K-M-S Fighting Saints...and girls' basketball playoffs

I'm feeling a bit of deja vu tonight as I look ahead to tomorrow's playoff game. I'll explain why later.

The Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg Fighting Saints boys' basketball team started the season with just two wins in their first six games, but they finished the December schedule with a 4-5 record. Their fourth win of the year came against Tracy-Milroy-Balaton, who went 20-9 this season and won the Camden South Conference. The Fighting Saints beat the Panthers 67-43 in the third-place game of the Windom tournament on December 29.

K-M-S then dropped the first two January games before heating up the rest of the way. Since losing at Dawson-Boyd 70-59 on January 6, the Fighting Saints have lost just twice. One of those two losses was by a 56-55 score at Ashby.

**Here's video featuring the final 3 minutes of the game last night against Benson:


In the Section 5A girls' basketball championship tonight at Little Falls, Nevis defeated Braham 38-27 to advance to the state tournament. I waited until tonight to watch the final seconds of Wednesday night's game against Nevis...it was painful to watch. Tiyana Schwinghammer got a CLEAN BLOCK on the last-second shot. It was all ball and so clear to see. Instead of it being a straight-up block with the ball going out of bounds, the baseline referee blew his whistle and called a blocking foul...which ultimately won the game for Nevis with 0.1 seconds remaining. Again, I repeat...Schwinghammer had a CLEAN BLOCK on the shot. Crazy. Just absolutely crazy.

Area girls' basketball section championship results on March 11:
Albany 58, Sauk Centre 25 (Wow, that is just crazy)
Hancock 61, Underwood 56
Montevideo 43, Fairmont 32
Fergus Falls 51, Menahga 29
Pequot Lakes 70, Pierz 54
Mountain Iron-Buhl 63, Cromwell 26
Mayer Lutheran 58, Sleepy Eye St. Mary's 45
Minneota 44, Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 33
Detroit Lakes 46, Willmar 43
Becker 69, Monticello 32