The Week That Was #3: Turning up the heat for winter

Hitting triple figures or winning by 50+ points – these are things we are accustomed to seeing in early March when the first round of section play produces the most lopsided scores in any given basketball season. But the first week of December? That seems new. There were plenty of interesting moments over the past seven days as teams turned up the heat for winter. But a string of games that saw the winning team top the 100-point mark seems like a good place to start as we recap the Week That Was #3.   <figure class="wp-block-image size-medium"><img src="https://prepgirlshoops.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2024/12/Alex-116-pt-scorebook.jpg?w=300" alt="" class="wp-image-1101765" /></figure>   HITTING THE CENTURY MARK   As I usually do while watching multiple games online in an evening, I perused the scores during a break in the action and noticed that Alexandria had posted 90 points in the first half against Sauk Rapids-Rice. Surely that was an error, I thought, but pretty impressive to score 90 in a complete game. Turns out it was fact, not fiction, as the Cardinals established a new high-water mark for points scored in a half. That broke the previous state record of 83 set by St. Paul Como Park. Alex simply could not miss, making 17 triples en route to a final score of 116-26.   Bemidji State commit [player_tooltip player_id='453771' first='Macee' last='Linow'] made 4 threes while [player_tooltip player_id='346183' first='Chloe' last='Scholl'] (Gustavus), [player_tooltip player_id='396428' first='Allie' last='Haabala'] (Southwest Minnesota State) and [player_tooltip player_id='502547' first='Hope' last='Stark'] had three apiece. All 15 players who dressed scored at least a point. Incidentally, the 116-point total was 13 shy of the state record set in 1977 by the famed New York Mills squad led by the great Janet Karvonen.   The thing is, Alex's lopsided win wasn't the only game that saw a team score in triple figures last week. In fact, it happened more than half a dozen times! For example, Duluth Marshall defeated Hibbing 110-22; Minnehaha Academy scored a 101-36 win over Blake and had a 108-21 margin against Breck; Mountain Iron-Buhl recorded a 103-32 win over Hill City and South Ridge throttled Silver Bay 112-33, Wayzata defeated Park Center 108-21 before Providence Academy knocked off Winona Cotter 105-42. I'm not recalling these type of scores so early in the regular season. Can you?   <figure class="wp-block-image size-medium"><img src="https://prepgirlshoops.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2024/12/GM-London-tweet.jpg?w=300" alt="" class="wp-image-1101766" /></figure>   PLAYER OF THE WEEK – [player_tooltip player_id='215457' first='London' last='Harris']   Last weekend the Hopkins Royals lost [player_tooltip player_id='296531' first='Tatum' last='Woodson'] for the season with a torn ACL. The senior guard, who has committed to Belmont University in Nashville, is one of the state's top players and a crucial piece of the puzzle for Hopkins. After dropping a decision to Eastview earlier in the week, we wondered how the Royals would look Saturday afternoon at Duluth Marshall. It's not easy to contain [player_tooltip player_id='433933' first='Chloe' last='Johnson'], after all. A couple of hours later the Royals headed south on I-35 with a 95-47 victory. Even with nearly 100 points scored, it was the Royals' defense that had earned the win in no small part due to the play of Harris.   As she is on most nights, London (top photo) was given the task of guarding the opponent's most potent player. The plan was to give Johnson (who had scored 47 in her previous outing) as little time and space as possible to prevent her from operating in the open court. That plan worked to perfection and once again Harris showed why she is the top unsigned senior in the state. The 5'10 guard is a true two-way player, an aggressive athletic defender who can shut you down for 94 feet and score in a variety of ways. London has D1 offers from East Coast schools but is looking for the right opportunity closer to home.   EASTVIEW REKINDLES A RIVALRY   We mentioned that earlier in the week Hopkins suffered its first loss of the season, falling 68-61 to Eastview. It was the first time that the Lightning had defeated the Royals since the 2018 Class 4A state championship game, a day when EV overcame a 37-point performance by Paige Bueckers to take home the hardware. In Tuesday's win, it was [player_tooltip player_id='502569' first='Clara' last='Goodman'] of Eastview who had the hot hand as she went 6-for-8 from beyond the arc for 22 points.   There was another notable upset this week as Monticello defeated St. Micheal-Albertville by a score of 87-79 in double overtime. The Magic were led by junior point guard [player_tooltip player_id='515676' first='Samantha' last='Voll'], who scored 28 points and recorded 7 rebounds, 10 assists and 8 steals on the night. Twin sisters [player_tooltip player_id='676689' first='Addison' last='Ruda'] and [player_tooltip player_id='676690' first='Abby' last='Ruda'] combined for 24 points and 13 rebounds while [player_tooltip player_id='677614' first='Parker' last='Haffeman'] went 17 and 8. Monticello's composure with the game on the line was impressive. Coach Craig Geyen's team enters the week with a record of 3-0 prior to a Tuesday encounter with Delano.   WELCOME BACK   We watched the return of junior point guard [player_tooltip player_id='502586' first='Maria' last='Radabaugh'] to the Totino-Grace lineup in a win over Hill-Murray on Tuesday. Maria played just 13 games last year, averaging 17 ppg before tearing her ACL. She had that familiar bounce in her step as T-G scored an impressive 73-60 win over the Pioneers, led by sisters [player_tooltip player_id='377583' first='Mya' last='Wilson'] and [player_tooltip player_id='923286' first='Ashlee' last='Wilson']. Totino-Grace looks like they could do some damage in Class 3A this year as University of Mary commit [player_tooltip player_id='550024' first='Chloe' last='Nuss'] and sophomore [player_tooltip player_id='764182' first='Ava' last='Litecky'] are rolling.   NOTABLE PERFORMERS   On Monday, sophomore [player_tooltip player_id='759866' first='Samantha' last='Bennett'] went 7-for-12 from three-point range as New Life Academy scored a win over Liberty Classical. The big guard averaged 14 points per game last year as a freshman while recording 75 triples.   Sophomore [player_tooltip player_id='498658' first='Morgan' last='Mathiowetz'] of Sleepy Eye-St. Mary's is on fire so far this season, averaging a remarkable 37.8 ppg. Last week she scored 41 against the Knights' cross-town rivals from Sleepy Eye High School and 37 against Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop. Morgan averaged 28.9 ppg as a freshman.   Senior [player_tooltip player_id='396433' first='Annika' last='Peper'] of Stillwater put up 37 points in a win over Rochester Century on Saturday. The crafty 5'8 point guard, who is the daughter of Ponies head coach Tim Peper, leads her team in scoring at 19.6 ppg. The Ponies enter the week with a record of 4-1.   It was a nice week for [player_tooltip player_id='478375' first='Kadence' last='Pierce'] as the big guard from Ogilvie posted some impressive numbers. In victories against Pine City and Mille Lakes, Pearce averaged 34 points, 19 rebounds and 5 assists. The 5'10 junior is a Top 50 prospect in the Class of 2026.   In this week's [player_tooltip player_id='205310' first='Tori' last='Oehrlein'] update, the Crosby-Ironton junior and University of Minnesota commit led her team to wins over Aitkin, Mora and Anoka. In doing so, she averaged 29 points and 17 rebounds while putting up double digit assists and steals.   YOUNGSTERS TO WATCH   2030 guard Elin Retzlff of Hillcrest Lutheran Academy is the younger sister of 2028 Top 20 prospect [player_tooltip player_id='565313' first='Elsa' last='Retzlaff']. The 7th grader from Fergus Falls is adapting well to the high school game. On Tuesday against Battle Lake, Elin had her first 20-point game along with 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 steals while Elsa went 18 and 11 with 4 assists and 7 steals.   Another prospect from up that way has also been getting noticed. 2027 guard [player_tooltip player_id='990223' first='Ashlynn' last='Forde'] of Park Christian in Moorhead had 6 threes and 24 points in a win over Ada-Borup last week. The 5'11 guard is a smooth shooter with plenty of range. She handles it well, has nice court vision and can play multiple positions.   <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://prepgirlshoops.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2024/12/Chloe-Carlson-1000_cropped.png?w=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-1101792" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Photo: Proctor HS, <a href="https://x.com/ProctorGBball" target="_blank">X.com</a></figcaption></figure>   MILESTONES   [player_tooltip player_id='396437' first='Aubrey' last='Morrison'] of Walker-Hackensack-Akeley scored 35 points in a win over Chisholm to reach the 2,000-point mark for her career. The sweet shooter has committed to MSU-Moorhead. This week's 1,000-point shooters include:   <ul class="wp-block-list"> <li>[player_tooltip player_id='478373' first='Chloe' last='Carlson'] of Proctor</li>   <li>[player_tooltip player_id='396436' first='Elise' last='Groppoli'] of Hill-Murray (St. Cloud State)</li>   <li>[player_tooltip player_id='453752' first='Aubrey' last='Burkhart'] of Southwest Christian (Dordt)</li>   <li>[player_tooltip player_id='458302' first='Abbie' last='Pietila'] of Delano (Michigan Tech)</li>   <li>[player_tooltip player_id='339175' first='Brooklyn' last='Lewis'] of New Ulm (MSU-Mankato)</li>   <li>[player_tooltip player_id='1101805' first='Tatem' last='Votava'] of East Grand Forks</li>   <li>[player_tooltip player_id='653857' first='Miranda' last='Palmby'] of Dover-Eyota</li> </ul>   A 1,000-point shout-out, as well, to North Dakota's Jaiden Haile, who became the first 1,000-point scorer in the history of West Fargo Horace. The Gonzaga commit played her AAU ball for [program_tooltip program_id='712722' first='North' last='Tartan'].

Hitting triple figures or winning by 50+ points – these are things we are accustomed to seeing in early March when the first round of section play produces the most lopsided scores in any given basketball season. But the first week of December? That seems new. There were plenty of interesting moments over the past seven days as teams turned up the heat for winter. But a string of games that saw the winning team top the 100-point mark seems like a good place to start as we recap the Week That Was #3.