The post-season in Minnesota basketball begins this Tuesday with girls sectionals, though it will just be low-viz play-in games to start. Still, things will heat up quickly. They heated up at Northfield yesterday (Saturday) in an interesting non-conference game between the Northfield Raiders and the Richfield Spartans. Interesting not because either is a powerhouse (Richfield is #16 and Northfield #24 on QRF), but because both teams went into the game rated #5 in their sections on QRF. As such, either or both could be among the best teams in the state to start the playoffs on the road.
Neither team shot well. Was the defense that good? Both teams contested shots in the paint and dared the perimeter shooters to let ‘er rip. My unofficial numbers show Northfield shooting 9-of-32 in the 1st half (28%) and 10-of-24 in the 2nd (42%) for a total of 34%. Richfield shot 8-of-24 and 7-of-29 (24%) for a total of 28%. Richfield’s defense was especially “handsy” resulting in a lot of fouls. Northfield made 11-of-15 FT, Richfield just 4-of-9.
The final was Northfield 53 Richfield 42. Kate Sand, Grace Mostad and Amber Mahal led Northfield with 14, 12 and 10 points, Sand’s all coming in the 1st half, after which Richfield deployed a variety of zone defenses to better pack the lane. Richfield was led by Aniiya Johnson with 15 and Ione MacNabb with 11.
With the win, Northfield remained #5 in QRF in Section 1AAA behind Byron, Austin, Red Wing and Stewartville. But, luckily, Section 1AAA does not necessarily seed based on QRF. 5 of the 8 teams are members of the Big 9, and it seems possible that the coaches might vote the teams in order of their conference standing. Northfield, then, would leapfrog Austin and Red Wing. Not only that but #4 Stew beat #1 Byron. The section probably ought to be seeded Stew, Byron (who beat Northfield), Northfield, Red Wing and Austin, in which case Northfield would get Kasson-Mantorville at home in the 1st full round, the QF, on Wednesday, February 26. Northfield closes with Austin and Owatonna at home. They split with those 2 teams on the road.
With its loss, Richfield moved up ahead of Holy Angels into 4th place by QRF in Section 6AAA, which is, by the way, seeded by QRF. Now, the fact is that Richfield plays at Holy Angels on Tuesday night, and you would assume that the winner would get the home ice. But, who knows with QRF?
In Class AAA just 3 sections have 5 teams with winning records and, thus, #5 seeds with winning records. In 1AAA, right now based on QRF Northfield (16-8) would be at Stewartville (18-7), Blake (14-9) at St. Anthony (14-9) in 5AAA, and Holy Angels 16-7 at Richfield 17-7 in 6AAA.