Dec. 28--Gopher women stay unbeaten in Big 10 debuit

The Gopher women ran their record to 15-0 and more importantly 1-0 in the Big 10 Friday night with a 74-56 win over the Wisconsin Badgers. OK, you couldn't ask for a better Big 10 opener. The Badgers came in 9-3 but they've struggled in recent years so, at Williams Arena, the Gophers figured to have an easy time of it, and they did what they had to do.

They shut down the Badgers offense in the 1st period and took a 17-7 lead. After 12 minutes of even-stephen basketball it was 40-30. Then the Gophers put it away, closing the 3rd quarter on a 15-4 run for a 55-34 lead.

The Badgers shot 35 percent, made just 5 3 pointers and nobody scored in double figures for Wisconsin. Meanwhile, the Gophers shot just 40 percent and made 4 3 pointers. But, senior post Annalese Lamke, from Galesville, WI, was a model of efficiency against her home state U, making 6-of-7 FG and 8-of-10 FT for 20 points. And it was reserves Palma Kaposi, with 3 buckets, and Mercedes Staples with a 3 that led that decisive 15-4 run in the 2nd half.

A Monday night trip to Ann Arbor, MI, figures to be a much sterner test for Lindsay Whalen's Gophers but, for now, hey, it's good to be 15-0 and #12 in the nation.

Player of the Day--Annalese Lamke
Team of the Day--Gopher women
Coach of the Day--Lindsay Whalen

Dec. 26-27--Catching up on the high schools

There was precious little activity Wednesday night, not because of the weather, which was, however, by all accounts, pretty atrocious. There just wasn't much on the schedule. And, so, both kj and PGH made their way up to New London-Spicer, and both described a couple of white-knuckle drives home. Both also described a pretty good ballgame--well, 2 of them.

Minnehaha opened the season as the consensus #1 in girls class AA but got off to a slow start at 3-5, against a very tough schedule. But, they now appear to be getting their act together with 4 straight wins. On Wednesday, they knocked off a very good AAA team in the Willmar Cardinals 61-55 as Tatum Rhoades scored 27 points and Mia Curtis 15. In the night's 2nd game, the homestanding Wildcats of New London-Spicer defeated Albany 62-52 despite 20 points by Albany's Paige Meyer.

The following morning Minnehaha defeated the Wildcats 51-44 to win the championship of the NLS holiday tournament as Curtis scored 24 points.

Later that night Shakopee clobbered Edina 92-75 and Eden Prairie edged Chaska 61-60 at the Eden Prairie boys tournament. It was a stellar tournament lineup. The hosts came in at 5-2 and rated #4 in the state, Chaska 4-3 #6, Edina 4-2 #10 and Shakopee 5-2 #12. But, neither game went according to Hoyle, as you can see. Jacob Hutson scored 31 points for Edina in the 1st game, but Will Cordes scored 22 for Shakopee and 3 other Sabres all scored in double figures, and Shakopee made a 17-point halftime lead stand up.

In the 2nd game, EP had to come back from a 10-point halftime deficit to get a 1-point win as Drake Dobbs scored 20 points and Austin Andrews 16.

What made all of this even more interesting was that the following night, it was Shakopee that came back from a 9-point halftime deficit to shock the Eagles 81-79 on their own home court. Dobbs and John Henry each scored 24 points for EP but Caleb Druvenga scored 22 for Shakopee, Cordes added 18, and Charles Katona 17, and suddenly you've got to make room for the Sabres in your top 10. 

Player of the Day Wed.--Taytum Rhoades

Player of the Day Thurs.--Will Cordes

Team of the Day Wed.--Minnehaha girls

Team of the Day Thurs.--Shakopee boys

Coach of the Day Wed.--Matt Pryor, Minnehaha

Coach of the Day Thurs.--Jake Dammann, Shakopee

Dec. 22--Gopher women 91 Rhode Island 71

Well, the Gopher women under coach Lindsay Whalen have now completed their non-conference season undefeated for just the 3rd time in program history. The previous occasions were in 2002-2003 and 2003-2004, which just happen to be Lindsay Whalen's junior and senior years as a Gopher guard. So, wow, what can you say except, please, God, can we keep this going a little longer?

Saturday night the Gophers didn't have too much trouble with the .500 Rams. Well, they led 19-17 early in the 2nd quarter, but a 17-0 run settled it over the next 7 minutes. Taiye Bello scored 8 points, Destiny Pitts 5, and freshman Mercedes Staples, who has found her rhythm and worked her way into the 6th player spot, hit a 3. Kenisha Bell added 2 during the run, though by the time it was all said and done she led all scorers with 28 points while also adding 7 boards, 9 assists and 2 steals.

Rhode Island got back within 12 at the half, and the Gophers responded by building the lead back up to 19 again at 58-39. Two minutes later it was 64-52. But a 9-0 run made it 73-52 and 8 minutes later it was 91-65.

Pitts scored 19, Bello had 16 with 15 boards and 5 steals, Annalese Lamke scored 14 and Staples had 7 points, 2 boards, 4 assists and 2 steals off the bench.

It has become apparent that coach Whalen doesn't intend to use her bench--this bench--a whole lot, and a lack of depth still looms as a possible weakness. We hope to see Gadiva Hubbard back and not just back, but back at full strength before too long.

But as things stand now, the Gophers can run and they can score mostly by getting to the rim, and they can turn people over. If Pitts is hitting from the outside, and if Staples continues to improve her mid and long-range shot, then, well, they're adequate from the outside. Bello can rebound with anybody though I'm not convinced they're a great defensive rebounding team. Can they get enough defensive stops against good teams when they don't necessarily turn 'em over? They've been good. They've been good.

But, as they head into the Big 10 season, well, do they have enough depth to deal with fouls and bad matchups? Can they survive if they're not hitting the 3? Can they hit the defensive board? I don't think they have any outright weaknesses, but are they good enough? We'll see. Please, God, can we keep this going a little bit longer?

Player of the Day--Kenisha Bell and Taiye Bello
Team of the Day--Gopher women
Coach of the Day--Lindsay Whalen, who else?

Dec. 23--Timberwolves 114 Oklahoma City 112

Just when you thought it was NOT safe to go into the water, the Timberwolves surprised you, right? Admit it. Surprised the hell out of me. The last time I wrote about the Wolves, they were goin' good and I allowed myself to get all optimistic. Bad idea. They had crawled back to .500, but then they lost 6 of 7 to find themselves in darn near a "must win" situation with, still, 4 of their next 5 on the road. So what do they do?

Well, they bring Jarryd Bayless into the rotation. With Derrick Rose and Jeff Teague both out, Bayless steps in as backup to Tyus Jones and the two of them scored 12 points with 7 rebounds and 7 assists. Nothing spectacular but, hey, better than Ricky Rubio. And Bayless hit a big 3 to give the Timberwolves a short-lived 40-28 lead early in the 2nd period.

From there, the Thunder outran the Wolves 38-18 in the 2nd period to take a 63-53 halftime lead. The Wolves responded with a 33-17 period of their own to lead 86-80 going into the 4th.

The Wolves still led 97-88 at 7:16 but you knew it was not over. In fact, Oklahoma City picked away and eventually tied things up at 104 at 2:45. Robert Covington hit a 3 and Taj Gibson a 1, but the Thunder tied it up at 108 at 1:24. Then, you know, you could really feel it slipping away when Steven Adams scored on a cutback for a 110-108 lad at :54 but Dario Saric answered with a 3. Michael Westbrook put the Thunder back up by one, but Andrew Wiggins scored to make it 113-112 at :14. Westbrook had fouled out in the meantime, and so Alex Abrinas took the 3 and missed. (Please, God, let the Thunder pick Alex Abrinas for this shot! Please!) Wiggins got the board, got fouled and made 1-of-2, but then Karl Towns grabbed the O-board to put an end to it.

Wiggins scored 30, Towns scored just 18 due to foul trouble, but Covington added 13 Gibson and Gorgui Dieng (you read that right) 11 each and Saric 10. The point guards added 5 and 7 but combined for 7 assists and just 3 turnovers. It was a great overall effort, with the defensive turning it around by allowing the Thunder just 9 3s on 25 attempts. Meanwhile, the Wolves made 14-of-27. End of story.

Still, the Wolves now are 2.5 games out of the playoffs but with Utah, Dallas, Memphis, San Antone and Houston ahead of them in the playoff pecking order. It's still early but, as I already said, they're darn near in must-win territory already. Early, after trading away the Cancer Man, they went 9-4. They'll need that kind of run again, and next time--if there is a next time--they're not going to be able to follow that with a 1-6.

Between now and the end of January the Wolves have 4 road games against teams with losing records, 3 road games against teams with winning record, 6 home games against teams with losing records, and 4 home games against teams with winning records. Win the home games against the losers, lose the road games against the winners, and split the rest. That adds up to 10-7 and 25-25 total. If the Wolves are worse than 25-25 on Feb. 1, it is all over. If they're 25-25, it might be all over. So let's win 11 of the next 17 and then go from there, what do you say?

Player of the Day--Andrew Wiggins

Team of the Day--Minnesota Timberwolves

Coach of the Day--I'm not aware of any other Minnesota coach who was active today, are you?

Dec. 21--Bemidji and Eden Prairie boys, Hopkins and Roseau girls win

Game of the Day

Roseau is rated #1AA and Mountain Iron-Buhl #2A, so their matchup figured to be good. Well, it exceeded expectations, as the Rams survived the visiting Rangers 76-75. Roseau led 39-36 at the half, but never led by more than 3 in the 2nd half. But, meanwhile MIB had several chances to take the lead and never did, and missed 9 FT in the last 10 minutes of the game. Katie Borowicz scored 30 for Roseau, sister Kacie 20 and Julia Braaten 14. Macy Savela led MIB with 21, Madisen Overbuy added 18 and Allie Negen 14.

Team of the Day

#4AAAA Eden Prairie won its 2nd game this week against a top 5 opponent and, in the process, broke a 4-game losing streak to arch-rival #7AAAA Lakeville North. The Eagles closed the 1st half on a 19-6 run to lead 36-23 at intermission. The Panthers roared back with a 23-5 run for a 46-41 lead. Drake Dobbs then scored 5 straight points to get the Eagles back on track. John Henry hit some big shots down the stretch while Connor Christensen held North's Tyler Wahl to 9 points, 14 below his average, and Eden Prairie pulled away to a 66-62 win. Dobbs scored 20 and Henry 19 to lead the Eagles, while Christensen added 11. Jack Rusch scored 18 and Tate Staloch 15 for the Panthers.

Player of the Day

#5AAAA St. Michael-Albertville gave #1AAAA Hopkins its closest game of the year before losing 80-70. Previously Hopkins had beaten Stillwater 84-62, and had beaten 8 other teams by more than 22. Even so, Hopkins' incredible junior guard Paige Bueckers was too much for the Knights, scoring 30 points for the Royals. Dlayla Chakolis added 19, Maya Battle and Kahla Adams 10. Kenzie Kramer scored 22 for St. Michael, while Kae Christian added 19, Vanessa Alexander and 8th grader Tessa Johnson 10 each. Hopkins was without Maya Nnaji, St. Michael played without Jadyn Hanson.

Coach of the Day

The Bemidji boys give every appearance of having their best team in years. Last night they showed it by defeating a good St. Paul Johnson team 74-58 in the Lumberjacks' pre-Christmas tournament. It wasn't that close. Bemidji led 54-29. Johnson closed with an 11-1 run. Spencer Konecne scored 17 and Colton Jensen 15 for Bemidji, now 4-0. Johnson got 26 from Jordan Mobley.

Dec. 20--White Bear sweeps doubleheader at Mahtomedi

I wish high schools had more doubleheaders. They had one at Mahtomedi last night and, well, of course, the home team lost both games. Still, it was a great environment, a great night of basketball, capped off with a great game won by the visiting White Bear Lake boys 77-75 in 2 OT.

White Bear led most of the way after taking the lead 13-11, 16-14 and 19-16 on an Isaac Tessier 3; an and-1 for Carter Ehlers off a steal, one of 4 steals by Ehlers in about 4 minutes; and a 3 by 6-8 post Jeremy Beckler. Beckler was a titan in the 1st half, scoring 20 points on a variety of power moves down low, twice off the offensive glass and a pair of 3s. Down as many as 8 at 28-20, Mahtomedi closed to within 30-27 at the half on buckets by 3 different players, but all 3 assisted by 6-6 wing Devin Melzer.

The 2nd half was almost all J'Vonne Hadley. Ehlers had done a nice job defensively in the 1st half, holding Hadley to 8 points. Hadley was unstoppable in the 2nd half with 24 of the Zephyrs' 38 points, mostly just attacking the rim. Still, White Bear was up by as many as 9 before Mahtomedi finally caught up at 60-all with just under 5 minutes to go on a 3 by Zac Centers. The Bears quickly went back up 65-60 at 3:30 as Beckler and Tessier each scored off the offensive board. But Mahtomedi counter-punched with buckets by Melzer and Centers to tie it up at 65.

The Zephyrs took their 1st lead since 14-13 at 67-65 to open the 1st OT as Hadley got a block and a board on the defensive end, then scored on a dribble drive on the other. He added 4 more points for a 71-66 lead at the 1 minute mark. The Bears looked done. Instead Beckler scored twice and Sam Bell with a 3, all 3 buckets assisted by Tessier, and it was 73-all.

It was White Bear's turn to take a quick lead in the 2nd OT on a 3 by Steven Kliest. 6-10 Cole Chapman, who scored 4 of his 6 points in the 2 OTs, scored on a putback for the Zephyrs. Mathias Beck made 1-of-2 throws for just his 3rd point of the game, but the Bears kept it interesting by making just 2-of-10 FT in the 2 OTs. Fatigue was probably a factor. Starting guard Sam Schwartz is out with a sprained ankle, and the Bears went 44 minutes with just 6 players. Neither team scored after 1:29. Hadley did not score in the last 5 minutes of play and even got blocked by Beckler at about 50 seconds. Fatigue was probably a factor here, too. I believe Mahtomedi played 7 players, only 5 of whom scored.

Hadley finished with 38 points, Beckler 36. The Bears guards Tessier and Ehlers combined for 28. Melter was automatic down low, but didn't get the ball very often and finished with 10.

The White Bear girls defeated Mahtomedi 57-46. It was closer than than--48-46 at 2:50, but Mahtomedi didn't score after that. Courtney Crouch hit a big 3 for the Bears, and they made 6-of-8 throws down the stretch. Ella Janicki and Anna Sanders combined for 38 points for the Bears while Julia Salmen scored 18 for Mahtomedi.

Player of the Day--Beckler and Hadley

Team of the Day--White Bear Lake

Coach of the Day--Keith Lockwood, White Bear

Dec. 18--Catching Up with the High Schools

We had a full slate of high school games last Tuesday including maybe 15 that matched ranked teams. The biggest games proved to be the following.

1. Holy Angels girls 90 St. Paul Como Park 88. Here were 2 over-achievers, teams with a history of success but that had both lost a tremendous amount of talent since last year. Yet here they are, 13-3 between them with some high quality wins, and rated #5 and #6 in Class AAA. Holy Angels led most of the way but never by more than 5 points, and Como took an 82-80 lead as sophomore Demya Riley made a pair of high-pressure FT. Isabelle Henry came back to send the game into OT.

Then with the score tied at 88, Henry got a steal at mid-court and took it home for the game-winning bucket with just 4 ticks left on the clock.

Frankie Vascello led the Stars with 36 points, while Henry added 12. Ronnie Porter, Jada James and Kaylynn Asbury, all freshmen, led the Cougars with 20 each.

2. Eden Prairie boys 55 East Ridge 50. Here were 2 top 5 teams but just 6-3 between them due to rock hard schedules. It didn't get any easier Tuesday for either one. The 2 heavyweights slugged it out with the defenses dominating the 2 offenses most of the way. But in the end the Eagles were able to expand a 28-24 halftime lead by another point behind Drake Hobbs, Austin Andrews and Ariel Bland, who scored 49 points among them. Only Courtney Brown with 19 was in double figures for the Raptors.

3. Ada-Borup girls 42 Park Christian 40. Park gave notice that it would be a contender for a state tournament berth in Section 6A with a 2-point road loss to perennial power and #8-rated Ada. It was the 1st loss for #17 Park. Karley Motsbacher of Park scored 20, while Mariah McKeever scored 17 for Ada.

4. Lakeville North boys 55 Eastview 53. Here are 2 more perennial powers and arch-rivals, just 7-5 between them because of their fiendishly demanding schedules. Ryan Thissen of Eastview led all scorers with 20 but it wasn't enough to offset North's balanced scoring as Tyler Wahl and Tate Staloch combined for 25.

5. Holy Family girls 59 Annandale 52. In a preview of a possible Section 5AA matchup, #5 Holy Family held off #10 Annandale. DePaul-bound Hannah Purcell scored 14 for Annandale, while Leigh Steiner scored 13 for Holy Family.

Player of the Day--Dawson Garcia, Prior Lake, 40 pts vs. Shakopee (74-63 win) and Frankie Vascellero

Team of the Day--Eden Prairie boys

Coach of the Day--David Flom, Eden Prairie, and John Oxton, Lakeville North

Catching up with the Northern Sun

MSU-Moorhead swept Northern State in a Wednesday (Dec. 19) doubleheader, which is newsworthy because the Northern men came in 5-0, good for 1st in the NSIC North.

But the Moorhead men took a 38-29 halftime lead and held on 71-69 behind Gavin Baumgardner, the 6-4 freshman guard from Wayzata, who scored 18 points with 8 boards and 3 assists. Moorhead led by as many as 11 early in the 2nd half. Northern cut the lead to 2 a half-dozen times but never got any closer. Northern remains in 1st in the North at 5-1. Moorhead is 3-3.

The Moorhead women won a bit more easily, 60-51, and in this case it is the Dragons who are undefeated and in 1st place in the NSIC North. Jacky Volkert, from Mounds View, led the way with 18 points and 5 assists. The Northern women are just 2-4.

Player of the Day--Gavin Bumgarner

Team of the Day--MSU Moorhead women

Coach of the Day--Karla Nelson, MSUM

Dec. 17--Wayzata edges Stillwater 78-76 in "the Ms. Basketball Game"

I ran into several members of the Ms. Basketball committee at tonight's Stillwater-Wayzata game. "Did you see Ms. Basketball tonight?" I asked. "What year?" they replied. Indeed.

But, first, the game. Wayzata came in undefeated and ranked #2. Stillwater had a 22-point loss to Hopkins early, but surprised #5 Roseville last week 78-60. My buddy Grant, who saw the Roseville game, said, Wayzata by 6 or 8. I said, Tossup.

So, Stillwater roared out to 12-1 and 21-9 leads, but Wayzata clawed its way back into a brief lead before the Ponies took a 34-33 halftime lead. Stillwater guards Sara Scalia and Alexis Pratt combined for 31 points on 6-of-18 shooting including 3-of-6 3s and 7-of-8 FT. Meanwhile, Wayzata bigs Jenna Johnson and Kallie Theisen combined for 24 points on 8-of-17 FG, 7-of-10 FT, and 9 offensive boards.

The 2nd half was a mirror of the 1st. Stillwater pulled ahead again and led 58-49 at 8:52 on 9-of-14 shooting. But, as soon as the Ponies shooting faltered (they shot 6-of-18 the rest of the way), Wayzata's offensive boards began to pile up. The Trojans outscored Stillwater 15-5 on 2nd chance points in the 2nd half and 24-10 for the night. And freshman Mara Braun scored 16 2nd half points on 6-of-8 shooting, including a dribble drive from the left wing to send the game into OT.

Wayzata took the lead in OT but Pratt tied it up on a fast break layup at 0:35. But, Braun iced it for the Trojans with 2 FT at :19.

So, what year, indeed?

Among the 2019s, Theisen is rated as the #1 player in one prominent ranking. She finished with a hard-earned 17 points on 6-of-13 shooting, with 14 rebounds, 7 on each end of the floor. She added 3 assists. Scalia, meanwhile, is rated #2 in the same ranking and is, as you know, Lindsay Whalen's 1st Minnesota recruit. She scored 27 points on 9-of-19 shooting, and they were also hard-earned points, as Wayzata's Mimi Schrader and others hounded her with some effect. She had no turnovers, but no assists, according to my unofficial stats. So I'd say advantage Theisen.

The top 2020s on the floor were the posts, Aliza Karlen of Stillwater and Annika Stewart of Wayzata. Karlen scored 10 points on 3-of-9 shooting with 9 boards. Stewart scored 9 points on 4-of-9 shooting with 5 boards. Honestly, neither one looked like Ms. Basketball.

No, the girls the Ms. Basketball gurus were referring to were the 2021s Pratt and Johnson and the 2022 Braun. Pratt, an all-state sprinter in track, was too quick for anybody to guard, and she scored 27 points on 9-of-16 shooting with 4 boards, 4 assists but 5 turnovers. Johnson scored those 17 1st half points to keep Wayzata alive, and finished with 19 on 7-of-15 shooting with 8 boards, 6 of them on the offensive end. Braun was athletic in the 1st half, and just plain dynamite in the 2nd.

Player of the Day--Mara Braun, Wayzata

Team of the Day--Wayzata

Coach of the Day--Ok, I'm gonna duck this one and go with a couple of fellows from up in Arrowhead country: Will Kleppe of North Woods, who knocked off a pretty good AA program, Esko, tonight 72-67; and Jeff Gronner, of Cromwell, who defeated an up-and-coming Class A opponent in Floodwood.

Dec. 16- St. Thomas women demolish Trinity

The women of Trinity TX made the trek to St. Paul today to play coach Ruth Sinn's unbeaten--and, dare we say, unbeatable?--Tommies. Now, Trinity is a pretty good program with 138 wins and 32 losses (.812) over the past 6 seasons and a 5-1 record this year coming into today's game. Over the past 34 games (last season and this), they have lost just once by a double-digit margin, that being an 82-59 loss to Whitman on December 21, 2017.

So I think it's fair to say that a 92-50 blowout by the Tommies is an "impressive" performance. Can we say that? Yeah, we can say that. I think we can also say that it was, well, a little bit closer than that. The Tommies led "only" 41-30 at the half and 62-41 three-quarters of the way through, and then stomped all over the Tigers 31-10 in the final 10 minutes. I think we can also say that coach Sinn was not as comfortable as the score might have suggested, because she played her top players a whole lot of minutes--35 for Kaia Porter, 31 for Hannah Spaulding, 30 for Lucia Renikoff, 29 for Kaylie Brazil, 28 for Bobby Brendefer. Other than that, Madi Radtke played 16 minutes, and nobody else played 10. In a 92-50 blowout.

The Tommies shot 58/52/37 percent--11-for-21 on 3-pointers, 28-of-46 on 2s, but just 3-of-8 1s. Trinity shot 33/18/62 percent. The rebounds were 44-31 in favor of St. Thomas. The Tommies put it away early in the 2nd half. Leading 41-30, they quickly extended their lead to 54-34 as Brazil and Sarah Krynski each scored twice. Just as quickly, Brazil and Krynski each hit a 3 to make it 62-36 and it was all over but the shouting, but even then the Tommies' starting 5 accounted for 16 of their next 30 points.

So, it was an old-fashioned whuppin,' the kind that even folks from Texas can understand.

Player of the Day--Hannah Spaulding 22-14-5-4 blocks

Team of the Day--who else?

Coach of the Day--who else??

Dec. 14-15--SW State, Winona State win 3 lose 5 on the road again

One of the things I love about the Northern Sun is their men's/women's doubleheaders. This weekend Southwest MN State and Winona State took to the road for a pair of doubleheaders each and, as it happens, those 8 games were the only ones between Friday night and Saturday night that featured all-MN matchups.

On Friday it was Southwest State at St. Cloud State, and Winona State and MN State-Mankato. On Saturday it was Southwest at UMD, and Winona at Concordia St. Paul.

The best game of the 8 was Friday night's women's matchup at Mankato, won by Winona 79-69 in 2OT. Winona led 49-39 after 3 but Mankato roared back to tie it up at 63-all. In fact, Winona needed a last-second bucket to force OT. In the 1st OT each team scored just 2 points. In the 2nd, Gabie Doud hit a quick 3 and scored 6 points total as the Warriors were able to pull away. Allie Pickrain's (Eastview) line was 16 points-6 boards-8 assists and 3 steals for Winona, while Brooke Tonsfeldt (Moorhead) went 11-18-4-2 for Mankato.

No wonder, then, that Winona ran out of gas the following night. Concordia SP outscored them 11-4 down the stretch for a 53-49 win as guard Anna Schmidt (Waconia) scored the Bears final 5 points.

Meanwhile, the Southwest State women lost to St. Cloud State 72-60 and to UMD 60-39 as Madelin Dammann (Waconia and St. Cloud) and Sarah Grow (Centennial and Duluth) each scored 20 with 8 boards against the Mustangs.

OK, then, then men: both Southwest and Winona split their weekend games. Both lost on Friday: Southwest to St. Cloud 80-60 and Winona to Mankato 78-62. But, both won on Saturday: Winona defeated CSP 82-66 and Southwest knocked off UMD 75-63. Ryan Bruggeman of Southwest scored 30 points, including 11-of-11 FT, on Saturday, after scoring 16 on Friday.

All of this leaves Mankato and St. Cloud in 2nd place in the NSIC South and North, respectively, among the men, with one conference loss. Northern State and Wayne State are undefeated and in 1st place. Winona and Southwest are tied for 5th in the South at 2-3.

Among the women, MSU-Moorhead and Augustana are undefeated, UMD has just one loss, while St. Cloud, Winona and Concordia all have 2 losses. Southwest State is a disappointing 1-4.

Game of the Day(s)--Winona State women 79 MSU Mankato 69 (2OT) on Friday

Player of the Day(s)--Ryan Bruggeman, Southwest State men, 46 points in 2 games, became the school's all-time leading scorer

Team of the Day(s)--UMD women, also defeated Sioux Falls on Friday

Coach of the Day(s)--Karla Nelson, MSU Moorhead women, who defeated Mary and Minot to remain unbeaten in the NSIC

Dec. 13-14--Waseca boys, Stillwater girls get big wins

The Mankato East and Waseca boys are firmly entrenched on the radar of MN boys basketball fans. 3 of the top 75 juniors on the Breakdown Guide's list are from Mankato East, while 3 of the top 35 sophomores are from Waseca. But the difference Thursday night at East was a senior, Waseca point guard Malik Willingham, who scored 23 points with 6 assists, to lead Waseca from a 32-27 halftime lead to a whopping 58-31 lead at 12:31 of the 2nd half. That's right, the Bluejays opened the 2nd half with a pretty awesome 26-4 run to put the game away.

Sophomores Kyreese Willingham, a guard; Andrew Morgan, a 6-10 post; and Ryan Default, also a guard, chipped in with 15, 12 and 12 points for the Jays. East got 14, 13 and 12 points from juniors Jax Madson, a guard; Jordan Merseth, a 6-5 post; and Joich Gong, also a guard; and another 14 from sophomore guard Pal Kueth. So you can count on these 2 teams being among the top class AAA teams outside of the metro area for the next 2 years. But, for now, Waseca seems to have the upper hand.

Meanwhile, the biggest surprise on Friday night came as another road warrior, this time the Stillwater Ponies girls, came up big, hammering the favored and home-standing Roseville Raiders 78-60. You knew that Stillwater had the potential to do big things. But, now, you can forget about potential. The Ponies have arrived. They built 41-32 halftime lead against the usually stingy Roseville defense, and then increased that separation in the 2nd half. Senior guard Sara Scalia and sophomore guard Alexis Pratt scored 24 pts each for Stillwater, while junior forward Jayda Johnston scored 18 for Roseville gut didn't get a lot of help on the offensive end.

While we like these as the biggest Games of the Day(s), however, we thought that a couple of other players deserved recognition.

Player of the Day Thursday--Sierra Morrow, Mpls. Edison, 43 pts, 25 reb, 3 stls, 4 blks in a 64-55 win over St. Paul Academy

Player of the Day Friday--Arthel Massaquoi, Robbinsdale Cooper, scored 23 pts in an 88-59 shellacking that her Hawks took at the hands of Wayzata. But the senior post is surely one of the most improved players on the high school scene this year, averaging 15 pts and 8 boards after scoring just 6 ppg a year ago.

Team(s) of the Day--Waseca boys and Stillwater girls

Coaches of the Day--Seth Anderson, Waseca boys, and Willie Taylor, Stillwater girls

Dec. 12--Johnnies stay on track to MIAC title repeat

St. John's will face a rejuvenated St. Thomas team--well, twice, in January and February. But, for now, the Johnnies just keep rolling along at 3-0, still the favorite to repeat in the MIAC. I won't say they made easy work of it at St. Mary's, who came into the game at 2-1 in the conference and led 12-8 at 12:35 of the 1st. But the Johnnies responded with a 35-15 run to put it away. It was 46-30 at the half, 87-70 at the final buzzer.

They did it with an exhibition of superior 2-point shooting--34-of-46 (74 percent). The only thing that kept it from getting ridiculous was they also shot just 2-of-15 from long range.

6-5 junior post Ethan Novacinski (St. Cloud Apollo) came off the bench to make 9-of-11 shots in the 1st half and 4-of-4 in the 2nd for 29 points, and added 7 boards and 3 assists. Jubie Alade added 18 points and David Stokman 14.

Player of the Day--Ethan Novacinski

Team of the Day--St. John's

Coach of the Day--Pat McKenzie, St. John's

Dec. 11--Farmington girls, Mayo boys get big wins

There was plenty of high school action but the 2 biggest games were "changing of the guards" types of games.

• Among the girls, Farmington defeated Lakeville North 61-47 as sophomore Paige Kindseth scored 21 for the Tigers while junior Molly Mogenson scored 17 and sophomore Sophia Hart 16. With its youth and its obvious skills, Farmington looms large on the South Suburban landscape after a long period looking up.

• Meanwhile, among the boys, Rochester Mayo outlasted perennial power Austin 93-88. Mayo took the lead for good on a pair of 3s by sophomore Andre Crockett and junior Mason Madsen. Mason Madsen scored 22 points for the Spartans, his twin (but not identical twin) and fellow junior, brother Gabe scored 28. With their youth and obvious skills...well, you get the picture. But, there's more. Medi Obang and Agwa Nywesh each scored 33 points for the Packers. Somebody, anybody? Name me a game where 2 teammates scored 33 or more and lost!? Can't imagine it happens too often.

In some other surprises:

• The Redwood Valley boys surprised rated-Marshall 65-54

• Shakopee knocked off St. Thomas 75-67

• Spectrum edged Albany 60-59

• St. Cloud Tech defeated Willmar by the same score 60-59

• Minnewaska knocked off New London-Spicer 63-61 despite Brandon Adelman's 24 points

Among the girls:

• Pequot Lakes defeated Crosby-Fronton 53-42

• Minnetonka knocked off Chaska 65-60 as freshman Desiree Ware scored 18 for the Skippers, and Kaylee Van Eps did the same for the Hawks

Game of the Day: Mayo 93 Austin 88

Player of the Day: Paige Kindseth, Farmington

Team of the Day: Farmington girls

Coach of the Day: Phil Johnsrud, Minnewaska boys

Dec. 10--"The Timberwolves are going to make the playoffs"

A buddy leaned in close yesterday, paused in a way that lent GREAT IMPORTANCE to the moment, then said, in a hushed voice, "The Timberwolves are going to make the playoffs." I didn't know what to say. Maybe I should have said, So, then, why not say it out loud?

It was a funny thing to say with the Wolves at 13-13, in 10th place in the West, with a game AT GOLDEN STATE that night. And, indeed, the Wolves lost to drop to 13-14 and now 12th in the West, 4 spots and 2 full games out of the playoffs.

But, of course, there's this. Since trading away the cancer man, the Wolves 9-5. Amazingly, they've been among the best defensive teams in the NBA. And, last night? Well, they lost, but they kept coming back, coming back, coming back. No, they were never gonna win. I mean, about the time the Vikings fell behind the Seahawks 14-0, I realized it was time for the Wolves to be getting started out there on the west coast. Well, they were doing better than the Vikings, but not much. It was 14-2.

But, before the 1st quarter was done they had gotten within 19-18. In the 2nd quarter they actually tied it up at 56-all before falling behind by 6 on a buzzer-beater 3 by Klay Thompson. In the 3rd they got within 75-71 before falling back at 91-77. In the 4th they got within 91-83, 114-106 and 116-108, the final score.

I mean, nobody was going to beat the Warriors last night, as they connected on 19-of-43 3s--57 points on 43 attempts--more than one of them of the buzzer-beater variety, with a few no-look, behind-the-back and between-the-legs shots for good measure. Nothin' but net. Curry scored 38, Thompson 26, Durant 22 on 15-of-28 3s. But Karl Towns responded with 31 points and 11 boards, Derrick Rose 21 points, Andrew Wiggins 20--72 points on 48 shots. Not too shabby, but just 7-of-25 3s.

A far cry from that horrible west coast swing 5 weeks ago when they lost to Golden State, Portland and Sacramento by 58 points. So far the Wolves are 0-2 this trip but down just 16, with Sacramento up again tomorrow night. A win would be nice with just 3 of the 10 games following at home. The 4 of 5 and 6 of 8 at home by which time (January 20 to be exact and only then) do I expect the Wolves to break the .500 mark at 24-23. After that it says here that they win 12 of 20, and they're 36-31 and maybe, just maybe, on their way to the playoffs. It will be a tough slog, no doubt. But the Wolves play over the past month says they can do it, and my buddy says they can do it, too. I am not going to buck the trend, not now.

Player of the Day--Karl Anthony Towns
Team of the Day--Minnesota Timberwolves
Coach of the Day--Tom Thibodeau

Dec. 9--Gopher women battle back for big win at BC

The Minnesota Gopher women again battled from behind to defeat an eastern power, this time on the road. The Boston College Eagles led the Gophers 60-56 with 7:38 remaining when the Gophers took over with an 11-0 run. Taiye Bello and Jasmine Brunson each scored twice while Kenisha Bell and Destiny Pitts each had a key steal. BC finally broke a 7 minute scoring drought to get within 67-63 with 45 seconds remaining. But Pitts threw dagger after dagger at the Eagles ini the form of 10-for-10 FT inside of 45 seconds to seal the deal.

Pitts scored a career high 35 points, playing all 40 minutes and shooting 9-of-13 FG (3-of-5 2s and 6-of-8 3s) and 11-of-12 FT. Analese Lamke added 13 points and 9 boards, and Jasmine Brunson 11 points and 5 assists. Bell did not have her best night with 8 points on 3-of-14 shooting but added 6 assists and 3 steals. Bello played just 17 minutes due to fouls but still managed 8 boards. Mercedes Staples took a few games to get her stride but was ready today to play 20 minutes and score 4 points on 2-of-4 shooting, including a key bucket during the Gophers big 11-0 run.

The Gophers shot 43 percent, but 58 percent on 3s and out-rebounded BC 43-35.

So it was a great team effort, and again a great team effort pushed through a bit of adversity, but it was Destiny Pitts who came up really big for coach Lindsay Whalen's Gophers this time around. She started the year in a shooting slump (9-of-35 3s, 26 percent) but has now made 11-of-17 (65 percent) the past 2 games.

Player of the Day--Destiny Pitts, of course
Team of the Day--Gopher women, of course
Coach of the Day--what, you gotta ask?

Breakdown Boys TipOff scrambles Class AAAA rankings

Saturday's Breakdown Boys TipOff was a great show with lots of competitive games that, all in all, suggest that Class AAAA may be more wide open this year than it has been in a long time.

• #1AAAA East Ridge lost to #7AAAA Prior Lake 70-62, as the Lakers pulled away from a 38-all tie at 10 minutes and a 49-48 lead at 6. Prior Lake post Robert Jones failed to score in the 1st half but scored 3 times down the stretch, once on a fast-break dunk and again on a spectacular put-back inside of 30 seconds. The Lakers other big, Dawson Garcia also scored 3 times down the stretch and assisted on Jones 3rd bucket. All in all, Garcia and Jones outplayed the Raptors bigs Courtney Brown and Ben Carlson while point guard Sam Nissen was more than solid on the perimeter.

• #2AAAA Hopkins outlasted #4AAAA Lakeville North 78-72 as Zeke Nnaji scored 25 for the Royals and Tyler Wahl 24 for the Panthers. Hopkins guards Jalen Dearring and Kerwin Walton had been hurt and weren't even on the Breakdown rosters, but both played and scored 25 between them. Hopkins had lost its opener to East Ridge last week 74-65.

• #3AAAA Eden Prairie lost to #5AAAA Park Center 49-46 on reserve David Ijadimbola's 3 from the top of the key at the final buzzer. It was his only bucket of the night on what was obviously a set play designed for him coming out of a Pirates timeout. Park Center's Detavius Frierson had put the Pirates in a position to win with 16 points.

• #6AAAA Wayzata was demolished by #1AAA DeLaSalle 70-49, and the Islanders were without guard Tyrell Terry. Jamison Battle scored 40 for De, and the Islanders out-quicked the the Trojans all over the court.

• #8AAAA Cretin outclassed #9AAAA Rochester John Marshall 81-64, though JM's Matthew Hurt scored 42. Amari Carter and Curtis Jones combined for 44 for the Raiders.

Compared to the athleticism and the run-and-gun play of Class AAAA, the day's top smaller class matchup was a chess match, but what a great chess match as #4AA Perham defeated #5AA Caledonia 66-61. The stars here were the coaches Dave Cresap and Brad King.

Other top individuals were Jack Thompson, St. Thomas guard, with 37 points in a 78-77 win over Cooper; Cameron Steele's 43 in Minnetonka's 105-77 shellacking of Rochester Mayo; and Antwon Kimmons 45 points in Tartan's 74-67 loss to Edina.

Breakdown All-Stars

1st Team--Zeke Nnaji, Dawson Garcia, Michael Hurt, Jack Thompson, Jalen Suggs

2nd Team--Jamison Battle, Carter Steele, Amari Carter, Courtney Brown, Antwon Kimmons, Detavius Frierson, Tyler Wahl

Player of the Day--Prior Lake's Dawson Garcia didn't explode for 40+ like several players did today but against the state's #1AAAA opponent, his 25 points was the day's most impressive and consequential effort.

Team of the Day--After all was said and done, right now, with several of the top AAAA teams losing and DeLaSalle demolishing the #6AAAA team without its best player! I'd have to say that the Islanders are the state's all-around #1 team from all classes.

Coach of the Day--Coach James Ware of Park Center played a little bit of chess, too, in his team's nail-biter win over #3AAAA Eden Prairie.

Game of the Day--But the game of the day? I have to go back to Prior Lake's very impressive 70-62 win over #1AAAA East Ridge which, despite the 8 point final margin, was not decided until Robert Jones improbably put-back inside of 30 seconds.

Catching up on Dec. 6 and 7

There was a bunch of high school activity on Thursday night. Notably:

• The Becker girls defeated Big Lake behind Julia Bengtson's 26 points

• The Holy Angels girls defeated Kennedy 71-62. This was the "homecoming" of Destinee Oberg, who transferred from Holy Angels to Kennedy this year, but who has been hurt for the past 10 days or so. She scored 9 against her old teammates, but Frank Vascellero of the Stars led her team to the win with 25 points.

• The Lakeville North girls defeated Centennial 83-81 in a 2OT thriller that was also notable for a great shootout between the Panthers Lauren Jensen, who scored 39, and the Cougars Taylor Mcauley, who scored 38.

• Among the boys, Prior Lake tuned up for its Breakdown matchup with #1 East Ridge (see above) by beating Chaska 65-53. Dawson Garcia scored 25 for the Lakers.

Game of the Day: Lakeville North girls 83 Centennial 81 (2OT)

Player of the Day: Lauren Jensen, Lakeville North, 39 points

Team of the Day: Holy Angels girls

Coach of the Day: Bob Schweim, Prior Lake boys, with the help of hindsight

The following night there was again plenty of high school action with, again, the most compelling action on the girls side. Eden Prairie turned things around. Last night they were upset by Lakeville South 61-53. Tonight they upset Chaska 76-71. The difference was freshman guard Myra Moorjani, who did not score on Thursday (don't know if she played) but scored 15 on Friday.

Also Red Wing won at Northfield 63-62 as Kyli Nelson scored 25.

But the Big Game, etc., came in the Northern Sun, where homesteading UMCrookston beat MSU Moorhead 108-88 as Harrison Cleary scored 47. Top Game, Top Player, Top Coach is Crookston's Dan Weisse, who has his team off to an 8-4 start.

Dec. 5--Gopher men dodge a bullet, defeat Nebraska 85-78

The Gopher roared back from a double-digit, second half deficit to defeat the Nebraska Cornhuskers 85-78 at Williams Arena. Nebraska led 44-39 at the half, and things looked bleak as the Cornhuskers extended the lead to 64-54 halfway through the 2nd half. But, Amir Coffey, who had kept the Gophers in the game to that point and finished with 32 points, continued to attack the rim. Meanwhile, Jordan Murphy, who had been held more or less in check, began to find a little space to operate in the lane, and scored 8 points over the final 10 minutes for a total of 18 to go along with 13 rebounds.

Equally important, the Gophers began to get some of the defensive stops that had eluded them previously, and so Minnesota was able to outscore Nebraska 31-14 down the stretch and snatch a win from the jaws of defeat. Wow, does 1-1 in the Big 10 look pretty good after staring 0-2 in the face most of the night! Freshmen Gabe Kalscheur and Daniel Oturu added 12 and 10 points, respectively.

Player of the Night--Amir Coffey
Team of the Night--Gopher men
Coach of the Night--Dan Kosmoski, St. Olaf men, off to a 3-0 start in the MIAC

Dec. 4--Como, Holy Angels pull upsets in girls ball

We had a couple of upsets--minor upsets, maybe, but upsets nonetheless--on the girls side tonight, both involving private schools.

Holy Angels (3-1) knocked previously #1AA-rated Minnehaha (2-3) below .500 by the score of 62-60 in the RedHawks gym. And unbeaten St. Paul Como defeated highly regarded, now once-beaten Maranatha 76-59 in St. Paul.

Minnehaha returns 4 of last year's 5 starters and was the pre-season choice to win the Class AA state title. That could of course still happen, but losses to Zumbrota, St. Paul Como and now Holy Angels suggests they've got a long ways to go. We knew they weren't deep and their leading scorer, junior guard Mia Curtis, has been averaging more than 4 PF per game, so that might be part of it. A coaching change might be part of it. But, mainly, they're just not scoring enough points (55 per game) to win.

Meanwhile, Holy Angels lost star post Destiny Oberg and power forward Kaylee Van Der Werf to transfers, so expectations were somewhat muted. And they lost their opener to West Des Moines Dowling. But against MN competition they're now 3-0 and all 3 are quality wins--Cretin, Cooper and now Minnehaha. 6-0 sophomore guard Frankie Vascellero is having a breakout year, scoring 20 ppg so far.

Not much was expected of St. Paul Como either. They lost 3-point specialist Makayla Van Nett to graduation and they had lost forward Elaina Jones to transfer though, granted, that was 2 years ago. Still, that left a void of experienced leadership. Instead Como coach Alexis Gray-Lawson is starting 4 9th graders and an 8th grader. The latter is Shania Nichols, who is Van Nett's sister. But the leaders of the pack are freshmen Kaylynn Asberry and Ronnie Porter, who average 18 and 17 ppg. Last night, they combined for 31, while Nichols had 13.

Meanwhile, Maranatha is just 1-1 but may not be the juggernaut that we expected. They're replacing 2 stars in PG Kylie Post and PF Jaclyn Jarnot, and they're doing it with a new coach. Unfortunately, they decided to terminate coach Chris Buerman because he didn't play his starters enough minutes. This seemed strange considering that the Mustangs won 27 times by an average of 35 points, and won by more than 50 points 7 times.

The new regime showed that it understood its marching orders, winning its opener last week 107-10. This is what they do at Maranatha. They humiliate people. Which seems strange, secondly, for a school that calls itself a Christian Academy. You can look it up.

Player of the Day--Adalia McKenzie, Park Center. In the day's 3rd big game, St. Michael-Albertville survived the Pirates on the road, 63-62, despite McKenzie's 25 points.

Team of the Day--St. Paul Como

Coach of the Day--Alexis Gray-Lawson, Como

November wrap-up, Part 2

You may recall--OK, you don't recall, but that's OK--that back in October we picked our top 10 contenders for Player of the Year and also for our Team of the Year. Today we'll update those lists based on everybody's performance in November.

Top 10 Player of the Year Contenders

1. Jordan Murphy, Gopher men, sr., power forward, Player of the Month of November, averaging 15 ppg-12 reb-3 asts, #2 in pre-season ranking

2. Michael Hurt, Rochester JM, sr., power forward, was #1, did not play in November

3. Kenisha Bell, Gopher women, sr., point guard, was #5 pre-season

4. Paige Bueckers, Hopkins girls, jr., point guard, was #3

5. Jalen Suggs, Minnehaha boys, jr., point guard, was #4

6. Taiye Bello, Gopher women, jr., power forward, was unranked in pre-season

7. Karl Towns, Timberwolves, center, was #7

8. Zeke Nnaji, Hopkins, sr., power forward, was #8, did not play in November

9. David Stokman, St. John's, sr., combo guard, was unranked

10. Anders Nelson, St. Thomas, fr., point guard, was unranked

Top 10 Teams

1. Minnesota Gopher women 6-0 in November, Team of the Month, was #6

2. St. Thomas women 5-0, was #1

3 (tie). D1 Minnesota boys AAU club team, and North Tartan 2020 girls AAU club team, were tied for #3

4. Gopher men 8-0 in November, was #2

5. Hopkins girls 4-0 in November, was tied for #4

6. Minnehaha boys 0-0 in November, was #5

7. Augsburg women 5-1 in November, was unranked

8. St. John's men 4-1 in November, was #10

9. MN Timberwolves 7-7 in November, 11-11 overall, was #9

10. MN Crookston women 5-1 in November, was unranked

Dec. 3--Timberwolves continue improbable turnaround

The Minnesota Timberwolves continued their improbable and unexpected turnaround. After a truly dreadful start at 4-9, they won tonight for the 8th time in 11 games to get back to .500 at 12-12. They're just 0.5 GB 8th place and a spot in the Western Division playoffs.

In order to do that, they had to turn things around tonight against the Houston Rockets, too. Houston outscored the Wolves 38-24 in the 2nd period to lead 62-48 at the half. Their biggest lead was 62-43 at :36 of the 2nd. From there, Tyus Jones and Robert Covington scored the last 5 points of the 1st half. Then the Wolves went on a 38-20 tear in the 3rd quarter as they grabbed 8 offensive rebounds--Taj Gibson 5 of them--and shot 13-of-24 from the field including 7-of-10 3s. A pair of 3s by Jeff Teague tied things up, then gave the Wolves the lead, and another 3 by Dario Saric, off a Teague assists, gave the Wolves the lead for good.

Meanwhile the Houston offense went cold and stayed cold with just 9 points in the 4th quarter, and the Wolves extended their lead from 86-82 after 3 to the final of 103-91. James Harden almost scored his average with 29 but he was not allowed to go crazy (8-of-17 shooting), while Clint Capela added 24. The 2 of them shot 19-of-31. Everybody else shot 13-of-43 (30%).

Karl Towns led the Wolves with 24 points, 11 rebounds and 3 steals. Andrew Wiggins added 16 with 3 blocked shots. Taj Gibson had a great game with 15 points and 11 boards. Covington scored 13. Derrick Rose failed to score but had 5 assists, and Tyus had 5 points and 3 steals. We shot a creditable 44/50/71%. Well, 50% (11-of-22) is more than creditable from long range--Saric and Wiggins made 5-of-7. 44 is creditable. 71 is barely creditable from the line, where Wiggins made just 2-of-5.

Against all odds, the Wolves have become a terrific defensive team, at least for the time being. I don't honestly know how they're doing it, but they're doing it. And, the offense is good enough. This team was built around Towns. Butler proved to be a massive distraction from that. Now the Wolves are back to doing what they do and being who they are, and it suits them well.

Player of the Day--Karl Towns
Team of the Day--Minnesota Timberwolves
Coach of the Day--Jeff Buffetta, Mountain Iron-Buhl girls, who tripled up a good Bloodwood team 69-23 tonight

MN Hoops November Awards

November has a couple of big bookends on it, though neither occurred in November. On October 30, Derrick Rose scored 50 for the Timberwolves in a 128-125 win over Utah. On December 1, McKenna Hofschild set an all-time MN HS girls record with 63 points vs. Park Center. I was lucky enough to see both of those games. Since we don't have any October awards, we're shoe-horning Rose's big game into November. Hofschild will have to wait until we summarize December to be rolled up into our monthly awards.

So, anyway, for November, our award winners are:

Game of the Month

Obviously no game can win more than one award so we'll just cut to the chase. The Game of the Month was the Gopher women's come-from-ahead then come-from-behind win over #12-rated Syracuse on Thursday, November 27. I saw this game, too! Minnesota 72 Syracuse 68.

Player of the Month

There are 5 contenders, each of whom was our Player of the Day twice or more. They are, in alpha order:

• Taiye Bello, MN Gopher women, rebounder extraordinaire, who along with guard Kenisha Bell and coach Lindsay Whalen have led the Gophers to a 6-0 start and a win over #12 Syracuse last Thursday.

• Paige Bueckers, Hopkins girls, rated as one of the top 2020s in the nation and possibly on her way to becoming the greatest MN HS girl ever. Hopkins has stomped everybody it has played so far, and all but one of their opponents were top 10 rated.

• Jordan Murphy, MN Gopher men, who led the Gophers to a 6-1 November, including a very nice win over Oklahoma State at U.S. Bank Stadium on the last night of the month. I saw that one, too.

• Derrick Rose and Andrew Wiggins, who have helped the much-improved Timberwolves to get back around the .500 mark and back into playoff contention since the trade (well, before and after the trade) of Jimmy Butler.

Our Player of the Month is Jordan Murphy. Think of it this way. Without Taiye Bello, the Gopher women are still darn good. Without Paige Bueckers, the Hopkins girls are still darn good. Without Jordan Murphy, the Gopher men are not good at all.

Team of the Month

There are 6 contenders who have won Team of the Day recognition more than once.

• Augsburg women, now 6-1 and angling to become the most successful Auggies women ever. OK, I admit that I have not seen the Auggies yet.

• Hopkins girls, now 4-0 after beating 3 top 10-rated teams by an average of 81-50

• MN Gopher men, 6-1 in November

• MN Gopher women, 6-0 in November

• MN Timberwolves, who went 7-2 over the 2nd half of the month to get back to 11-11

• UMD women, who started 4-1

Our Team of the Month is--seriously, you gotta ask?--the MN Gopher Women.

Coach of the Month

Here again our multiple winners are--oh, the hell with it. Our Coach of the Month is Lindsay Whalen. OK, just for form, here are the other contenders: Pat McKenzie (St. John's), Richard Pitino, Ted Riverso (Augsburg women) and Tom Thibodeau (Timberwolves), who also got Robert Covington and Dario Saric for a useless player. Nice trade!

See you in December!

December's Big Games, as of today

As of today, here are our Games of the Day for December. Not all of the high school holiday tournaments are published yet, so some of those could change.

Sat., Dec. 1--The Girls Breakdown Tip-Off--17 games at Hopkins--already published. McKenna Hofschild of Prior Lake set a MN HS girls state record with 63 points vs. Park Center. Check out our report.

Sun., Dec. 2--The Gopher men open the Big 10 season @ Ohio State. The Gophers fell flat against the Buckeyes, 59-79, as Ohio State held Jordan Murphy to 7 points. Amir Coffey scored 19 and Dupree McBrayer 13. But the Gophers are not going to win too many when Murphy scores 7.

Mon., Dec. 3--Houston and James Harden @ the Timberwolves. Wolves roar back from 19 point 2nd quarter deficit, outscoring the Rockets 60-29 the rest of the way.

Tues., Dec. 4--Mpls. South girls @ Mpls. North

Wed., Dec. 5--Nebraska @ the Gopher men

Thurs., Dec. 6--Kennedy girls @ Holy Angels

Fri., Dec. 7--MSU Moorhead men and women @ UM Crookston doubleheader

Sat., Dec. 8--The Boys Breakdown Tip-Off @ Hopkins

Sun., Dec. 9--Gopher women @ Boston College

Mon., Dec. 10--Timberwolves @ Golden State

Tues., Dec. 11--Hopkins boys @ Minnehaha

Wed., Dec. 12--My birthday and a wild card for Game of the Day

Thurs., Dec. 13--Eastview girls @ St. Michael-Albertville

Fri., Dec. 14--Mpls. North @ DeLaSalle boys

Sat., Dec. 15--Winona State @ Concordia-St. Paul men's and women's doubleheader

Sun., Dec. 16--Bemidji State @ Augustana men's and women's doubleheader

Mon., Dec. 17--Sacramento @ Timberwolves

Tues., Dec. 18--#1 East Ridge boys @ #2 Eden Prairie boys

Wed., Dec. 19--Northern State @ MSU-Moorhead men's and women's doubleheader

Thurs., Dec. 20--Sauk Centre girls @ New London-Spicer

Fri., Dec. 21--DeLaSalle @ Benilde boys and girls doubleheader

Sat., Dec. 22--Rhode Island @ Gopher women

Sun., Dec. 23--Timberwolves @ Oklahoma City

Mon., Dec. 24 and Tues., Dec. 25--Happy Holidays!

Wed., Dec. 26--Timberwolves @ Chicago

Thurs., Dec. 27-Fri., Dec. 28-Sat., Dec. 29--Not all of the Holiday tournaments and matchups are published yet so this could change. But for the moment...

I love the fields at Perham, both boys and girls. The girls feature Alexandria, Roseau and Sauk Centre, plus the home team, of course. The boys have Anoka, Morris and Sauk Centre plus the Yellowjackets. First round action for both is Thursday, Dec. 27.

Then on the 28th, the boys Granite City Classic gets underway with 12 games. Some of them feature Milwaukee Washington vs. Mpls. North, Maple Grove vs. Forest Lake, North St. Paul vs. Osseo and many more.

On the 29th I would want to see the Austin boys @ Lakeville North, and if the scheduling is right then also Grand Rapids vs. Prior Lake (and McKenna Hofschild) at St. Olaf.

Sun., Dec. 30--St. Cloud State @ UMD men's and women's doubleheader.

Mon., Dec. 31--Gopher men @ Michigan

Dec. 1--McKenna Hofschild breaks loose for 63 points

McKenna Hofschild stole the show at the Breakdown Girls Tip Off at Hopkins on Saturday, Dec. 1. It was just one of 17 games, but it was a record breaker. Hofschild scored a girls state record of 63 points on 12 2-pointers, 5 3-pointers and 24-of-31 FT. The 24 FT tied the 2nd most every by a girl in a single game. She also scored her 2,000th career point somewhere along the way. After the game, the Prior Lake girls were celebrating as if they had won the game. (The Star Tribune's report that she made 25-of-35 FT is in error.)

Say, what? As if? Yup. They lost to Park Center in a wild 99-95 slugfest that featured 91 total FT attempts for both teams. They made just 57 (63 percent). Park Center was led by Adalia McKenzie, the #1 rated player among the 2021s, and T'Naye Griffin, each with 30 points.

Hopkins clobbers Eastview

Hopkins vs. Eastview is always the “big game,” but not today. Not only did Hofschild steal the show, but the Royals clobbered the Lightning 75-48. Eastview stayed close for about 10 minutes but you knew it wasn’t going to be their day. With a couple of chances to take the lead, they missed 3 straight FT. That is not Eastview basketball. Paige Bueckers led the Royals with 25 seemingly effortless points. Amaya Battle’s 14 points and Dlayla Chakolis’ 13 entailed a little more effort. Lauren Glas’ 18 points for Eastview entailed a massive effort against Hopkins’ relentless, tight, pressing defense. 

Sauk Centre’s 33-game winning streak ends

In the best game of the day, Sauk Centre’s defending, unbeaten state Class AA champions lost for the 1^sttime since the state final on March 18, 2017 (Roseau 75 Sauk 64) and it took an OT to do it. Stewartville outscored Sauk 8-4 in OT to win 71-67. Tori Peschel scored a 2+1 to send it into OT.

Sauk is going to be very good. Peschel is a superb all-around player and scored 12 today. 6-footers Julia Dammann, McKenna Westby and Michaela Dammann combined for 31 points. All are sophomores and juniors. But Stewartville won the game despite foul trouble for their top scorer Erin Lamb, who was held to 6 points, and the absence due to injury of guard Hailey Lewis. The other Tiger guards—Lily Welch, Kailee Malone, Maia Peterson and Olivia Quam—combined for 57 points. These are both teams that can contend for a Class AA state title.

Some other winners

Alexandria did a little bit of everything in beating injury-depleted DeLaSalle 59-40. Ella Grove did most of the scoring with 20 points.

Forest Lake came from behind to beat Centennial 57-52. Centennial is playing without 6-4 senior post and Wisconsin recruit Sara Stapleton, who is expected back in 5 to 6 weeks with a meniscus issue.

St. Michael-Albertville was all over Lakeville North 74-53 though Lauren Jensen scored 24 for the Panthers with Lindsay Whalen watching. 

Waseca edged Simley 62-56, coming from behind after Simley point guard Ravyn Miles went down with an apparent knee injury.

Best of the Best

Well, the best of the best were/are all guards but there's gotta be one big, so here is my 4-out all-stars. These are all considered to be Player of the Day, well, except for Bueckers, who is really the Player of the Day.

Big--Patience Williams, 6-2, junior, Benilde-St. Margaret's, 12 points as Benilde manhandled Marshall 49-39.

Point Guard--McKenna Hofschild, 5-3, senior, Prior Lake, 63 points

Shooting Guard--Paige Bueckers, 6-0, junior, Hopkins, 25 points

Shooting Guard--Lauren Jensen, 5-10, junior, Lakeville North, 24 points

Shooting Guard--Sara Scalia, 5-9, senior, Stillwater, 24 points, as the Ponies romped over Lakeville Sout 66-40

Second Team

Big--Abigail Groeneweg, 5-11, senior, Forest Lake, 14 points, as the Rangers defeated Centennial 57-52. She's listed as a 5-10 guard/forward, but for Forest Lake she is a 4/5. She is also a volleyball player and that is what she will be doing in college.

Point Guard--Aiana Whitfield, 5-8, senior, Benilde, scored 27 in the win over Marshall.

Shooting Guard--Frankie Vascellero, 5-10, sophomore, Holy Angels, 23 points, as Holy Angels defeated Robbinsdale Cooper 74-66.

Shooting Guard--Adeline Kent, 5-7, freshman, Becker, scored 22 points as her team defeated Kennedy 56-42.

Shooting Guard--Lily Welch, 5-9, junior, Stewartville, scored 22 points in their OT win over Sauk Centre.

Third Team

Big--Julia Damman, 5-11, junior Sauk Centre, 19 points.

Point Guard--Alyssa Peterson, 5-7, senior, Menahga, 20 points in the Braves ridiculously easy 53-23  win over Hayfield.

Shooting Guard--Lariah Washington, 5-9, senior, St. Cloud Apollo, 23 points as her team lost to an athletic Hill-Murray bunch 64-45.

Shooting Guard--Elaina Jones, 5-10, senior, DeLaSalle, scored 24 of her team's 49 points.

Shooting Guard--Tess Johnson, St. Michael-Albertville, 5-8, 8th grader. Rae Johnson's little sister is a very accomplished scorer as an 8th grader. She scored 17 in the Knights' easy win over Lakeville North.

Nov. 30--Great shakedown cruise for U.S.S. Bank Stadium

All systems would appear to be "go" for the Final Four at U.S. Bank Stadium next April. The shakedown cruise departed downtown Minneapolis Friday with 2 ball games--and we mean basketball, not football, games--and returns Saturday with 2 more. The floor was from South Dakota, but the winners were from Minnesota. Both of them. St. Thomas (the men) pulled away from UW-River Falls down the stretch to win 85-70. Then the Minnesota Gophers put their shooting woes behind them by outscoring a skilled offensive machine called Oklahoma State 83-76. So whether you were there to watch the games or to watch to shakedown, if you are a Minnesota basketball fan, it was a successful night.

The Gophers led by as many as 18 in the 2nd half but OSU clawed back to within 77-73 at the 4:30 mark, when Gabe Kalscheur drained a 3 to give the Gophers a little room to breathe. A pair of Isaiah Washington FT a couple of minutes later iced it for the Gophers.

Minnesota outshot OSU 52 percent to 43 percent, a nice reversal from a dreadful shooting night at Boston College earlier in the week. Both teams shot better than 50 percent from long range. So it was in fact a more or less complete turnabout, as the Gophers had little difficulty scoring on the Cowboys, but had a lot of trouble stopping them. Lindy Waters, Cameron McGriff and Mike Cunningham all hit 2 or more 3s, while McGriff and Michael Weathers were quick to the rim.

But Jordan Murphy was again a man among men with 24 points (6-of-12 shooting and 11-of-14 FT) and 16 boards. Washington and Kalscheur scored 15 and 14 points, respectively, each shooting exactly .500 and, best of all, Dupree McBrayer broke out of a season-long shooting slump with a 4-of-6 shooting night.

The first half saw a series of runs. The Gophers went up 5-0, then trailed 13-5. They roared back to within 21-20, then trailed 25-20. They scored 9 straight to lead 29-25, then fell behind again by 33-31. But the Gophers fought back behind Murphy's 15 1st half points (along with 9 rebounds).

Still, it was Matz Stockman who gave the Gophers a huge lift just before halftime. He came off the bench with the Gophers trailing 25-21, to block a pair of the Cowboys' shots. He then grabbed 3 straight defensive rebounds, then assisted on a pair of buckets by McBrayer and Washington. Then, after yet another defensive board, he drained a 3 from the top of the key as the first half clock expired to give Minnesota a 45-38 half-time lead. Let the record show that that 7-point lead at the half was the same as the margin at the final gun.

Perennial power St. Thomas shocked the world by dropping to 5th place in the MIAC last year. So far this year, things are looking up. Maybe not 1st place up, but up, including a solid offensive performance tonight against UWRF. The big news out of Summit Avenue is freshman guard Anders Nelson who, in his first 2 or 3 games as a Tommie, was already established as their best player and their leader on the court. He did everything you might expect of such a player tonight--slashing to the rim, hitting a pair of 3s, harassing opposing ball handlers, etc. etc.--to the tune of 24 points, 8 assists, 7 rebounds and 5 steals.

But it was post Connor Bair who was the Tommies best player tonight. He gave up 3-4 inches to UWRF's big guys. Bair played out of his head with 23 points, 5 boards, 2 assists. Oh, yeah, and the fact that UWRF's bigs, Austin Heidecker and Julian Jackson, combined for 32 points and 25 boards has to be tempered by the fact that Bair blocked their shots TEN TIMES. 10 blocked shots! How often do you see that. I can guarantee that it's never been done at the U.S. Bank Stadium.

Still, St. Thomas led almost the entire way but could never quite put UWRF away until the final few minutes when the Tommies' lead finally expanded from 72-64 at 3:00 to the final of 85-70.

Player of the Day--Jordan Murphy
Team of the Day--Minnesota Gopher men
Coach of the Day--Richard Pitino

Gopher women's recruiting in Minnesota 2018

I see that people want to read about the Gopher women. A piece I wrote about Gopher women’s recruiting over the years—specifically, about its chronic neglect of girls from Minnesota—is one of the most-read posts here on Minnesota Hoops. The only problem with that is it’s a 5-year-old piece. Merlene Stollings hadn’t even come on board yet, much less Lindsay Whalen.

So, I guess an update is in order. What has happened in the 5 years since I wrote that piece and what is likely to happen now that Lindsay is the boss at the U?

Well, 1^stthings 1^st. The Gophers' record of recruiting Minnesota girls got worse over the past 5 years. As bad as it had been, it got worse under Stollings, who never recruited a single Minnesota girl to the U in her 4 years here. Carlie Wagner (New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva, class of 2014) had already committed to the U when Stollings arrived. Thank goodness she stuck by that commitment. The Gophers needed her and she proved herself to be a Big 10 caliber player, no question. 

The Minnesota class of 2013 had been one of the best ever, at least at the top—Nia Coffey (Hopkins) went on to score 20 ppg at Northwestern and is now playing in the WNBA; Seanna Johnson (DeLaSalle) scored 16 ppg at Iowa State as a senior; Rebekah Dahlman (Braham), well, she’s had a checkered college career with injury trouble both at Vandy and at DePaul, where she is now in her 6^th college season. Jessica January (Richfield) had a more conventional (4-year) career at DePaul, and a very successful one. 

The class of 2014 was one of the deepest ever with 13 Power 5 D1 recruits, of whom about 6 or 7 had productive careers. They would include Wagner, Chase Coley (Mpls. Washburn and Iowa), Kenisha Bell (Kennedy and Marquette, then/now Minnesota), Cayla McMorris (Park Center and Wisconsin), Tia Elbert (Tartan and Marquette, then Indiana) and Sydney Lamberty (Park and Creighton). Bryanna Fernstrom (Chisago Lakes) started at Iowa State, then she also transferred back to Minnesota. Yet, other than Carlie Wagner, the Gophers initially struck out on these 2 stellar classes. And, that’s on Pam Borton, to be sure. 

Bell, of course, came back to Minnesota, where she had initially committed. It was a well-known secret that Bell hated Grace Coughlin of Edina, and so what did Borton do? She already had Bell and then she recruited Coughlin. As soon as Coughlin committed to Borton and the Gophers, Bell decommitted. It was only after Coughlin transferred out that Bell came back. All of that was due to the remarkable ineptitude of Borton as a recruiter.

And the Gophers’ failure to recruit anybody from the class of 2015 was really on Borton, too. Stollings came in 2014 by which time most of the 2015s were committed or down to their short list, and the Gophers were already not going to get anybody that mattered. In hindsight, of course, the only player that really mattered was Alex Wittinger, the power forward from Delano who is still at Illinois and is an all-Big 10 caliber player.

But, 2016 and 2017 and 2018 are on Stollings, though it’s true that these were not super classes. In 2016, everybody knew that Shakopee’s Taylor Koenen was big-time and once North Carolina came calling, the Gophers were not going to be in the running there. Of course, everybody thought Nia Hollie was a great recruit (well, modesty does not quite permit me to say who demurred from that evaluation), but the Gophers were never in the running. (Hollie is now, as a junior, averaging 2 ppg in 15 minutes at Michigan State.) Actually, the other big get in 2016 would have been Abi Scheid of Elk River and now of Northwestern, where she is scoring 16 ppg with 8 boards as the starting post. (Again, I can’t say: Who was that masked man who kept touting Scheid as a great prospect?) Other stars from that class—Jamie Ruden (Rochester JM and Arizona State), Kiara Russell (Osseo and Arizona State), Hollie, Andrayah Adams (St. Paul Como and St. John’s but now Texas Tech—yes, that’s right, she’s now playing for Merlene Stollings)—have all been a bit of a disappointment, along with Hollie.

The class of 2017 still shows some promise. Kristin Scott (Kasson-Mantorville and Iowa State) is averaging 9 points on 58 percent shooting and 7 boards in 19 minutes as a backup post. Rachel Ranke (Eastview and Kansas State) and Annika Jank (Edina and Colorado) are also scoring 9 ppg each in their sophomore years. All of them—plus, again, Koenen and Scheid—would look good in maroon and gold, but Stollings never had any interest in any of them.

Then there’s the 2018s! Again, not a great class, except that, well, Sam Haiby from Moorhead, who was my pick (and only mine, apparently) for MN Ms. Basketball last year, is the leading scorer already, as a freshman, for the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Sometime in the next 4 years—and, one can only hope it only happens once or twice—she is going to torch the Minnesota Gophers. Carmen Backes (Chisago Lakes and Wisconsin) and Yokie Lee (Byron and Kansas State) are not playing due to injuries, but the upside remains. Haiby and Backes should be Gophers.

So that brings us up to the present, well, almost. I wrote a piece for Northstar Girls Hoops—oh, well, it’s called Girls Prep Hoops now—when Lindsay was hired at the U. I said that Lindsay would recruit Minnesota, unlike at least the past 2 Gopher coaches. And she proved me correct with the rapid signing of Sara Scalia, 2019 guard from Stillwater. Well, on second thought, that’s not proof. It’s a trend, a tendency, but proof? Is Lindsay going to recruit Minnesota better than Borton, better than Stollings? 

Well, yes. But will she recruit Minnesota as well as she should? Still yes, but one recruit is not proof. The rest of the 2019s are all spoken for, so you won’t find proof among the 2019s. They came too soon--that is, Lindsay came too late--for the 2019s to be a really good test.

So then there’s the 2020s, and another case that is just flat out not a fair test, and that is Paige Bueckers (Hopkins), who is perhaps the greatest player ever to come out of Minnesota. Lindsay at least got Minnesota into the Bueckers sweepstakes for awhile, but now it looks a lot like Bueckers will be going to Connecticut or Notre Dame. 

Now, the 2020s (after Bueckers) are not a great class but there is still some worthwhile talent there, and if Lindsay signs a couple of them, that will be at least the start of some proof that Lindsay values Minnesota girls as a part of a renewed Gopher program. After Bueckers, the list starts with guard Lauren Jensen (Lakeville North), who would be a pretty good consolation prize. Lindsay is also thought to be recruiting 6-2 guard (yes, you read that right) Alyssa Ustby of Rochester Lourdes. Kenzie Kramer, another guard from St. Michael-Albertville; Mallory Brake, a wing from Hastings; and Liza Karlen, a post from Stillwater, are also highly regarded. Mia Curtis of Minnehaha and Patience Williams of Benilde-St. Mary’s might be thought of as late bloomers who still have some upside. Again, I am hopeful Lindsay will sign 2 or 3 of these girls—not just as proof that she values Minnesota girls, but because I think they are all potential difference-makers even at the Big 10 level.

The class of 2021 looks maybe even better—well, setting aside Paige Bueckers for the moment, but of course they’re younger and so we’re talking potential now, not proven and demonstrated ability to play Power 5 ball. Still, you’ve got 6-4 Sophia Hart of Farmington and 6-2 Erin Lamb of Stewartville at the 5 and the 4. You’ve got 6-foot wings Jenna Johnson (Wayzata), Nora Francois (DeLaSalle), Kendall Coley (St. Louis Park) and Cassidy Carson (Eastview)—that is, 6-footers and bigger, with perimeter skills. And you’ve got guards Adalia McKenzie (Park Center)—yes, those McKenzies—and Jade Hill (Mpls. South)—yes, those Hills—so, in other words, some pretty good genetics there. I don’t know which of these 8 are going to be the best, but I would hope Lindsay would sign a couple-three of these players as well. Right now, the potential is there.

Then, the 2022s! Here is a class like the 2013s, with some incredible top-tier talent—6-3 Maya Nnaji of Hopkins is rated #1 in that class. Her brother Zeke, who is 6-11, just committed to Arizona. Hopkins guard Amaya Battle isn’t the second coming of Paige Bueckers, but she is potentially the 2^nd best guard since Wagner and Bell in 2014. And 6-2 Mallory Heyer (Chaska) is the real deal, she scored 35 in Chaska’s opener the other night. She is a freshman. I have seen photos of her chatting with Lindsay. 

So, in short, there is plenty of talent in Minnesota, just as there has always been, and of course that is just what Borton and Stollings managed to ignore for the better part of a decade. All the indicators right now are that Whalen is working Minnesota very hard. She is working to establish relationships with kids and parents and with high school coaches, all of which her predecessors proved to be really, really dreadful at. But the only proof that really matters is that between now and 2022—you’ve got to give her 5 years—Lindsay will sign at least a half dozen Minnesota girls, and they will prove to have been the right girls, and the Minnesota Gophers will win under coach Whalen just like they won with player Whalen 15 years ago. Personally, I believe it can happen and that it will happen. But, there are no guarantees. It will take not just hard work and belief, but it will require a little bit of luck, which is something Gopher sports seems to have had very little of. But, wait, we can’t think that way. It can happen and it will happen. Because if not—if Lindsay can’t do it—then it probably can’t be done.

Just for Fun—the Best Minnesotans 2013-2022

The point being that every one of the 8 women listed here who did not play for Minnesota, could have played for the Gophers and would have made the Gophers better.

Center—Abi Scheid, Elk River (2016), Northwestern, 16 ppg-8 reb

Power Forward—Alex Wittinger, Delano (2015), Illinois, 15 ppg-10 reb

Small Forward—Nia Coffey, Hopkins (2013), Northwestern, 20 ppg-10 reb

Point Guard—Kenisha Bell, Kennedy (2014), Minnesota, 20 ppg-6 reb-4 asts-3 stls

Shooting Guard—Tyseanna Johnson, DeLaSalle (2013), Iowa State, 16 ppg-8 reb-3 asts

2^ndTeam

Center/Power Forward—Chase Coley, Mpls. Washburn (2014), Iowa, 11 ppg-6 reb

Small Forward—Taylor Koenen, Shakopee (2016), North Carolina, 8 ppg-7 reb

Combo Guard—Sam Haiby, Moorhead (2018), Nebraska, 11 ppg

Shooting Guard—Carlie Wagner, NRHEG (2014), Minnesota, 19 ppg-5 reb

Shooting Guard—Sydney Lamberty, Park (2014), Creighton, 12 ppg-6 reb-5 asts

And looking ahead, here are some people I would hope to see in maroon and gold someday.

Center—Maya Nnaji, Hopkins (2022)

Power Forward—Mallory Heyer, Chaska (2022)

Small Forward—Alyssa Ustby, Rochester Lourdes (2020)

Point Guard—Paige Bueckers, Hopkins (2020)

Shooting Guard—Lauren Jensen, Lakeville North (2020)

2^ndTeam

Center—Aliza Karlen, Stillwater (2020)

Forward—Jenna Johnson, Wayzata (2021)

Wing—Nora Francois, DeLaSalle (2021)

Point Guard—Amaya Battle, Hopkins (2022)

Shooting Guard—Kendall Coley, St. Louis Park (2021)

Gopher women survive #12 Syracuse 72-68

The Minnesota Gopher women made hard work of defeating Syracuse at Williams Arena Thursday night but, hey, THEY BEAT #12 SYRACUSE 72-68. The Gophers led most of the way. Syracuse led 2-0, then took the lead 57-55 at 4:43 of the 4th, and led by as many as 6 at 61-55 at 3:36 as the Gophers turned it over on 5 consecutive possessions. The Gophers, who got just 14 minutes and 2 points from their bench, looked winded while Syracuse, who got 80 minutes and 26 points from their bench, looked fresh. It looked pretty bad for the Gophers.

Instead, after a Minnesota timeout, Destiny Pitts drained a 3 and Kenisha Bell scored a couple of layups and a FT after a block and a defensive rebound, a steal, and another defensive rebound, all by Annalese Lamke. All in all, it was a 12-0 run, and Bell then added 3 more points for a total of 11 in the 4th quarter. The "hard work" comment is a reference to 5-of-10 FT shooting down the stretch, as a result of which Syracuse was still within 69-65 at 25 seconds. But a FT by Lamke and 2 by Taiye Bello iced it.

The Gophers ran out to a quick 21-9 lead in the 1st by shredding the Orange's full court pressure defense for innumerable fast break baskets. Syracuse abandoned the full court D for most of the 2nd and 3rd periods and clawed its way back into the game by outshooting the Gophers. Syracuse ended up shooting 45 percent from the field, the Gophers 35 percent. But midway through the 4th quarter Syracuse' percentage was 48 and rising, the Gophers' 31 and falling. And, the Orange put their full court pressure defense back on, and now it bothered the tired Gophers a bunch. But Minnesota bounced back to outshoot Syracuse 50 percent to 44 in the 4th to hang on.

The Gophers made up for their poor FG shooting with volume, which is to say 23 offensive boards, 10 of them by Taiye Bello. That ended up reflecting not in FGA, however, but FTA--31 for the Gophers, just 6 for Syracuse. They also made up for any offensive deficiencies with a stalwart defense. Jasmine Brunson guarded Syracuse guard Tiana Mangakahia most of the day and held her to 5-of-19 shooting. At times she and guard Kiara Lewis penetrated to the rim too easily, but over the entire game Brunson, Bell and Pitts played a perimeter defense that bent but did not break, that was good enough, and got the job done. Meanwhile, the Gophers got inside a lot more than the Orange did, and thus their big edge in FTA.

Overall, it was a great win against a solid opponent. The Gophers overall seemed to be the quicker team. But, overall, the Gophers need very much to develop and use their bench, and their bench players need to give Lindsay a reason to do that.

Player of the Day--Kenisha Bell

Team of the Day--MN Gopher women

Coach of the Day--Lindsay Whalen

Augsburg women survive Bethel to open MIAC conference season

The MIAC conference season opened tonight with 5 men's and 1 women's game but, as it happens, the only game between 2 teams with winning records was that women's opener--Bethel at Augsburg. Both are expected to reach the MIAC playoffs, based on the coaches pre-season poll, and the 2 teams played nip-and-tuck all night long. It took an Arianna Jones (Osseo) steal and assist to Tamira McLemore for a fast break basket with just 10 seconds remaining for the Auggies to outlast Bethel 70-68. Both teams made and missed FT for the final score but it was Jones' play that sealed the deal.

Bethel outshot Augsburg 46-42 percent from the field but the Auggies got 7 more FG attempts based on 7 more offensive rebounds and 4 fewer turnovers. Quantity turned out to be better than quality on this night. Augsburg had a 30-16 edge in points off turnovers and a 16-9 edge in 2nd chance points.

Bethel led 17-9 after 1 quarter, but Augsburg won the next 2 periods 21-15 and 22-13 to take a 52-45 lead into the 4th. Bethel roared back to lead 65-61 at 2:21 as Augsburg turned it over 5 times in about 5:30. But Bethel turned it over twice in the final 1:37, the second one leading to the winning points. Taite Anderson missed a tying FT at :06, then missed a pair of FT that could have tied it at :01.

That's too bad, because Anderson was the best player on the floor with 25 points on 7-of-17 shooting, 8 boards and 4 assists. She was 10-of-12 FT before missing the last 3. Bethel was hampered by Hannah Johnson's foul trouble. She finished with 9 points and 8 boards, both below her averages.

McLemore matched Anderson with 25 points on 7-of-18 shooting, with 9 rebounds. Jones had 10 points, 7 boards, 3 assists and 3 steals, including the game winner.

Player of the Day--Anders Nelson, freshman guard for the St. Thomas men, continued his stellar play in an easy win over Macalester

Team of the Day--Augsburg women

Coach of the Day--Jim Hayes, Hamline men, got over .500 with a win over Gustavus

Apple Valley, Hopkins, Mountain Iron-Buhl among the girls winners

The girls season had its first big weeknight of the year on Tuesday night. I saw former White Bear Lake assistant Brian Doughty, now head coach at Apple Valley, return to his old stomping grounds and pin a 59-47 loss on his mentor, Bears coach Jeremy Post. The REALLY big games ended up including a couple of blowouts as #1AAAA Hopkins demolished #6AAAA Lakeville North 83-41, and #3A Mountain Iron-Buhl hammered defending section 7AA champion Mesabi East 86-45.

But, first, the Hub has the Apple Valley-White Bear score wrong. White Bear led 31-30 at the half as Ella Janicki got loose for several 3 pointers, while Apple Valley was scoring off the offensive glass and converting White Bear turnovers into fast break baskets. White Bear led 36-32 early in the 2nd half when it turned the ball over on 3 straight possessions, all trying to run high-low plays from the elbow, and Anna Mutch and Kalena Myers hit consecutive 3s and Myers also converted another fast break basket. Suddenly it was 46-39 Apple Valley, and White Bear could not get a shot to drop after that.

Bottom line: Apple Valley is severely lacking in depth, and when Creighton-bound post Mykel Parham sat down with fouls in the 1st half, the Eagles definitely did not soar. But they have 5 tough, athletic, experienced players who, in the 2nd half, executed on both ends of the floor. White Bear, meanwhile, has 3 experienced guards but, with no inside-out ball movement, they could not shake loose for an open look in the 2nd half.

Meanwhile, Hopkins took a 50-18 halftime lead at Lakeville North and never looked back. Paige Bueckers scored 26 points, Dlayla Chakolis 22, and the Hopkins defense held North's Lauren Jensen to just 6 points. North does not have the firepower to win when Jensen scores 6 points.

And Mountain Iron-Buhl served notice that they will be a force to be reckoned with again in 2019. I talked to coach Jeff Buffetta recently and said, "I'll see you at the Breakdown." He laughed and noted that MIB had not been invited to the Breakdown Tip-Off this year. "Every year we lose some seniors and people keep thinking we must be done!" I guess not.

Player of the Day--Paige Bueckers, Hopkins, scored 26 and helped to hold Lauren Jensen to 6.

Team of the Day--Hopkins girls. As much as I liked the discipline and execution of the Apple Valley Eagles, it is very tough not to pick a team that doubled up Lakeville North on the road!

Coach of the Day--But as much as I like the way coach Brian Cosgriff has Hopkins playing so early in the season, I have to recognize Apple Valley coach Brian Doughty, who has got his team executing and playing together and playing hard, all things that were not a part of the Apple Valley DNA when he arrived there.