Follow the Bouncing Ball
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There were a bunch of big games in A and AA last week, and about half of them produced surprises of one level or another. The biggest shocker was not so much that then-#16A Minneota beat then-#8A Southwest Minnesota Christian.…
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Continue ReadingThere were a bunch of big games in A and AA last week, and about half of them produced surprises of one level or another. The biggest shocker was not so much that then-#16A Minneota beat then-#8A Southwest Minnesota Christian. The biggest shocker was the final score of 80-48! As Sister Amador used to say, “Is that a misprint, people?” No, it is not a misprint. Minneota had runs of 16-5 and 17-3, and that was just in the 1st half, which ended with the Vikings ahead 47-26. In the 2nd half, Minneota led by as much as 30 at 65-35. The Minnesota Mascot, Home of Boxelder Bug Days deadpanned that junior Lizzie Gillingham “picked a good time to score a season-high 25 points” for Minneota.
Minneota moves up to #10A, and might have moved up further had they not turned around and lost to #7AA Tracy-Milroy-Balaton two nights later 70-66 in OT. Southwest Christian dropped to #11A.
The next biggest games in Class A both involved then-#14A Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s, and both involved losses to Springfield and to then-#9A Wabasso. SESM drops all the way to #24A, while Wabasso moves up to #8A.
Also in Class A, Hills-Beaver Creek ran its winning streak to 14 games and Walker-Hackensack-Akeley to 12 games, and both moved into the rankings at #23A and #25A.
A vs. AA
Several other big games saw teams from Class A and AA opposing one another, the most obvious of these being Maranatha’s home win over #1A Mountain Iron-Buhl 80-70. Maranatha had unusually balanced scoring with 5 players in double figures led by Jaclyn Jarnot with 20 and Kylie Post with 15. Mary Burke led MIB as usual with 31 points. The Mustangs pulled away from a 43-all tie at the half to get the win.
MIB remains at #1A despite the loss, while Maranatha moves up this week from #3AA to #2AA, now trailing only undefeated Sauk Centre in the rankings.
Elsewhere, then-#23AA Zumbrota-Mazeppa upset then-#3A Hayfield, but lost to #6A Goodhue. But, Goodhue also then lost to Byron, 46-44. We’ll have a lot more to say about the southeast below. Suffice it to say for now that Goodhue moved up to #5A while Hayfield, still battling a rash of injuries, dropped to #7A.
Finally, in A vs. AA, then #20A Pelican Rapids lost to both Crookston and Thief River Falls and, despite the fact that Crookston and Thief are both AA, dropped out of the top 25 in Class A.
And in AA…
Just try to follow the bouncing ball in the southeast. The biggest game saw a (then) resurgent and then-#24AA Rochester Lourdes surprise then-#8AA Stewartville 83-74. But, Lourdes turned right around and lost to Byron, with Yokie Lee back from an injury. Again, was that a misprint, people? 91-62?? Lee scored 32 points with 16 boards and 10 blocks to lead the rout.
So, how wide open is Section 1AA if unranked Byron (11-10, 6-7 in the Hiawatha Valley) can manhandle Lourdes like that? It’s that wide-open, that’s how wide open it is. So Stew drops to #11AA, Lourdes actually moves up to #21AA, and Byron remains unranked. That’s just my way of saying, I give up.
Earlier, in our Game of the Week, #21AA St. Cloud Cathedral surprised host and then-#2AA Rush City 61-58 in OT as Megan Voit scored 25 for the winners. St. Cloud turned right around and lost to them-#20AA Annandale. So, Rush drops to #5AA and St. Cloud to #22AA, while Annandale moves up to #15AA despite a loss to then #14AA New London-Spicer, who moves up to #13AA. Got that?
Also in AA, then-#10AA Roseau continued to get its act together, stifling then-#13 Barnesville 80-61. Roseau moves up one spot, Barnesville down one spot.