State Tournament News and Notes from opening day

Throughout most of Day 1 things went pretty much according to plan. Until they didn’t. On opening day at the Minnesota girls state high school basketball tournament, the proceedings commenced as expected: AAAA #1 seed Hopkins dispatched underdog Cambridge-Isanti in convincing fashion, and AAA #1 DeLaSalle did pretty much the same thing to unseeded Hermantown. Simley and Becker also advanced in AAA. In AAAA at Williams Arena, Stillwater showed its experience in a win over Park Center, Farmington beat Eden Prairie and St. Michael-Albertville knocked off Lakeville North. No real suprises. Over at the Maturi Pavilion, though, things got a little crazier late in the day. In the final AAA encounter of the afternoon unseeded Waconia defeated #3 Red Wing 52-45 in a scrappy encounter. The Wildcats were led by 2021 #31 [player_tooltip player_id="109750" first="Addy" last="Salzer"], who came up big in the game’s final few minutes to secure a victory for the battle-tested squad from Waconia. Senior [player_tooltip player_id="110553" first="Tess" last="Johnson"], senior Natalie Meath, and sophomore [player_tooltip player_id="109148" first="Audrey" last="Swanson"] combined for 21 rebounds. Then in AA play, upstart Providence Academy of Maple Grove surprised #2 seed and long-time power Sauk Centre to advance. That was followed by Duluth Marshall pulling out a late victory over #3 New London-Spicer, another program with state tournament pedigree and a reputation for excellence. NLS has won an astonishing 960 games under Mike Dreier, the winningest coach in Minnesota girls basketball history. Here are a few noteworthy events from opening day at the state tournament. Providence upsets #2 Sauk Centre Now 26-5, Providence Academy has had a very nice season under coach Conner Goetz. Most observers, however, expected the Lions’ state tournament appearance to be a brief one. After all they were facing mighty Sauk Centre, who won a state championship two years ago under the leadership of coach Scott Bergman. The Mainstreeters were bigger, more experienced and heavily favored. But that’s not how it went. After making just four field goals in the game’s opening 18 minutes and trailing 20-14 at the break, PA went on a 19-4 gallop in the second half led thanks to the game management of senior point guard [player_tooltip player_id="145081" first="Hailey" last="Hohenecker"] (Sioux Falls) and the scoring of freshman guard [player_tooltip player_id="148331" first="Kyra" last="Miller"], who made enormous back-to-back buckets with the game hanging in the balance. Six-foot freshman post [player_tooltip player_id="148338" first="Grace" last="Counts"] and her sophomore sister [player_tooltip player_id="57963" first="Maria" last="Counts"] were huge on the boards. Grace had 12 points and 10 rebounds. Maria had 8 boards and 5 steals. Miller finished with 14 points while Hohenecker had 11 as the Lions overcame a 9-0 run by the Mainstreeters late. Providence will face Duluth Marshall on Friday at 8 p.m. Farmington survives a battle with Eden Prairie It has been a long journey to the state tournament for the Farmington Tigers. Over the past three years we have seen the talent-laden team grow and mature as they went from below average to above average to conference champions. Last Friday night at the Mayo Arena in Rochester. the Tigers became section champions for the first time, earning the school’s first trip to the state girls basketball tournament. It would have been quite understandable if Farmington had a little stage fright on opening day at Williams Arena in a high-pressure encounter with a loaded Eden Prairie team, but it didn’t turn out that way. “We talked about it before the game and said that Friday night in our section final was really the first game of the state tournament,” said Tigers coach Liz Carpentier. “It was in a big venue. There were a lot of people there. We got our nerves out then so this was like our second game. I thought we were really composed from the start. I didn’t see any jitters and no nerves. We just took care of business right away.” Farmington was led by junior guards [player_tooltip player_id="109756" first="Peyton" last="Blandin"] and [player_tooltip player_id="2109" first="Paige" last="Kindseth"]. You can read about their exploits in our story on the <a href="https://prepgirlshoops.com/2020/03/state-tournament-day-1s-top-10-performers/">top performers of day 1</a>. They weren’t the only ones who had big games on the big stage. 6’4 junior post [player_tooltip player_id="13045" first="Sophie" last="Hart"], in particular, had an excellent outing, especially defensively. “Sophie did a phenomenal job just altering shots in the middle, rebounding and help-side defense,” said Carpentier. “I thought our team overall played really well in the first half,” she said. “We were moving the ball and we were hitting from the outside really well. To be honest with you, our key was the fact that we executed the defensive game plan to a T. Eden Prairie is a very good team. They pose a mismatch problem because of their size and their length inside but I thought our undersized guards and forwards did a good job of fronting and then we had help side in the back. We had a tough little stretch there under the 5-minute mark but I thought we got our composure together. We made free throws when it counted and just worked really well together as a team.” Farmington, the #2 seed, will face #3 seed St. Michael-Albertville in the AAAA semifinal at 8 p.m. Thursday in Williams Arena. St. Michael-Albertville comes up big on day 1 Much like the Tigers, it has been a journey for STMA over the past couple of years. They have been a solid squad, one that swept the Mississippi 8 conference over and over. When it came to getting by Maple Grove in section play, however, it was a struggle. This year the Knights relocated to the Lake Conference, the home of Hopkins and Wayzata and Eden Prairie and Minnetonka. They faced a tougher schedule and lost a few more games but the preparation served them well. On Wednesday the Knights looked every bit like a state tournament contender. STMA’s first-half performance was amazing. They made 11 shots from beyond the 3-point line to earn a 20-point halftime lead. “It was perfect,” STMA coach Kent Hamre said of the opening 18 minutes. “We’re not afraid to shoot threes. We have done it all year. At halftime I might have let off the gas a little too much. I asked the girls for longer possessions, but that’s like taking a bunch of thoroughbreds and telling them to go stand in the pasture. That’s not their kind of ball. Looking back I just pulled the reins in a little too hard on them. If [player_tooltip player_id="1916" first="Mackenzie" last="Kramer"] or [player_tooltip player_id="108299" first="Tessa" last="Johnson"] or [player_tooltip player_id="56242" first="Lily" last="Tennyson"] are open I want them to shoot.” Lakeville North went on a quick 11-2 run in the second half to come within 7 at one point. That was much closer than it should have been as [player_tooltip player_id="1919" first="Lauren" last="Jensen"], the Iowa commit who is ranked second in the Prep Girls Hoops class of 2020, did her best to bring the Panthers back into contention. She finished with 22 points while her fellow senior [player_tooltip player_id="56235" first="Sarah" last="Kuma"] (Concordia-St. Paul) scored 17. It was not enough as STMA closed the sale to advance. “With getting past Maple Grove last week and getting in here and getting a win, I’m ecstatic,” Hamre said before running out the door to catch the team bus back to St. Michael. “I’m going to enjoy it for a short time but I’ll be back at school in an hour to watch film.” THURSDAY’S GAME SCHEDULE Class A at Maturi Pavilion <ul> <li>11 a.m. – #1 Minneota vs Red Lake</li> <li>1 p.m. – #4 Waterville-Elysian-Morristown vs #5 Heritage Christian</li> <li>3 p.m. – #2 Cromwell-Wright vs Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa</li> <li>5 p.m. – #3 Henning vs Fillmore Central</li> </ul> Class AAA at Williams Arena <ul> <li>12 p.m. – #1 DeLaSalle vs #4 Simley</li> <li>2 p.m. – #2 Becker vs Waconia</li> </ul> Class AAAA at Williams Arena <ul> <li>6 p.m. – #1 Hopkins vs #5 Stillwater</li> <li>8 p.m. – #2 Farmington vs #3 St. Michael-Albertville</li> </ul> Top photo: Providence Academy senior [player_tooltip player_id="145081" first="Hailey" last="Hohenecker"] led the Lions to an upset of Sauk Centre. (Photo courtesy of StarTribune)