The Week That Was #16: The sectional smorgasbord
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A little of this. A little of that. Much like the Scandinavian smorgasbords of my childhood, there was a little something for everyone – but no pickled herring! When the final week of section play concluded on Friday night the…
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Continue ReadingA little of this. A little of that. Much like the Scandinavian smorgasbords of my childhood, there was a little something for everyone – but no pickled herring! When the final week of section play concluded on Friday night the 32 participants for this week’s Minnesota girls basketball State Tournament had been determined. Here are a few highlights from the Week That Was #16.
A LONG AND WINDING ROAD
The girls high school basketball season opened on Nov. 23. Some 108 days later, we reached the end of Week #16 of competition. After more than 5,000 games, a campaign that began with 399 official varsity teams is down to just 8 per class. I’m not sure how many games I’ve watched this winter – I stopped tracking that a couple of years ago – but it has to be pushing 200 between live and online viewing. I watched games about five days a week, except for the week I was in California trying to get a little breather when I saw just two. Many weeks we took in six or seven games in a day, including Thanksgiving, Christmas holidays, the Hall of Fame Classic weekend, as well as the Breakdown Tipoff, Granite City Classic, Southern Minnesota Hoopsfest, the Community Clash and Central Lakes Classic.
WHAT WE WATCHED
As usual during the final week of section play there were some tough decisions to be made: Do we pick one game, make the drive and take in the excitement of a section final? It’s hard to pass up the incomparable rush of being part of a game like Hopkins vs Wayzata. Or do we drive to Rochester on Friday where we could see two games live and maybe parts of two more? Or do we stay home and see as many games as possible online? We chose option C and it was highly enjoyable. We witnessed three complete games on Thursday. On Friday we managed to watch six different games live and on replay and parts of a couple more.
- Monday: We began the day in Sioux Falls at the Summit League Tournament where South Dakota State knocked off Oral Roberts University in the early game. Then we raced 170 miles to St. Peter for the Class A doubleheader featuring Sleepy Eye vs Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s and BOLD vs Mayer Lutheran. (Click here to read about that adventure.)
- Tuesday: We saw Minneapolis Roosevelt at Minnehaha Academy and Pine City vs Albany online.
- Wednesday: We witnessed Maple Grove’s dominant defeat of Mounds View, which featured a second-half defensive clinic.
- Thursday: The Wayzata vs Hopkins contest was memorable as always. We also saw Stillwater defeat East Ridge and Eagan’s upset of Rosemount.
- Friday: Holy Family vs Providence Academy, Chaska vs Eden Prairie, Sauk Center vs Albany, Roseville vs Maple Grove, Lakeville South vs Lakeville North, St. Croix Lutheran vs Minnehaha Academy plus UM-Duluth and MSU-Mankato in their NCAA D2 national tournament games. That was a long day!
SIGNIFICANT CONTESTS
Roseville 68 Maple Grove 62
Roseville’s win over Maple Grove was highly entertaining and impressive all at once – unless you are a Crimson fan. I wouldn’t blame anyone from Maple Grove who feels like the officials gave them a raw deal in this one. I felt coach Mark Cook’s pain! But give credit to the Raiders who were outstanding. Kendall Barnes Kendall Barnes 5'7" | CG Roseville | 2024 State MN scored 31 points for the second game in a row and was simply unstoppable going to the rim. The evolution of senior Lily Peper Lily Peper 5'10" | SG Roseville | 2023 State MN continued as did the seasoned leadership of UM-Duluth commit Drew Johnston Drew Johnston 5'9" | PG Roseville | 2023 State MN . And how about little Mira Jackson? Terrific. For the second year in a row Roseville saved its best for Maple Grove in the section championship game and earned the right to play in the State Tournament.
Hopkins 70 Wayzata 68
Hopkins vs Wayzata never seems to disappoint. This year’s section final was no exception. It was Wayzata that was in the driver’s seat down the stretch. The Trojans held a 4-point lead at the half, doubling it by the midway point of the second period. But then Hopkins did what Hopkins does – amped up the defensive pressure, made the game faster than Wayzata was comfortable with, and forced the Trojans into a series of consequential errors that resulted in a 15-0 run. It took a heroic three-pointer by Top 10 sophomore Sophie Hawkinson Sophie Hawkinson 5'8" | CG Wayzata | 2025 State MN of Wayzata to force overtime. In the extra session a tying basket by Kelly Boyle Kelly Boyle 5'7" | CG Hopkins | 2023 State MN and the game-winner by Taylor Woodson Taylor Woodson 6'0" | PF Hopkins | 2023 State #28 Nation MN gave the Royals another victory. Woodson was special in this one as the Michigan commit had 21 points, 12 rebounds, 5 assists, 5 steals and a block.
A couple more we really enjoyed…
The battle between the bigs in the Albany vs Sauk Centre section final was riveting as 2024 #16 Alyssa Sand Alyssa Sand 6'2" | PF Albany | 2024 State MN of Albany and 2025 #18 Tory Jennissen Tory Jennissen 6'3" | PF Sauk Centre | 2025 State MN of Sauk Centre exceeded expectations. That’s 12 feet, 6 inches of size, length and skill going head to head on the big stage. The Mainstreeters turned in a solid first half and led throughout much of the game before Albany strung together a dozen or so points in a row to win 49-41.
Eagan’s 63-52 upset of Rosemount turned a lot of heads as the Wildcats earned their first trip to the State Tournament in the program’s history. Long known as a volleyball and dance school, coach Jesse Madsen has done great work over the past few seasons to build an identity and produce results in basketball. With big Lily Fandre having graduated last spring – she had a stellar freshman year in college at Lehigh – I don’t think too many people figured Eagan would get better. But their physicality and athleticism really caught our attention way back in Fall League and the Wildcats, led by point guard Drew Buslee Drew Buslee 5'9" | PG Eagan | 2024 State MN , just kept on grinding. The joy from the student section during Thursday’s win spoke volumes… and not just because it was deafening. Of course nobody expects much from the Wildcats at the State Tournament this week but this is a team that has won seven of its last eight games and just might surprise again.
Congratulations are in order for…
- United Christian Academy, led by 2024 standout Elizabeth Corley Elizabeth Corley 5'9" | CG United Christian | 2024 State MN , qualified for State for the second year in a row but the Thunder needed some heroics to do it. Trailing by 12 with under five minutes remaining, coach Peder Eide’s team roared back to win in overtime. With an MSHSL enrollment of just 107, the school is in Bloomington. They’ll face BOLD at State.
- Perham has had an outstanding couple of years led by Valley City State commit Mya Morris Mya Morris 5'7" | PG Perham | 2023 State MN and 2024 standout Willow Thiel Willow Thiel 5'11" | PF Perham | 2024 State MN . On Friday night, coach T.J. Super’s Yellowjackets (26-3) knocked off Wadena-Deer Creek to qualify for the State Tournament for the first time in 32 years where they’ll meet Albany.
- 9th grade phenom Tori Oehrlein Tori Oehrlein 5'10" | CG Crosby-Ironton | 2026 State MN has made an indelible impact on the program at Crosby-Ironton, rewriting the record books on a weekly basis. On Friday she did it again by grabbing her 1,000th career rebound, but Tori also scored 31 points to lead the Rangers to a win over Pequot Lakes. That victory earned C-I a spot in the State Class 2A Tournament for the first time in 19 years. They may build a statue of this kid in the center of town before it’s all over with. In the meantime, the Rangers will take on Goodhue on Thursday.
- Kudos to coach Ellen Weise of Eden Prairie whose Eagles pulled off a big achievement on Friday with a 60-42 section championship win over #1-ranked Chaska. EP were well prepared, and their key players delivered when it mattered most led by senior point guard Molly Lenz Molly Lenz 5'8" | CG Eden Prairie | 2023 State MN . The Illinois State commit scored 22 points while Ashley Fritz Ashley Fritz 5'10" | CG Eden Prairie | 2023 State MN (MSU-Moorhead), Tori Schlagel Tori Schlagel 5'9" | CG Eden Prairie | 2025 State MN and Annika Anderson Annika Anderson 5'8" | CG Eden Prairie | 2023 State MN combined for 31. The #3 seeded Eagles will put their five-game winning streak on the line against Centennial.
MILESTONES
Section finals week is all about the teams – who wins, who loses, who goes home, who goes dancing. But there were still a few individual milestones that made news:
- Tessa Johnson Tessa Johnson 5'11" | SG St. Michael-Albertville | 2023 State #36 Nation MN of St. Michael-Albertville continues to collect accolades while leading her team into the Class 4A State Tournament. After earning McDonald’s All-American honors a couple of weeks ago, last week the University of South Carolina commit was named Gatorade Minnesota Player of the Year. She has to be the favorite for Minnesota Miss Basketball, doesn’t she? With more than 2,100 career points, Tessa is averaging 24.3 points per game this season along with 6.6 assists, 5.5 rebounds and 2.8 steals.
- Sophi Hall Sophi Hall 6'1" | CG Holy Family | 2023 State MN of Holy Family Catholic scored 26 points last week in a section win over Maranatha Christian Academy to top 1,500 points for her high school career. The senior, ranked #12 in Minnesota’s Class of 2023, is committed to Providence College of the Big East Conference.
- Bria Stenstrom Bria Stenstrom 5'5" | PG Mounds View | 2024 State MN of Mounds View has had an outstanding junior season. Two weeks ago the crafty point guard earned a big jump up in the Class of 2024 rankings where she now sits at #68. Last week Stenstrom reached 1,000 points for her high school career.
- Kinsley Duppong had an admirable summer on the Prep Girls Hoops Circuit in 2022 as she enjoyed a ton of success with West Central United. This winter Kinsley continued her strong play with Fosston High School passing the 1,000-career points mark in the Greyhounds’ section win over Cass Lake-Bena.
- Jordan Ode Jordan Ode 5'11" | CG Maple Grove | 2025 State MN of Maple Grove made her debut on varsity in 8th grade and very quickly established herself as an important piece for the Crimson. This year, as a sophomore, she was dominant and set a new single-season scoring mark with 533 points. The previous record was held by 2021 graduate Jordyn Lamker who plays D1 ball for the University of St. Thomas.
COMING UP
Week #17 is all about the State Tournament. Click here to see the complete opening-round schedule for all four classes along with links to online streaming, ticket information and tournament brackets.