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