TWO SITES, 400+ MILES, 3 GAMES
I maneuvered across the slick highways and byways to get to two
sites and chart six new teams including four in the top 100. I started the day on the greasy skid stuff in the metro all the way down to Rochester. That is where I caught the most dramatic game of the day. Maddie Ragnow of Chanhassen scored with at the buzzer to cap a comeback over St. Peter. The Saints had a 10 point lead in the second half (36-26) with 14:51 left in the game. Fouls played a huge part in this game as the St. Peter motor, Olivia McCabe, fouled out with 5:17 left. Not to be outdone, Chan’s Sidney Brastad fouled out with 4:47 left. Chan went ahead at the 8:48 mark. St. Peter tied it on a free throw with 58 seconds left.
After that I made it to Willmar for the Wild(cat)/Card(inal) tournament. That meant a 3:20 trip avoiding the mess that was the 494 strip in Bloomington, the preferred route from Rochester to Willmar. Instead it was 14 across to west of New Ulm and then up county roads. The Wildcard is different in that it is an actual tournament. I started with the 3rd place game but New London-Spicer made quick work of Albany getting off to an 11-0 lead after four minutes of action. It quickly mushroomed to 29-5. NLS height made an impact.
The final had host Willmar, currently #8AAA topping #7AA Minnehaha 56-47. Here fouls played a critical part as the Cardinals doubled up the Redhawks on free throw attempts 34/17. Another key in the game was Willmar’s bench which outscored the visitors 15-2. The other leg to the victory was the better shooting percentage—43 to 31 percent. Excluding lay ups, Willmar was 9/22 (40.9%); MA only 4/18 (22%) in the paint.
Here are the players that were named to the WildCard all Tournament team:
Paige Meyer, Albany
Shea Oman, New London-Spicer
Terra Rhoades, Minnehaha
Mia Curtis, Minnehaha
Madison Linbo, Willmar
Carly Wedel, Willmar, MVP
Notice something below? It seems there was a ceiling of 14 for top scorer today. Also none of the trench players were listed on the all tournament team. But I wasn’t here for the first day of the event.
CHANHASSEN 52, ST. PETER 50
NEW LONDON-SPICER 57, ALBANY 39
WILLMAR 56, MINNEHAHA 47
| Team | PP100 | scorer | Distributor | D stops |
| Chanhassen | 85.2 | Julia Gronholz 14 | Tori Tollefson 7 | Julia Gronholz 8 |
| St. Peter | 82.0 | Kayla Oeltjenbruns 14 | Ellie Johnson 6 | Olivia McCabe 13 |
| New London-Spicer | 86.4 | Shea Oman 14 | Payton Mages 9 | Emma Hanson 12 |
| Albany | 59.1 | Paige Meyer 14 | Amanda Kollodge 4 | Paige Meyer 7 |
| Willmar | 84.8 | Carly Wedel 14 | Hannah Johnson 8 | Cayle Hovland 9 |
| Minnehaha | 71.2 | Terra Rhoades 12 | Naveah Galloway 5 | Avery New 11 |
TRENCH PLAYER
Game 1: Julia Gronholz, Chanhassen
Game 2: Emma Hanson, NLS
Game 3: Hannah Johnson, Willmar