Game of the Day: Tuesday December 20, 2011: High school stars come out

Review

There were 4 great high school games in the metro area Tuesday night.

1) In our Preview Game of the Day, the #2-ranked Edina girls beat White Bear Lake as expected 59-52. Alexis Foley scored 29 for the Bears, who have yet to find a 2nd source of reliable offense, while Katybeth Biewen scored 21 for Edina, who is still without MC McGrory. A win over a quality opponent with 1 of its dynamic guard duo out more than justifies Edina's high rating.

2) The #2AAAA Eastview boys hammered #4AAA Spring Lake Park 86-63 as Joey King poured in 36 points.

3) #4AAAA Eden Prairie boys took its first loss to #6 Lakeville North 69-62. Brett Rasmussen scored 35 for North.

4) #1AAA Benilde-St. Margaret's boys gave #9AAAA Minnetonka its 1st loss 71-68. It was tight all the way, as Benilde held a 28-26 half-time lead. Tonka's Latrell Love led all scorers with 20 points, while Tommy McDermott of Tonka and Isaiah Gray and Sanjay Lumpkin of Benilde all added 18.

Finally, the Benilde girls also gave Minnetonka its 1st defeat, 55-48. Grace Coughlin, already a Gopher verbal as a sophomore, won the battle of the big name guards, out-scoring Joanna Hedstrom, rated #3 among the juniors by one rating service, 23-6.

Player of the Day: Joey King, Eastview 36 points

Coach of the Day: Tom Dasovich, Minnetonka boys. In transitioning from John Hedstrom to Dasovich a year ago, Tonka was dreadful. Add Riley Dearring, formerly of Hopkins and DeLaSalle, and voila! Tonka is back, despite its loss to Benilde last night.

Preview

The White Bear Lake girls opened the season ranked #5 and Edina #8. Since then, they've gone in different directions.

Edina has beaten 7 opponents by an average of 69-38, including a 47-38 win over then-#3 Lakeville North a few days after the Panthers had taken #1 Hopkins into OT. Edina is led by senior guard Katie Biewen and junior MC McGrory, each of whom is rated as the #8 Minnesota guard in her class.

White Bear is 5-2 and has fallen out of the top 10. A pair of upset wins--over #1AAA DeLaSalle in OT and at #6AAAA Wayzata--have been matched by a pair of upset losses to Prior Lake and Roseville. Senior guard Alexis Foley, an Illinois State commit, leads the way.

By next March, I expect the fortunes to have changed again. White Bear should return to the state tournament whereas Edina will face Eden Prairie and others in the tough Section 2, so it's touch 'n go for the Hornets. But as for now, Edina should be able to defeat the Bears on their home court.