The Week That Was #15: Setting the stage for State

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>It was right around this time one year ago when the Eagles of Totino-Grace sort of snuck up on all of us and the team nobody was paying attention to captured a section championship, earning a trip to Williams Arena in Minneapolis. And darned if they didn't win the whole thing – a Class 3A state championship – in convincing fashion. As week #15 of the girls high school season drew to a close Saturday night, it was looking a little like déjà vu all over again. That's where we'll begin our recap of the Week That Was #15, which was certainly interesting.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:image {"id":415315,"width":1024,"height":681,"sizeSlug":"large","linkDestination":"none"} --> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img src="https://prepgirlshoops.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2022/04/Maria-Radabaugh-2-scaled.jpg?w=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-415315" width="1024" height="681" /></figure> <!-- /wp:image --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>STOCK RISER OF THE WEEK</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='502586' first='Maria' last='Radabaugh'] <strong>– 2026 guard, Totino-Grace</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>It's never one player who sparks a turnaround or wins a basketball game. It's always a group effort. But if you look at how the season has gone for Totino-Grace it pretty much mirrors how the year has played out for Maria, who is their most talented young prospect. The wisp of a 9th grader has the skills of a wizard with quick feet to match and potential that's positively overflowing. But like many small freshmen it has taken some time for her to acclimate to a new, more prominent role at the varsity level. That's normal.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>There were a lot of growing pains in the early part of the season for team and talent as the Eagles got off to a shaky start, winning just once in their first 10 games. Radabaugh, who is a Top 25 prospect in the Prep Girls Hoops Class of 2026, averaged under 7 points per game over that stretch. Her productivity rose significantly over the middle portion of the campaign as the Eagles started to get it together and won a few games. Fast forward to the past two weeks, however, and both player and team have flourished.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>On Feb. 21, TG picked up its 6th win of the year, slipping past Osseo by two to snap a five-game losing streak before playing Spring Lake Park close in its final regular season game. Then on Wednesday, Radabaugh nailed the game-winning dagger that enabled TG to beat Fridley 63-61 in their Section 4AAA quarterfinal. On Saturday, the Eagles did it again, upsetting favored Mahtomedi 74-67. Over the past four games, Radabaugh has scored 15, 17, 19 and 18 points. As a result, the 8-19 Eagles will now face 15-12 Hill-Murray for the section championship at Stillwater High School.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>I have no idea how many times a 9-win team has made it to the Big Dance – maybe it's never happened – but I'm certainly not going to bet against the Eagles who appear to have March magic. Kudos to sophomore [player_tooltip player_id='550024' first='Chloe' last='Nuss'], who leads the team in scoring at 15 ppg, along with senior [player_tooltip player_id='436102' first='Abby' last='Lord'], juniors [player_tooltip player_id='304919' first='Itoro' last='Etuko'] and <strong>Ava Reigel</strong>, and the rest of the Eagles. And hats off to Maria, who is going to be a good one.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>NOTABLE RESULTS</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>While Totino-Grace might just be this year's darling of the underdogs, it looked for a good while like that title would belong to North St. Paul. The upstart Polars have had a remarkable season, but their dreams of a state tournament run ground to a halt on Saturday at Hill-Murray. The contest was close until the very end when the Pioneers pulled away for a 60-49 victory. North finishes the season with a record of 19-8.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Jordan is another team that had put together a dream season heading into the playoffs. The Jaguars were riding a 12-game win streak – they had 24 victories in all – heading into Saturday's Section 2AAA semifinal with Marshall. The Tigers' substantial post-season experience and never-ending physical presence was an obstacle, for sure, and in the end it proved to be the difference as Marshall went on an 11-0 run to win the game 39-38. This time of year can be so cruel.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In other notable results, Benilde-St. Margaret's narrowly edged out Delano by a score of 60-57 in the Section 6AAA semifinal. The Tigers, under first-year head coach Scott Antl, had an admirable season and finished with a record of 21-7. Last year Delano won 12 games. In the previous two years the Tigers had won nine games combined. Delano's core will all return in 2023-24, including 2024s [player_tooltip player_id='215972' first='Norah' last='Danielson'] (ranked #26) and [player_tooltip player_id='178273' first='Taylor' last='Tool'] (#39), and 2026s [player_tooltip player_id='458302' first='Abbie' last='Pietila'] (#18) and [player_tooltip player_id='589282' first='Cassie' last='Wegman'] (#75).</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In two other results of note, Chaska prevailed 57-55 over Minnetonka in spite of a 27-point performance by [player_tooltip player_id='252387' first='Aaliyah' last='Crump'] of the Skippers, the #1 prospect in Minnesota's Class of 2025. Chaska (27-1) will face Eden Prairie (19-9) for the Section 2AAAA championship on Friday.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Over in the East Metro, there will be no fairytale run for White Bear Lake this season. The Bears followed up their state tournament season with another excellent campaign this time around winning 22 games. They came up just short, however, falling 51-47 to Stillwater. UM-Duluth commit [player_tooltip player_id='148318' first='Lexi' last='Karlen'] turned in an outstanding performance for the 23-5 Ponies who will now face 22-4 East Ridge for the Section 4AAAA title Thursday in Hastings.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:image {"id":610252,"width":1024,"height":643,"sizeSlug":"large","linkDestination":"none"} --> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img src="https://prepgirlshoops.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2023/03/Cierra-Kortan-1000.jpg?w=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-610252" width="1024" height="643" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Photo: Twitter/cierrakortan</figcaption></figure> <!-- /wp:image --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>MILESTONES</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>While team results tend to draw most of the attention by the time we reach the 15th week of the season we do have four career milestones of note to report:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list --> <ul><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>[player_tooltip player_id='108323' first='Ashley' last='Fritz'] – The senior guard from Eden Prairie scored her 1,000th career point. Ranked #44 in the Class of 2023, she'll play college basketball at MSU-Moorhead</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>[player_tooltip player_id='108330' first='Karlee' last='Fisher'] – The senior guard from Robbinsdale Armstrong also collected her 1,000th point. A Top 60 prospect, Fisher will be teammates with Fritz for the Dragons.</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>[player_tooltip player_id='296528' first='Sam' last='Wills'] – The sophomore wing from Visitation had 27 points in a section win over St. Paul Como Park and topped 1,000 for her career in the process. The 6-footer is ranked #5 in the Class of 2025.</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>[player_tooltip player_id='396423' first='Cierra' last='Kortan'] – The sophomore point guard from Sauk Centre has had an incredible season and recently rose into the Top 40 in our rankings. This week she reached the 1,000 mark, as well.</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ul> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>GAMES TO WATCH THIS WEEK</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>It's not difficult to select games to watch this coming week. With a plethora of section semis and finals on the docket, there will be plenty of good ones. Here's a few we'd recommend.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Monday</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Class A</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list --> <ul><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>#17 Sleepy Eye (22-6) vs #21 Sleepy Eye St. Mary's (22-6) at Gustavus Adolphus</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>#4 Mayer Lutheran (23-4) vs #11 BOLD (22-5) at Gustavus Adolphus</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ul> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Tuesday</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Class A</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list --> <ul><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>#7 Underwood (24-3) vs #8 Henning (26-2) at Perham High School</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ul> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Class AA</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list --> <ul><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>#13 Holdingford (24-3) vs #21 Sauk Centre (20-8) at St. John's University</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ul> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Wednesday</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Class AA</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list --> <ul><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>#8 Pequot Lakes (24-3) vs #17 Duluth Marshall (17-9) at UM-Duluth</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>#14 Crosby-Ironton (21-7) vs #16 Proctor (20-8) at UM-Duluth</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ul> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Thursday</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Class AAAA</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list --> <ul><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>#4 Wayzata (23-4) at #1 Hopkins (24-2)</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>#11 Rosemount (21-7) vs #17 Eagan (18-9), location TBD</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>#12 Elk River (22-6) at #2 St. Michael-Albertville (25-3)</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ul> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Class AAA</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list --> <ul><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>T#1 Benilde-St. Margaret's (22-6) vs #6 Holy Angels (22-5) at Chanhassen</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>#11 Marshall (20-9) vs #10 St. Peter (21-6) at Gustavus Adolphus</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ul> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Class AA</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list --> <ul><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>#3 Goodhue (26-3) vs #12 Caledonia (25-3) at Mayo Civic Center in Rochester</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ul> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Class A</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list --> <ul><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>#2 Hayfield (27-3) vs #13 Grand Meadow (27-2) at Mayo Civic Center in Rochester</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ul> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Friday</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Class AAAA</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list --> <ul><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>#10 Lakeville North (21-7) vs #14 Lakeville South (18-9) at Mayo Civic Centre in Rochester</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ul> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Class AAA</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list --> <ul><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>#5 Stewartville (26-2) vs #16 Austin (20-8) at Mayo Civic Center in Rochester</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ul> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>By the way, the team rankings listed here are from the Minnesota ScoreFeed app, which uses a pretty accurate algorithm to determine the numbers rather than a person/people who may or may not have actually seen the teams play.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>AT THE NEXT LEVEL</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>We've been at the Summit League Tournament in Sioux Falls since Friday when the University of St. Thomas played in the post-season for the first time in the Division 1 era. The Tommies knocked off Western Illinois in the opening round before being felled by mighty South Dakota State in the quarterfinals in front of 6,830 rabid fans of the Jackrabbits. UST finished its second season in D1 with an overall record of 13-17 (7-11 in Summit League play). That's a marked improvement from year one (7-21, 4-14). We've watched a ton of St. Thomas games this season. Here's our season-ending awards:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list --> <ul><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Most Valuable Player – Senior guard <strong>Maggie Negaard</strong> (Stevens Point, WI)</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Defensive Player of the Year – Senior guard/forward <strong>Jordyn Glynn</strong> (Grand Meadow, MN)</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Most Improved Player – Sophomore post <strong>Jo Langbehn</strong> (Elk River, MN)</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Newcomer of the Year – Grad student guard <strong>Autam Mendez</strong> (Cretin-Derham Hall via San Jose State and North Iowa Area Community College)</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Freshman of the Year – Guard <strong>Faith Feuerbach</strong> (Sycamore, IL)</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ul> <!-- /wp:list -->