The 2nd half century of Minnesota state high school girls basketball is now launched in the form of the 51st championship tournament. The main theme of this 51st tournament was very much the same as has been the theme over the past quarter-century and that is: The rich got richer. Only one of the 4 state championship trophies will go into a trophy case that does not already have at least 4 previous championship trophies. The 4 champions have won a record 20 titles–Hopkins 9, Providence 5 and Benilde-St. Margaret’s 5–even as the Class A champion West Central won for the 1st time.
Meanwhile, 3 of the 4 runners-up–Maple Grove in AAAA, Crosby-Ironton in AA and MACCRAY in A–was making their 1st championship game appearance. Marshall, on the other hand, was in its 7th. The Tigers won the AAA title in 2001 and 2002 but since have lost in 2006, 2014-2015, 2021 and now in 2025.
And you should not be too surprised next year at this time if the rich do not indeed continue to grow richer, as Hopkins returns 2 starters and 6 contributors; Benilde 2 and 4; Marshall 4 starters; and Providence 3, including the completely amazing Maddyn Greenway. Hopkins and Providence will enter the 2025-2026 season as heavy favorites to repeat–Hopkins’ only plausible competition will come from Section 6 rival Wayzata, while Providence will not have any plausible challengers. Meanwhile, in Class AAA, Benilde will be one of several co-favorites among Cretin, DeLaSalle, Hill Murray, Marshall, Monticello and Orono.
The Top Teams of 2025
Overall–that is, regardless of class, the top teams of 2025 are as follows.
1. Providence 32-0. For the 2nd time in 3 years, the best team in the state is from Class AA and for the 2nd time in 3 years, it is the Providence Lions. Providence defeated Hopkins 66-59 in December, and also beat Maple Grove 82-75 in November.
2. Hopkins 27-5
3. Maple Grove 28-3
4. Benilde-St. Margaret’s 26-6
5. Wayzata 23-5
The top 5 teams are all located in Hennepin County. The top team not located in Hennepin County is #6 Eastview (27-4) located in Dakota County. The top team not located in the metropolitan Twin Cities is #8 Marshall (29-2).
The Top 10 in each class is as follows. Each team is following by their W-L record, their finish (if any) in the state tournament, and their QRF ranking.
| Class A | Class AA | Class AAA | Class AAA |
| 1. West Central 27-6, 1st, #8, 1st state championship
2. MACCRAY 25-6, 2nd, #14 3. Goodhue 26-6, 3rd, #1 4. Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s 30-4, 4th, #6 5. Mountain Iron Buhl 26-4, —, #3 6. Walker-Hack-Akeley 27-5, 5th, #26 7. Mayer Lutheran 27-5, 6th, #6 8. Breckenridge 23-6, —, #4 9. Cromwell-Wright 25-6, 7th, #5 10. Braham 23-6, —, #7 |
1. Providence 32-0, 1st, #1, 5th state championship, 4 straight
2. Crosby-Ironton 32-1, 2nd, #2 3. Minnehaha 22-10, 3rd, #3 4. Minnewaska 28-5, 4th, #12 5. Caledonia 29-4, 5th, #15 6. Sauk Centre 28-4, 6th, #7 7. Proctor 26-4, —, #4 8. Visitation 21-8, —, #6 9. New London-Spicer 27-2, —#9 10.Jordan 20-9, —, #8 |
1. Benilde-St. Margaret’s 26-6, 1st, #1, 5th state championship, 3 straight
2. Marshall 29-2, 2nd, #9 3. Alexandria 26-5, 3rd, #4 4. DeLaSalle 26-6, 5th, #5 5. Orono 25-4, —, #2 6. Monticello 29-2, 7th, #3 7. Delano 22-6, —, #5 8. Cretin 21-11, 7th, #4 9. Rock Ridge 25-7, 6th, #13 10. Hill Murray 22-7, —, #8 |
1. Hopkins 27-5, 1st, #1, 9th state championship
2. Maple Grove 28-3, 2nd, #3 3. Wayzata 23-5, —, #2 4. Eastview 27-4, 3rd, #4 5. Eden Prairie 21-6, —, #5 6. Lakeville North 19-13, 4th, #15 7. Brainerd 26-6, 6th, #13 8. Prior Lake 21-6, —, #7 9. Chaska 20-12, 5th, #14 10. Anoka 20-10, 7th, #16 |
Class AA and Overall #1: Providence 81 Crosby-Ironton 63
I’m not going to say that this was a rout or that the outcome was never in doubt. C-I stayed closed for 13 minutes, But then a series of bad shots and turnovers by C-I resulted in a series of breakaway and transition baskets by Providence. Once Providence got running, C-I was helpless to slow them down, they completely lacked the foot speed to do that, even Tori Oehrlein. Suddenly it was 42-32 Providence at the half, and now the outcome was no longer in doubt. It’s one thing to keep up with the Lions, it’s another to catch up to the Lions.
It’s true of course that Providence’s 4-peat is almost entirely the result of Maddyn Greenway’s decision to attend high school and to play high school ball at Providence. She has since scored 4,454 career points, every one of them in a Lions uniform. This is now #3 all-time in Minnesota behind Rebekah Dahlman wth 5,060, and Addie Mack, who completed her career on Saturday with 4,687 points. Oehrlein of Crosby-Ironton finished her season in 4th place with 4,427 points, or 27 less than Greenway. One of them is sure to finish their career next year as Minnesota’s all-time leading scorer. Greenway is already the all-time leader in state tournament points. With 95 points in this tournament, Greenway surpassed Carlie Wagner’s record and finished with 439 points with yet another tournament to go.
One can only wonder what our world might look like it Greenway had decided lo these 5 years ago to follow in the footsteps of Paige Bueckers. Bueckers, it is said, reasoned that she was the best player of her day and that it was reasonable therefore that she should play for the best program, which was then Hopkins and has of course been Hopkins continuously from that day to this. Bueckers surprisingly won just one state title at Hopkins, though the 2020 title would almost certainly have been hers and theirs but for the intervention of COVID. And, if Greenway had decided to play at Hopkins, well, it’s not possible that she would have won any more titles that she has won at Providence anyway.
Class AAAA: Hopkins 81 Maple Grove 67
It has been a topsy turvy year in AAAA.
• Maple Grove opened with an impressive road win at Eden Prairie, and entered the state tournament with the best record (26-2) and the #1 seed. They lost to Hopkins during the regular season, however, 59-55.
• Eastview improbably opened 0-2 but then beat Hopkins 68-61. They came into the tournament on a 25-1 run.
• Wayzata started 10-4, then won 13 in a row including a 73-70 and 76-70 sweep of Hopkins in the regular season. Wayzata won the Lake Conference title at 10-1 to Hopkins’ 9-2. But, Hopkins won the section final 74-60.
• Eden Prairie started 12-1 but finished just 9-5.
And, so, coming into the state tournament for one of the few times in the past 20 years an an underdog, Hopkins swept Eastview and Maple Grove in the semi and final. In fact, Hopkins was rated #1 every year from 2011 to 2024. I think they were #1 in 2023. They lost the final to St. Michael-Albertville 71-70, but they had swept the Knights during the regular season. Last year they lost the Lake Conference championship and the state title to Minnetonka (64-56) but somehow snuck into the state tournament as the #1 seed.
And, so the Royals’ #4 ranking and #3 seed this year was a truly historic thing. But, where it really counted, which is on the Saturday night scoreboard, Hopkins was again #1. Again, whether, it’s the ranking, or the seed, or the final outcome, Hopkins has been #1 for 15 straight years. And, again, they’ll be heavily favored to make it 16 in 2026.
Class AAA: Benilde-St. Margaret’s 73 Marshall 57
It was of course also a topsy turvy season in AAA. 2-time defending champion Benilde lally-gagged its way to a 23-6 record, thoughit avenged 2 ofd its 6 defeats in the Section 6 final and finagled the #1 seed. In fact, there was only one unavenged defeat to a AAA team, that being DeLaSalle, who was however pulverized by Alexandria 60-40 in the 1st round. So, now Benilde would play in the semi-final a team that it had already beaten 79-53. Benilde beat Alex by 8 and Marshall by 16 to leave no doubt that it was indeed the best of Class AAA.
Meanwhile, sticking for the moment to Class AAA, one of the more interesting sidelights to the season was the fate of the Monticello Magic. They entered the state tournament 29-0 and ranking #1 and #3 in a pair of polls. They entered the tournament without their best player, junior guard Samantha Voll, however. Voll was suspended from the team and from participation in the state tournament for reasons that as far as I have been able to tell have not been disclosed. Playing without their best player, the Magic lost for the 1st and 2nd time this year against teams that they might otherwise have been expected to beat.
Class A: West Central 58 MACCRAY 41
Finally, it was a topsy turvy season in Class A. But in Class A, of course, it would be topsy turvy if it weren’t topsy turvy. I mean, except when Goodhue steamrolls everybody, it is impossible to say what exactly is going to happen. Well, in 2025, it looked like another Goodhue steamrolling was going to happen but, instead, the unsung 23-6, #9-rated and #4-seeded West Central Knights shocked Goodhue and the world 58-50. Meanwhile, unranked and #7-seeded MACCRAY (short for Maynard, Clara City and Raymond) finagled itself all the way to the finals with wins over #2 Mayer Lutheran and #3 Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s, then fell short. MACCRAY and 6-1 forward Brielle Janssen may be back next year. West Central, featuring 4 senior starters, probably will not. But, this year, West Central was always a sleeper, their six losses all coming to ranked teams, five of them from Class AA.
My choice for coach of the year, both in Class A and overall, is Becca Harmon of West Central.