Class A and AA Team Ranking Update

Hey, I’m back from 11 days in Panama. I had hoped that winter would be over by the time I got back, but it was not meant to be. Similarly, the regular girls basketball season is not quite over, but it’s close. In fact, it is over for about a quarter of our ranked Class A and AA teams, and for all but a few it will be over next Saturday.

So with just one week to go in the regular season, we have 4 ratings flip-flops of real significance in class A and AA this week. They are:

Section 3A

Minneota (21-4) becomes the highest-rated team in section 3A, one spot ahead of Wabasso (19-3). You may recall that Minneota hammered defending section champ Southwest Minnesota Christian 80-48 a couple of weeks ago. Then, 10 days ago, they won at Maranatha 63-62. So they’ve moved up to #7A. Meanwhile, Wabasso has also played terrific ball down the stretch and tomorrow (Tuesday) night they’ll have a chance to tie Sleepy Eye for the Tomahawk Conference championship with a win at home against Minnesota Valley Lutheran. They’ve now won 12 in a row, the 3rd longest active win streak in Class A.

And, yet, there’s almost a 50/50 chance that neither will be the section 3A champion because they’re both in the northern half of the draw with #12A Lac Qui Parle Valley (23-3), and #10A SW Christian remains a threat in the southern half of the draw. Right now, LQPV or Wabasso would have to beat one another, then Minneota and then SWC to win the section.

But SWC doesn’t have it too easy, either, with #22A Red Rock Central (17-7 and an 8 game win streak) and Hills-Beaver Creek (18-5) also in the south.

Of course, there’s the little matter of the Camden Conference championship. Minneota and LQPV are supposed to have played off last (Monday) night for it, and it would be nice to know what happened (or was the game postponed by weather?) before finalizing these rankings. But I have not seen a score anywhere.

Minneota is led by 5-10 junior post Lydia Sussner and her 20 ppg average, but there’s plenty of help from Abby and Morgan Hennen (freshman and sophomore guards, respectively, 11 ppg each) and junior forward Lizzy Gillingham (7 ppg but 25 vs. Maranatha). Wabasso is led by junior forwards Jenna Frank and Maddie Guetter (24 and 17 ppg, respectively).

Meanwhile, run-and-gun SWC has all 5 starters averaging in double figures led by senior wing Brooklyn DeKam’s 22 ppg. Junior guard Sommer Schap is the one new starter in this year’s lineup and she’s the #2 scorer at 14 ppg. LQPV is led by 5-4 senior point guard Kelsea Lund’s 18 ppg. Red Rock, located in Lamberton, MN, is led by senior forward Vanessa Kedl’s 14 ppg, and Hills-Beaver Creek by junior forward Sidney Fick’s 23 ppg.

There is a surfeit of talent out on the prairie and most of it will be back next year. Bottom line, Minneota moves ahead of Wabasso as our favorite for now.

Section 3AA

We’ve also got a change in that other southwestern section, the one in class AA, where Tracy-Milroy-Balaton moves down from #7A to #9A, but moves ahead of Eden Valley-Watkins, which moves from #6A to #10A. Meanwhile, New London-Spicer moves a little closer to the 2 leaders from #14A to #12A.

I wish I could give you a good reason why TMB and EVW have moved down but I can’t, other than to say that Holy Family and Stewartville, also a couple of pretty impressive clubs, moved up. TMB extended its record to 24-1 with a couple of easy wins last week. Earlier, there were 2 wins over Minneota and a whole string of other impressive performances against Red Rock, Wabasso, LQPV and Goodhue. Of course, all but Wabasso are class A teams but, still, that’s an impressive record.

Meanwhile EVW is now 22-3 and 14-2 since January 1. Last week came an impressive performance against Annandale, a 54-41 EVW win. Their only losses are to the #1AA, #8AA and #12AA teams in our rankings. NLS went 4-5 during mid-season but is 10-1 since January 12, so you can’t count the Wildcats our either.

The section’s top performers are Wildcat guard Shea Oman, a senior; TMB forward Evelyn Dolan and guard Kaylee Kirk, both seniors; and EVW juniors Olivia Schleper and Emma Schultz. Not quite as impressive as section 3A but not bad.

Section 7AA

Way up north, Proctor moves back into the rankings at #17AA after a 51-35 shocker over #4AAA-ranked Hermantown. (Taylor Vold DNP for Hermantown.). Meanwhile, Duluth Marshall is 2-2 in its last 4 including a loss to Hermantown. It drops from #18AA to #21, but the section is pretty much a tossup.

Section 8AA

But, I guess I buried the lead. The biggest shift comes in Section 8AA where Roseau (20-4) overtakes Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton (21-3) in our rankings. The defending state champion Rams and the Knights, who were unbeaten until January 26 but are 6-3 since then swap the #3AA and the #9AA slots.

The Rams, as you know, found life without Kiley Borowicz a little tougher than expected, though an injury to 6-2 senior post Victoria Johnson didn’t help matters either. They were 6-4 on December 28 but have now won 14 straight including wins over Bigfork, Ada and Barnesville (19-4). Junior point guard Kacie Borowicz scores 26 ppg with a high of 40, while freshman shooting guard Katie Borowicz scores 19.

East Grand Forks is also on the rise (well, though they dropped in the rankings from #22AA to #24AA despite a good 3-0 week). They’ve won 4 straight going into a regular season finale tomorrow (Tuesday) night at Roseau.

DGF is led by senior guard Natalie Steichen at 21 ppg and 6 rebounds. Meanwhile, Barnesville and senior guard Nicole Herbranson (14 ppg) are a threat. Steichen and Herbranson will be teammates at Minnesota State-Moorhead next year. EGF is led by senior post Brooke Filipi at 16 ppg.

The Best of the Rest

There were no other changes among the list of the highest rated teams in each class A and AA section.

#1A—Lyle/Austin Pacelli 25-1 with 18 straight wins, 9-0 vs. rated class A teams, likely #2 seed

#2A—Sleepy Eye 20-4 with 8 straight wins, possible #5 seed

#4A—Mayer Lutheran 16-8

#5A—Menahga 23-0, likely #3 seed

#6A—Ada 20-2, likely #4AA seed

#7A—Mountain Iron-Buhl 23-2 and 10-0 against rated class A teams, like #1 seed

#8A—Stephen-Argyle 22-3 and down from #9A to #15A after a 5-2 February

#1AA—Stewartville 21-5 and 5-1 vs. rated class AA teams

#2AA—Norwood Young America 22-3 with 9 straight wins, likely #4 seed

#4AA—Minnehaha 16-6 and 5-1 vs. rated class AA teams, likely #5 seed

#5AA—Maranatha 21-4 and #2AA in its 1st year in this class, they’re also 5-0 vs. class AA rated teams, likely #2 seed (Roseau is the likely #3)

#6AA—Sauk Centre 24-0 remains the prohibitive favorite for the state title and likely #1 seed

#7AA—Proctor 17-6

#8AA—Roseau could sneak in as a #3 seed after spending most of the season under the radar