Here comes March — frequently the month with the most snow!
Maybe, just maybe, the snow came mostly in February this year and March will be mild. Temperature-wise it appears that March will come in like a lion, so maybe it will go out like a lamb and April of 2019 will really be spring (unlike April of 2018, remember all the snow which fell during April last year?).
The top-four seeds — Hills-Beaver Creek, Southwest Minnesota Christian, Red Rock Central and Murray County Central — all advanced to the Section 3A South-Subsection Tournament semifinals in high school girls’ basketball action with victories in the quarterfinal round last Saturday.
The MCC vs. Adrian game was the best of the four as the Dragons were within three points (38-35) early in the second half after consecutive mid-range field goals by Autumn Grussing. Utilizing its patented pressing defense, MCC quickly took control with a 7-0 burst, fueled by a steal and layup by the ever-hustling Montana Beckmann and the Rebels had a 45-35 lead and continued to extend the gap to a final 20-point victory, 69-49.
Ines Rios Ros was an all-around force for MCC in the victory (25 points, six blocks, six rebounds, four steals). She was 12-of-14 on two-point field goals, but missed her only three-point attempt. Beckmann finished with 22 points, six rebounds and an amazing eight steals, while Shelby Christensen came up with 15 points and five rebounds for the Rebels.
Adrian’s Bailey Lonneman played very well down low for the Dragons, finishing with an impressive double-double (13 points, 11 rebounds). Sophomore Shawna Rogers (eight points, four rebounds, three assists) was a real spark for Adrian in the first half, while senior veteran Avery Balster (seven points, seven rebounds, team-leading five assists) and sophomore Jayden Zebe (seven points, two assists) were among several other key contributors for the fifth-seeded Dragons, who played with lots of determination.
Hills-Beaver Creek is ranked seventh in the state among all Class A girls’ teams and the tall Patriots took an undefeated record (24-0) into Tuesday’s semifinal clash against MCC. H-BC defeated Southwest Christian twice this winter (72-54 at Hills on December 21 and just recently, February 19, 77-65 at the Eagles’ home gym in Edgerton. The Patriots have a pair of similar scores wins over MCC (73-38 at Hills on December 18 and 79-49 at Slayton on January 22).
Southwest Christian rolled to an 80-54 victory over Red Rock Central at Lamberton on January 15, but the Falcons played the Eagles close in the rematch at Edgerton on February 1, losing by just seven points, 66-59.
Answers to last week’s questions:
Here are two of the answers to last week’s questions about the basketball adjustments made in the 1980s.
I am not sure when the last year of the jump ball was? I could use some help here. I know that it was still in place during the 1982-1983 season because I remember the HL-O Scarlet Knights scoring a late-game winning basket off a jump ball at their end in an early-season game against Storden-Jeffers.
Somewhere, however, during the ’80s (I think) the jump ball was replaced by the alternate possession rule.
I remember for sure that the first year of the smaller girls’ basketball being put to use in varsity games was during the ’85-86 season. The Red Rock Conference used the smaller ball for B-Squad games the previous year, ’84-85, but the varsity squad’s still used the same bigger ball as the boys.
And for sure, the first year of the three-point shot in Minnesota High School basketball was in ’87-88. That has changed the game ever since. I remember well, Okabena’s Kris Johnson (a senior girl) playing for the Heron Lake-Okabena-Lakefield Silver Bullets — in their first year as a fully-paired high school — making five three-point shots in a game against Windom at Jackson in the Bluejays’ annual Christmas Tournament. That was five extra points!
One of the players for Windom was Heather Van Norman, the Eagles’ multiple state champion sprinter who later became a track star at LSU. Heather’s son, Odell Beckham Jr., is one of the NFL’s most-feared pass receivers.
Have a great week and let’s hope that the scheduled upcoming tournament games can progress without weather delays.
By the way, when was the last year of quarters (rather than halves) in Minnesota high school basketball? Here’s another — again from the ‘80s — which two years was the no foul-out rule in place? I will attempt to discuss that situation next time.
