	Rosemount	33	95.2
Chloe Johnson	Duluth Marshall	32	91.7

THE WEEK THAT WAS

SINGLE SOLOIST

Only one one loss team was left standing after the dust settled on Championship Saturday and that was in the single A tournament. We knew one would prevail and it turned out to be Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s

One loss teams (& who they lost to)

AAAA: none

AAA: none

AA: none

A: 1 Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s (Central MN Christian-Regular season)

STREAKING

New leaders across the board headed into 2027 (with date of last loss)

AAAA: 9 Rosemount (Feb. 12)—had to beat four straight ranked teams.

AAA: 8 Benilde-St. Margaret’s (Feb. 14)—had to beat two straight ranked teams.

AA: 10 Providence (Feb. 11)—had to beat two straight ranked teams.

A: 15 Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s (Jan. 31) —-had to beat four straight ranked teams.

PROLIFIC OFFENSE

a list of high scoring offenses (and below that stingy defenses)

We now have shared honors in AAAA.

AAAA 80.2 Rochester Mayo & Wayzata 80.2 down 1.2

AAA 84.1 Hill-Murray down 0.7

AA 94.9 Providence down 0.5

A: 85.2 Kelliher/Northome down 2.6

Providence the only state champion in this bunch. Mayo 3^rd, HM 5^th, KN 0-2.

AIR TIGHT DEFENSE

A flip in AAAA with Owatonna sneaking back into the leaderboard after Mayo’s state experience added to their totals.

AAAA 44.2 Owatonna up 1.3

AAA 40.0 Northfield

AA 32.9 High School Recording Arts

A  30.2 Metro School College Prep

QUEST FOR…

QRF

Five were checked off this week. 62: Perham; 73: NRHEG; 74: Sauk Centre; 92: Willmar; 100: Kelliher/Northome .

Biggest fish not seen? Minneapolis North at #46. Then it was St. Francis down at #65.

10: 10/10—-1.000

25: 25/25—1.000

50: 49/50—.980

75: 71/75—.947

100: 86/100—.860

125: 94/125—.752

150: 97/150—.647

175: 100/175—.571

200: 100/200—.500

TOP 10S

Improved with Perham, NRHEG & KN off the board. Missed out on Fairmont in AA;  EGF Sacred Heart & Breckenridge in A.

AAAA: 10/10-1.000

AAA: 10/10-1.000

AA: 10/11 .909

A: 9/11-.818

Overall, it is 39/42 or .929

STATE ENTRANTS

100% complete after Thursday with Willmar (AAA); Perham & Sauk Centre (AA) and NRHEG & KN filling in the missing pieces.

AAAA: 8/8-1.000

AAA: 8/8-1.000

AA: 8/8 1.000

A: 8/8 1.000

Grand totals: 32/32 1.000

#1 SEEDS in SECTION

AAAA: 8/8 1.000

AAA: 8/8 1.000

AA: 6/9-.667

A: 11/13-.846

STATE TOURNAMENT FACTS

SEEDS:

This year it was 2-1-2-2 for winners. This preserved 2018 as the only tournament with all four #1s winning titles. This was the fifth time Hopkins came in as a #1 and finished second. The last time came in 2024 v St. Michael-Albertville. Hopkins has won seven titles in the 13 times they have been a #1 seed (.538). The Royals won the 2025 tournament as a #3 seed, the only championship won when not a #1 in the seeding era (.333).

Rosemount won their first title overall as the #2 seed. This was their best seed in the four previous entries in the seeding eral The finished second in the 2021 virus finish. They were the #4 seed from the south in that upsetting Farmington to get to the title match against Chaska. There have been four other #2 seeds as champs, the last coming in 2024 with Minnetonka.

BSM has won three of their five titles as a #2 seed. The others were 2010 and 2023 and they have been the #2 seed four times (.750 as #2).  The last two seasons they were the #1 seed. The Red Knights have now won four state titles in a row. This was Stewartville’s first time as a #1 seed and the second time the Tigers finished second. The other time came as a #4 seed in the 2023 in a loss to BSM as well.

Providence is a perfect 5/5 on state titles as a #1 seed. In the virus plagued 2020 tournament they were a “finalist” and started the tournament as unseeded. This was DM’s first time as a #2 seed, their highest mark in the three entries during the seeding era. In 2020 they too were a “finalist) as an unseeded team. The last non #1 to win the AA title was Minnehaha in 2019 as the #3 seed.

SESM had their highest seed this year with a #2. Their previous best finish was last year in fourth place as a #3 seed. MIB has been seeded #1 four times and were champs in 2023 as the #1. They finished second in two times as a #1, the last coming in 2017. The last #2 seed to win the A title came in 2017 with Goodhue.

AA has the best mark of #1s winning the title at .833. AAAA is also above .500 with .631. A is a fifty/fifty proposition. It is almost a kiss of death at AAA with a .368 chance for victory.

CLASS	YEARS	#1	%	#2	#3	#4	#5	Un
AAAA	19	12	.631	4	3	0	0	0
AAA	19	7	.368	6	4	0	1	1
AA	12	10	.833	1	1	0	0	0
A	12	6	.500	3	1	1	0	1

SEEDING THE STATE 2027 STYLE

AAAA

1. Rosemount (3)
2. Hopkins (6)
3. Rochester Mayo (1)
4. Minnetonka (2)
5. Maple Grove (5)
6. Brainerd (8)
7. East Ridge (4)
8. Centennial (7)

AAA

1. Benilde-St. Margaret’s (6)
2. Hill-Murray (4)
3. Cretin-Derham Hall (3)
4. Becker (5)
5. Little Falls (8)
6. Stewartville (1)
7. Marshall (2)
8. Hermantown (7)

AA

1. Providence (5)
2. Duluth Marshall (7)
3. Minnehaha (4)
4. Goodhue (1)
5. Perham (8)
6. New London-Spicer (3)
7. Glencoe-Silver Lake (2)
8. Sauk Centre (6)

A

1. Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s (2)
2. Mountain Iron-Buhl (7)
3. Hillcrest Lutheran (6)
4. EGF Sacred Heart (8)
5. Minneota (3)
6. Hayfield (1)
7. Braham (5)
8. Mayer Lutheran (4)