I saw all or part of 7 games at the Breakdown’s Southern Minnesota Hoops Fest yesterday (Saturday, January 4). I’ve written reports on wins by Faribault and Benilde. Here I’m going to summarize the other games I saw plus a few that I didn’t.
Southland boys 63 Dover-Eyota 47
The festivities opened at 10 a.m. at Rochester John Marshall and at Kasson only at 11:30, so I squeezed in the 1st half of the earliest game, because after all the Southland Rebels are unbeaten and rated #1 in Section 1A. They faced off against the Class AA Dover-Eyota Eagles, who kept things close through 24-all at the 3 minute mark. Noah Gergen hit a 3 and Maverick Hanna a 2 to give Southland a 29-24 halftime lead. From 24-all, Southland outscored the Eagles 39-23 for the win. Sophomore Tate Goergen and senior Cole Miller scored 15 each for Southland. Until further notice, the Rebels will remain the fave in the section.
White Bear Lake girls 62 Stewartville 60
Stewartville and White Bear Lake have much in common. They will play almost anybody, anywhere. And, that’s why, between the 2 of them, they’re just 15-and-12. But that did not preclude them from playing an entertaining game at Kasson-Mantorville on Saturday afternoon. White Bear led most of the way, 32-29 at the half, 42-39 11 minutes later, then 50-40 at 6 minutes. Stew clawed back to within 56-55 at 1:47 on a 3 by Audrey Shindelar, a Minnesota State (Mankato) recruit. White Bear’s leading scorer, Elise Dieterle, then made it 58-55, but Jayci Rath, a St. Thomas recruit, made a 2 + 1 to tie it up. Point guard Addison Post, coach Jeremy’s daughter, scored at :43, and Rath tied it up again at 20 seconds.
White Bear then scored at the buzzer on a brilliantly executed meander to the rim by Post.
Stewartville boys 74 Mound-Westonka 46
This one said “watch me” by virtue of Mound’s unbeaten record (8-0) and Stewartville’s 7-1 record was marred only by a loss to #1AAA Benilde. Well, Mound stayed close only through 16-13, but by the half Stew led 33-18 as Jayce Klug and Hayden Tix knocked down the 3. (They scored 8 between them for the day; I’m not sure how many came in the 1st half but, let’s just say, Enough.) Max Kraay and Cole Drill are a pair of solid forwards for Mound, but they could not get anything going.
Mahtomedi girls 74 Austin 52
Mahtomedi came in at a modest 7-3 but against a pretty solid schedule. Austin, meanwhile, was a surprising 9-0 but against questionable opposition–that is, the Big 9. Well, Mahtomedi made the Big 9 look pretty bad, easily beating its top team 74-52. The game was over at 16-2. Austin loves to get out and run, and get shots up quickly. But, they came across as reckless. It was like it was more important to get a shot–any shot–than to get a good shot. They made themselves easy to defend by repeatedly taking the ball to the defense and then putting up a shot against a double-team, by taking off-balance shots, and by failing to execute a simple 2-on-1, and taking harder shots when easier ones are available, and stuff like that. Mahtomedi wasn’t great. They didn’t have to be. They just took care of business.
Delano girls 56 Byron 49
When I arrived in Byron, Delano led this game 18-7. It was 31-14 at the half. But, Byron battled. They played aggressively on defense and on the boards, and eventually a few shots started to fall. It was still 42-26 at 11 minutes, but a minute-and-a-half later it was 42-32, then 47-39 at 3:30. 5-11 senior Kendra Harvey led the comeback and finished with 21 points. But, Delano was aggressive and scrappy, too, and took better care of the basketball. Delano was led by 3 juniors–Lexi Champeau with 15, Abbie Pietila with 13 and Cassie Wegman with 13.
Games I Didn’t See
The Winona Cotter girls shocked Visitation earlier in the day at Byron, 70-66, and Clarissa Sauer scored 22 and Katelyn Ubl 21. Sam Wills had 26 for Vis. The Rochester Mayo girls surprised me, at least, with a 74-44 rout of Edina as freshman forward Maggie Dyer scored 26.
The Zumbrota-Mazeppa boys, who knoekcd Cannon Falls out of the ranks of the unbeatens the previous night, were back on the court 17 hours later at Rochester, and beat St. Agnes 52-46.
Those would be my highlights, along with the Faribault and Benilde wins, which re reported in separate posts.
The best individual performances of the weekend include:
Center– Ryan Kreager, Faribault 6-10, junior, 27 pts-13 reb, 13-of-17 shooting
Forward– Jalen Wilson, Benilde, 6-7, senior, 14 pts-7 reb
Point Guard– A.J. Stuttley, Benilde, 6-4, senior, 21 pts-5 steals
Combo Guard–Mohamed Madey, Faribault, 6-4, senior, 32 pts-13 reb-6 asts
Shooting Guard– Miskir Esayes, Park, 6-2, senior, 32 pts-6 ast-7 3s
Second Team
Center– Ethan Miller, Zumbrota, 6-8, junior, 21 pts-12 reb-3 asts-3 blks
Power Forward– Breuer Wolff, Faribault, 6-7, junior, 23 pts-7 reb, 10-of-17 shooting
Wing–Gavin Erickson, Cannon Falls, 6-5, senior, 24 pts-5 reb
Point Guard– Anthony Giadyu, Park, 6-0, senior, 28 pts-9 reb-3 ast-9-of-18 FG
Combo Guard– Will Brian, Byron, 6-5, senior, 11 pts-7 reb
Best Girls
Kendra Harvey, Byron, 5-11, senior, wing 19 pts
Sarah Poepard, Mahtomedi, 6-1, freshman, wing 18 pts
Audrey Shindelar, Stewartville, 5-10, junior, combo guard 16 pts
Abbie Pietila, Delano, 5-7, junior, point guard 13 pts
Grace Prose, Mahtomedi, soph, shooting guard 20 pts