The Wildcats opened up a 28-10 lead with under 10 minutes left in the second half.
The final score was 42-15. (Ouch!)
With the win, NL-S head coach Mike Dreier picked up his 700th career victory in his 32nd year at the helm of the Wildcat program. Dreier is the winningest girls basketball coach in state history. His closest competitor is current Rochester Lourdes coach Myron Glass, who has a 631-91 record. Dreier also has guided teams to the state tournament 14 times, winning state titles in 1997 and 2002 and finishing as runner-up five other times (1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 2001).
Last year's state tournament run ended a playoff drought where the Wildcats did not get out of their sub-section since 2005. That year, they fell to Rockford in the Section 5AA finals, then went 1-1 in the playoffs the next two seasons. In 2008, they lost to eventual state champion Albany 42-37 in the Sub-Section 6AA-East finals, then had a strong playoff run last season that ended in the Class AA Final Four.
With four starters back from last year’s team that went 31-2 and placed third in the Class AA state tournament, NL-S led 20-7 at halftime tonight and outscored Eden Valley-Watkins 22-8 in the second half.
Area girls basketball scores on Tuesday night:
Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 38, Montevideo 37
Benson 65, Yellow Medicine East 52
Brandon-Evansville 50, Osakis 15
Canby 61, MACCRAY 57
Cedar Mountain/Comfrey 60, Redwood Valley 40
Central MN Christian 53, Lincoln HI 30
Hancock 43, Battle Lake 33
Hawley 61, West Central Area 49
Holdingford 48, Royalton 31
Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 55, Watertown-Mayer 36
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 54, Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 43
Kimball Area 52, Lester Prairie/Holy Trinity 40
Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 61, Albany 57 (LP-GE's first win over Albany in a long time)
Maple Lake 52, St. John's Prep 32
Marshall 61, Renville County West 23
Melrose 48, Foley 34
Minneota 73, Dawson-Boyd 57
Minnewaska Area 58, Lac qui Parle Valley 52
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 51, BOLD 38
Rockford 58, Delano 55
Sauk Centre 60, Paynesville Area 22 (Ouch!)
Wadena-Deer Creek 58, Pierz 49