College Season Underway

The 2011-2012 college season got underway over the weekend with a schedule of women's exhibition games.

South Dakota State 85 Moorhead State 52

EDIT: Forgot to mention that transfer Angela Christianson (formerly of Alexandria High School and Drake U.) is out with an injury. No word on when she will debut with the Dragons. We will now return to our previously scheduled programming.

I get that the Jackrabbits are D1 and Moorhead is D2. Still, I am shocked at the shellacking taken by the Dragons in this one. The only numbers you really need to know are Moorhead's: 39 field goals attempted, 33 turnovers. The Rabbits' 3 starting (non-Minnesota) guards combined for 11-of-24 shooting, 34 points, 12 assists and 4 turnovers. Moorhead's (Haley Thomforde of Eastview, Marissa Yernatich of Duluth East, and Brittany Mayclin of Benilde went 1-for-10 with 4 assists and 14 turnovers.

But the main interest here is in checking to see how several Minnesota girls are progressing with their college careers. This is of course only one game, and a blowout at that. Still:

Last year I wrote about SDSU's stockpiling of Minnesota 6-footers. Jennie Sunnarborg, a senior from Osseo, is hardly the best known of the group, but she's the best of them at the college level, at least at the present time.

Jennie Sunnarborg, Osseo, 6-foot senior--started, played 18 minutes, 7-of-13 FG, team high 17 points, 6 boards and an assist

Megan Waytashek, Centennial, 6-2 soph--16M, 2-of-5, 6 points, 3 boards, 3 assists

Hannah Strop, New Prague, 6-2 soph--14M, 0-for-2, 0 points, 2 assists

Leah Dietel, Jordan, 6-2 junior--13M, 0-for-2, 3 points, 3 boards, 1 assist

Megan Stuart, Roseville, 6-2 freshman--8M, 1-for-3, 6 points, 2 boards, 1 block

Mariah Clarin, Princeton, 6-1 freshman--7M, 0-for-1, 3 boards, 1 steal

Gabby Boever, Worthington, 5-9, soph, guard--5M, pretty much all 0s except for 1 board

For Moorhead, Angie Jetvig (senior, Hawley) was the only bright spot. My NSIC pre-season player of the year hit 7-of-9 shots for 23 points, and added 4 boards, an assist, a block and a steal. Nobody else scored more than 8 points.

Wisconsin-Green Bay 59 Michigan Tech 39

Meanwhile, the powerful Phoenix of Wisconsin-Green Bay (34-2 last year) opened up with an easy win over D2 Michigan Tech. 2 Minnesotans on the Phoenix roster, inside players Jenny Gilbertson (Winona Cotter) and Stephanie Sension (Hopkins), remain near the bottom of the depth chart. The 2 combined for 13 minutes, 1-of-8 shooting for 2 points, 2 boards, an assist and a turnover.