Section 8AAA Preview 2.0

<p>I’m accustomed to readers disagreeing with my opinions. But, this one seemed unusually sure of himself. Thief River Falls, he said, was not going to win Section 8AAA as I had predicted. And, he made a pretty good argument in favor of his point of view. Thief, he said, is no longer in Section 8AAA. They moved down to Section 8AA in the most recent MSHSL redistricting.</p> <p>Well, it was hard to disagree with his reasoning and, so, I’ve decided that he is right. Thief is not going to win Section 8AAA. But, who is?</p> <p><strong>1. Sartell-St. Stephen (18-11 last year, lost to Alexandria 44-26 in section final)</strong></p> <p>Pretty simple. Sartell-SS had the 2nd best record in the section last year, and finished 2nd in the playoffs. And, they’ve got as much talent returning as anybody else. OK, 3 starters return. (Sauk Rapids has 4 but from a 7-20 team.) So SSS is the sssafe choiccce. But, seriously, Sartell returns senior guards Addy DeMaine, Megan Sieben and Lexi Winter, who scored 37 ppg among them. But, who will score inside? That is why we don’t have anybody from Section 8 in our top 25 statewide.</p> <p><strong>2. Fergus Falls (14-13, lost to Detroit Lakes 57-52 in section QF)</strong></p> <p>Fergus has it goin’ inside and out with senior guard Katelyn Strand, daughter of coach Brad, and junior post Lily Pearson. Junior guard Anna Norgard makes it 3 starters returning. They’d had a pretty good year, too, until that upset loss to DL at home in the section.</p> <p><strong>3. Detroit Lakes (13-15, lost to Alex 56-45 in section SF)</strong></p> <p>DL is one team that can match Fergus inside with junior post Breanna Price.</p> <p><strong>4. Alexandria (26-6, lost to Orono 50-34 in state SF)</strong></p> <p>Alex lost just about everybody that contributed last year. There were 11 seniors on that team. But, only Alex could suffer such losses and still have hope. The depth is there. But, who’s going to put the ball in the hole? Well, maybe junior guard Kay Paschke, who actually made the game-winner against Grand Rapids at state. I think the Cards can build on that.</p> <p><strong>5. Bemidji (14-13, lost to Sartell 57-49 in section SF)</strong></p> <p>The Lumberjacks continue to rebuild under 5-9 junior guard Rumer Flatness</p> <p><strong>6. Sauk Rapids-Rice (7-20, lost to Sartell 47-39 in section QF)</strong></p> <p>Like I said, Sauk has 4 starters back, the most in the section. And one of them, Bailey Becker, a 5-9 senior shooting guard, is among the top 2-3 players in the section. But all those returnees only won 7 times last year, so they’ll have to prove themselves before they’ll move into the top half of the section.</p> <p><strong>7. Little Falls (2-25, lost to Alex 62-33 in section QF)</strong></p> <p>It’s hard to believe Little Falls won a couple of state championships, but of course that was 30 years ago. Now, even with a solid 6-0 post Sophie Sowada, they could only win a pair last year! Otherwise, that team was mostly seniors. A fresh start is probably a good deal.</p> <p><strong>All-Section 8AAA</strong></p> <p><strong>Center—</strong>Lily Pearson, Fergus Falls, 6-0, junior, 10 ppg-12 reb</p> <p><strong>Forward—</strong>Sophie Sowada, Little Falls, 6-0, senior, 16 ppg-8 reb</p> <p><strong>Point Guard—</strong>Katelyn Strand, Fergus, 5-9, senior, 13.5 ppg</p> <p><strong>Shooting Guard—</strong>Bailey Becker, Sauk Rapids, 5-10, senior, 12 ppg</p> <p><strong>Shooting Guard—</strong>Megan Sieben, Sartell, 5-9, senior, 12 ppg</p>