First off, Eden Valley-Watkins was knocked out of the playoffs for the second straight year by conference rival Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted. The Lakers threw a diamond-and-one defense on Hannah Linz and held her scoreless from the field, limiting her to three free throws for the game.
All I can say is "wow"...definitely a blow to the Eagles' girls basketball program.
Best of luck to the Lakers girls basketball team and Head Coach Jason Kuehn in the 5AA championship on Friday night, when they face Sub-Section 5AA-18 champion Watertown-Mayer. Tip-off is at 7:15pm at SCSU's Halenbeck Hall gymnasium.
Update on Thursday night...Osakis is completely shutting down the Lakers' star post player Cassie Jacobs, holding her scoreless in the first half.
Meanwhile, the 4th-seeded Silverstreaks had jumped off to a 13-0 start in the first 5:00 of play.
The 3rd-seeded Minnewaska Lakers trail 34-15 at halftime. The game is being held at the University of Minnesota-Morris.
As the buzzer sounded, Minnewaska's Emily Roering launched a shot just inside the halfcourt line, draining it for a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to under 20.
Only three players have scored for the Lakers at halftime.
Update into the second half at UM-Morris...after 6:00 gone, the Lakers cut the deficit to a 34-20 margin. However, they had committed 6 team fouls so in the final 12:46 of the game, the Silverstreaks will be at the foul line for every defensive foul the Lakers will commit.
Roering had 18 of the Lakers' first 28 points in the game, when they trailed 41-28.
The final score at UM-Morris was 54-33. Osakis improved to 21-7, while the Lakers finish their season 19-8. Minnewaska went 14-2 in the West Central South Conference, repeating as the conference champions.
Over at St.John's, top-seeded New London-Spicer won their 28th game of the season (against only one loss) by soundly beating 2nd-seeded Sauk Centre 51-29 in the Sub-Section 6AA-East championship game. Sauk Centre finishes the season with only three losses - all coming against NL-S.
After Kali Peschel drained a layup to start the game's scoring, Sauk Centre fell behind 18-5 and was never in the game after falling behind 4-2.
Sauk Centre trailed 28-10 at halftime. They went 1-of-14 from beyond the arc, while NL-S was 7-of-16 from three-point range. That was essentially the difference in the game, with the Wildcats' impenetrable 2-3 zone defense frustrating the Mainstreeters all night long.
It was NL-S's second straight sub-section championship appearance. In 2008, they were defeated by #1-state ranked Albany 43-38. They ended Sauk Centre's season last year, in the sub-section semi-final game.
Sauk Centre ends their best-ever girls basketball season 25-3. They played in 2 of the last 3 sub-section championship games.
Over in Sub-Section 5AA-20, it was not Eden Valley-Watkins' night, as Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted ended their season for the second straight season in the sub-section title game. The Lakers won 51-31. That is a whooping when you consider that the Lakers fell 53-42 and 52-32 in conference play. It repeats the results of last season, when the Eagles swept the Lakers in Central Minnesota Conference action before falling when it really counted, in the playoffs. The Lakers ended up winning Section 5AA last season for a state tournament berth. This year they take a 26-3 record into the 5AA championship, which will be held on Friday night at Halenbeck Hall at SCSU.
Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted will face Watertown-Mayer (18-10) on Friday for the Section 5AA championship. The Royals defeated Norwood-Young America 63-55 in the Sub-Section 5AA-18 championship.
In boys basketball playoff action, Maple Lake won a "pigtail" game against St.John's Prep 61-49. The Johnnies end their season 7-19, while the Irish take a 5-21 record into Thursday night's quarterfinal game against top-seeded Pierz in the Sub-Section 5AA-20 playoffs.
More will follow on Thursday morning.