Hulne: Section 1A West girls basketball tournament will be fun to watch
Published 8:32 pm Monday, February 23, 2015
When it comes down to who has the toughest road to the state girls basketball tournament this year, Section 1A West may take the cake for being the most difficult in all of Class A.
Lyle-Pacelli’s Brooke Walter, right, and Madison Truckenmiller, left, tie up Spring Grove’s Lauryn Bohr in Pacelli Gym earlier this season. Herald File Photo
The gauntlet includes three teams ranked in the top-10 in Class A and those same three teams are also in the top-8 in QRF. Also, a team that isn’t ranked in the top-10 in the polls or QRF, beat two of those ranked teams by at least 10 points.
That team would be the No. 3 seeded Southland Rebels (17-9 overall) who have a 59-44 win over top-seeded and No. 5 ranked Goodhue on Jan. 10 and a 62-52 win over No. 2 seeded and No. 9 ranked Lyle-Pacelli on Jan. 24.
The Wildcats (21-5 overall), who played in the Class A state tournament in 2014, have a 40-38 win over BP Jan. 20 and a 61-45 win over LP Jan. 17. The Athletics (21-3 overall) made things even more interesting when they beat BP (21-3 overall) 49-28 in the last game of the season Feb. 17.
I wouldn’t be surprised if any of these four teams, who have a combined record of 80-20, won the subsection and I think the winner likely moves on to the Class A state tournament. The interesting part is every one of the these teams, while being successful, has their own story.
The Athletics are looking to get over last season’s disappointment that saw them go unbeaten in the regular season. only to get upset in the second round by BP. This year the Athletics have been on a roller coaster ride that has seen highs — a 90-89 loss to perennial power Maranatha Christian and the BP win, and lows — the lop-sided losses to Goodhue and Southland. Those losses may actually make LP tougher in the postseason, because the team has actually had to deal with some adversity in the regular season, unlike last year.
Southland’s McKenzie Kirtz dribbles in the corner, guarded by Blooming Prairie’s Taylor Hagen in Adams Tuesday night. Herald File Photo
The Athletics rely a lot on junior forward Sarah Holtz to provide rebounding and scoring in the paint and the backourt of sisters Brooke Walter and Courtney Walter run a full court pressing defense and a recently effective half court offense. Brooke, a freshman who played AAU ball for Tartan this past summer, has proven to be an effective passer, creator and shooter, and Courtney, a junior, is a sharpshooter who has developed into a pin-point passer.
The Rebels have shown they can play with just about anybody as they’ve given some top AA teams battles this season. Senior McKenzie Kirtz can put on a scoring clinic against all types of defenses and the team loves to turn up the tempo and get out and run.
BP probably has the top two players in the section in senior forward and Northern Iowa commit Taylor Hagen, who is BP’s all-time leading scorer and rebounder, and senior guard and Winona State commit Madison Worke.
Blooming Prairie’s Madison Worke shoots over Hayfield’s Sophia Waldner in BP earlier this season. Herald File Photo
BP is the only team in the section to have beaten Southland and it also has quality wins against Hayfield, Kenyon-Wanamingo and Mankato Loyola.
Goodhue has a younger roster that has proven effective and the Wildcats have won nine straight games.
Whoever is still standing when these teams are done duking it out will be the squad that handles the ball the best, shoots the best and forces the most turnovers. It’s that simple.
The last team standing will also be battle tested and it will have an edge if it does go on to the Class A state tournament.
I don’t know who’s going to win, but I can’t wait to find out.
The Section 1A West girls basketball tournament begins Thursday at high seeds and the tournament moves to Mayo Civic Auditorium in Rochester next week.
Follow Rocky Hulne on twitter at @RockyHulneADH.
