3A & 4A Rankings Update: Big school top 10 remains intact
It was the type of result that could have led to a reshuffling of the top 10 teams in the state six weeks ago: Centennial 71 Champlin Park 52. The #5 Rebels (14-3) have played some great basketball over the…
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Continue ReadingIt was the type of result that could have led to a reshuffling of the top 10 teams in the state six weeks ago: Centennial 71 Champlin Park 52. The #5 Rebels (14-3) have played some great basketball over the past few weeks, but so have the #8 Cougars (15-3), whose win last week gave them a season series split with Champlin Park. The rest of the top 10 continued to play well, too. As a result, this week's 4A elite remain the same as one week ago. The only top 10 team to take a loss was #10 Lakeville North (13-5), that at the hands of #1 Eastview (16-0) in the Northstar Girls Hoops Game of the Week. No reason to move the Panthers down for that. Here are some other notable results and changes in 4A last week.
- Woodbury had been on a meteoric rise throughout the month of January, having propelled themselves from an afterthought into the thick of the Suburban East Conference race. Last week reality struck and Cinderella, it seems, misplaced her glass slipper. The Royals fell to Edina, Stillwater and Hudson and have lost four in a row. The Edina defeat was particularly tough as Hornets' coach Matt Nilsen used a diamond-and-one defense that limited Woodbury's point guard Rachel Hakes to just five shots. Woodbury fell from #17 to #22.
- #25 Rochester Mayo was also dealt a dose of reality. After a lengthy winning streak salvaged the Spartans' season and enabled Mayo to slip into the elite 25 last week, the girls in green slipped up with a loss to Faribault and another to their cross-town rivals from John Marshall. As a result, 9-9 Rochester Mayo came and went quickly and were the only team to drop out of the top 25.
- In Mayo's place we welcome the resurgent Eden Prairie Eagles who upset Edina and thrashed St. Cloud Apollo to raise their season mark to 10-8. Ellen Wiese's team may be the turnaround story of the season, and they debut at #24.
- The slide continues for 11-8 Moorhead in Sam Haiby's absence. It's tough to lose the #1 player in the Class of 2018 and the Spuds are feeling it. They fell two more times and dropped three places to #15.
- The other big decliner was Bloomington Kennedy, which lost to St. Louis Park by 22. Now 8-7, the Eagles are reeling and have been beaten in 5 of their past 7 games. After falling from #19, Kennedy hangs onto the last spot on the list at #25.
St. Croix Lutheran up, Willmar down but little change in 3A
The biggest news in 3A came out of Willmar where the formerly undefeated Cardinals finally lost, not once but twice. Willmar dropped a pair to #14 Alexandria and Sartell-St. Stephen, but followed up with a win over Zimmerman. The Cardinals are now 16-2 and fell three places in the rankings to #10. That enabled Hermantown, Grand Rapids and Hutchinson to each move up a spot. Everyone else, it seems, kept on winning. That left spots 11 through 19 unchanged.
There are a couple of notable streaks in that group: #13 Marshall (15-4) has won nine of its last 10 games, and Alexandria (13-3) has won seven in a row. All nine teams in that bunch went undefeated last week. St. Croix Lutheran had a nice week, knocking off St. Agnes, St. Anthony Village and St. Paul Como Park to extend its record to 11-6. As a result, the West St. Paul school moved up from 25th to 21st in 3A.
Notable games this week: #1 Mahtomedi (15-1) will attempt to extend its nine-game winning streak against Tartan and Simley. #3 Cooper (14-2) has Bloomington Kennedy (8-7) and St. Louis Park (12-6), both ranked teams in 4A. #5 DeLaSalle will attempt to extend its 11-game run on Tuesday against 4A #3 Hopkins (19-2).