Rush City, St. Cloud Cathedral renew rivalry

<p>For the first time that anyone can remember, the Rush City Tigers and St. Cloud Cathedral Crusaders will face off Monday night in a regular season, non-conference matchup. But these 2 teams are no strangers to one another. The 2 teams have split a pair of Section 6AA semi-final games the past 2 years. In 2016 Cathedral ended Rush City’s season 47-46. Last year Rush City sent the Crusaders packing 36-30. In each case, the winner went on to lose to Sauk Centre in the Section 6AA final.</p> <p>2018 is shaping up for more of the same. QRF has 14-3 Cathedral rated 1st in the Section 6AA East standings (and #7 statewide in AA) while 15-0 Rush City is #2 (and #13), despite its unbeaten record. In the other half of the draw, Sauk Centre remains unbeaten and a heavy favorite to represent the West in the 6AA final for the 9th consecutive year. The Mainstreeters have won 7 of 8 section finals during this stretch. Last year Rush City almost pulled off a huge upset before losing to Sauk in the final 52-50.</p> <p>But, wait. Cathedral is #7AA in QRF at 14-3 while Rush is #13AA at 15-0? Cathedral has beaten just one ranked team (at the time), Pequot Lakes 68-65 back in December. They have lost to Royalton, Sauk Centre and Albany. Rush has beaten 2 rated teams, Holy Family and Pine City, and, of course, has not lost. Playing at home Monday night, Rush City will be favored.</p> <p>Rush City is known for its inside game with 6-2 post Jamie Guptill and 6-0 forward Shawna Mell combining this year for 22 ppg so far. Guptill is a good shooter, leaper and rebounder. Mell is an even better shooter who announced just last week her commitment to play at Concordia St. Paul next year. But, Rush has become more and more known for its guard play. 5-10 Kaylyn Bowen, an unorthodox lefty combo guard, has become Rush’s top scorer at 14 ppg. She goes to the rim and is a quick, tenacious defender. Point guard Elena Herberg scores 12 and is even better on the defensive end.</p> <p>Overall, in fact, Rush City is a much better team on the defensive end than it is on the offense. It wins with defense, allowing opponents a ridiculous 32 ppg. All 4 of the players just mentioned are juniors.</p> <p>St. Cloud is one of the few teams in the section that can match up with Rush City’s size. The Crusaders feature 6-0 forward Hallie Hupf (10 ppg), and 3 5-11 starters. They are post Meg Januschka (13 ppg), forward Gabby Heying (5 ppg) and off-guard Kate Tomczik (7 ppg). The top scorer is 5-7 point guard Megan Voit. Like Rush, Cathedral also starts 4 juniors, so you can expect this rivalry to continue for at least another year.</p> <p>Voit is Cathedral’s best all-around player. She’s an excellent outside shooter, but also gets to the rim and the FT line. She and Rush’s Bowen are both lefties, by the way, which gives them a little bit of an edge. The guard matchup between Tomczik and Voit for the visitors, and Bowen and Herberg for the home team should be even better than the battle inside.</p> <p>Playing at home, Rush City should defeat Cathedral by, say, 12 points. Our pick: Rush City 55 St. Cloud Cathedral 43.</p> <p> </p>