AUSTIN 55, ALBERT LEA 46

It seems like every game I needed to see this week—Monday, Thursday, Saturday—-involved a significant snow event in some manner. Fortunately I was able to chart all the target teams, including today. It was another swing to the south and a rivalry game (The I90 rivalry) in the Big 9 between Austin and host Albert Lea.

Of course when it is senior day all seniors start. In this case even injured players started. Three seniors saw the court for three seconds. That is how long it was when a scripted agreed upon tap would go to Albert Lea and then they would throw the ball away. After those formalities, Austin got the early jump scoring the first ten points. AL stormed back and took a lead with 1:14 left in the half 21-19. Austin closed the half with three straight scores and led 25-21 at the break. The Packers continued their hot hand into the second half scoring the first five points to enjoy a nine point bulge (30-21). The Tigers caught fire with a 16-4 run over the course of the next six minutes and held their biggest lead at 37-34 with nine minutes left in the game. Austin decided to pound the ball inside to Kiwi  Van Zant who scored on three of the six straight Packer possessions and the Red & White didn’t look back. It was 12-0 run in the space of three and a half minutes. AL could not get a key stop at the two minute mark after cutting that lead down to six. Twice Austin gathered missed free throws to extend their possession.

Of course it was senior day. That delayed the 12:30 start by 15 minutes. Players spoke about the seniors prior to the game.  The better method of celebrating the lives of these players is in a post game celebration with cookies and milk in the cafeteria with some sort of PowerPoint presentation. This is the way Stillwater operates and it is more meaningful.

It was also a boy/girl double header which increased the crowd size.

I know everyone is wondering about the roads. Two factors helped in the drive back (which had constant moisture). The roads were snow free until the Elko exit and there was daylight. I was able to maintain 60+ mph up to that point. After that things started to slow to a semi crawl at 45 mph through the metro. Every snow event is challenging, and has unique characteristics. I will gladly take today’s early portion of the event over the horrors of Thursday night.

Austin is now 13-13, Albert Lea is 4-22.

I am now at 97 done for the top 100. As for AAA, I have charted 74.1% of the field. I also saw eleven of the twelve Big 9 schools this season. The only one that wasn’t charted? Last years’ AAA State runner-up Winona.

Team	PP100	scorer	Distributor	D stops
Austin	85.9	Emily Hegna 15	Emily Hegna 5	Abby Lewis 8
Albert Lea	69.7	Turena Schultz 17	Rachel Rehnelt 5	Rachel Rehnelt 11

TRENCH PLAYER: senior point guard Emily Hegna of Austin. Got the rally started that put Austin back on top to stay, and was important with the ball for the Packers.