Was at the Minnesota Girls State Tournament at both Target Center and William Arena to take in as much action as I could for all four days. On Wednesday (3-16) I was at Target Center and did color commentary with my good buddy Jon Sands for Grand Stadium TV for the opening round of Class AAAA games. On the next day (Thursday 3-17) I found myself in the same capacity but this time over at Williams Arena for the opening round of Class A games. On both Friday I was back at Target Center and then Saturday A.M. I was at Concordia St. Paul to do color commentary for the consolation games of both Class A and Class AA and was back at Target Center by afternoon to take in most of the championship game action. Here is a recap of how I saw things transpire.
Class A - Maranatha Christian Academy was the winner here as this is a team that made some great strides as the season progressed. Was so impressed with this team as they are not only young and fun to watch but they have such a great diversity of players as well. They do have lanky sophomore Onye Osemenam in the middle but the players who really caught my attention were sophomore Abby Torgerson and junior Josie Taggatz-Ott who hold down the backcourt spots. Torgerson has the tenacity and hustle of a bulldog and Taggatz-Ott is a lights out shooter. This team is augmented by a crop of 7th, 8th, and freshman players who all gained valuable experience this season. Don't be surprised if they're back fighting for another title this next year. But the one player who stole the limelight for me in the whole Class A tournament was Northern Freeze senior Liza Hoglo. In their opening round game vs Mountain Iron-Buhl, Northern Freeze found themselves down midway through the second half and all looked lost but Hoglo almost single-handedly brought her team back in an absolutely amazing performance in which she injured her ankle in the process - and still came back to do some more damage. Even though they fell short of ultimate victory on this day, Hoglo was the player of the tournament, IMHO.
Class AA - Braham behind the efforts of the Dahlman Sisters (Rebekah and Hannah) and senior PG Liz Anderson made amends for last year's disappointment and turned the tables on Minnehaha Academy for the title. But the real soul-tugger clash in Class AA was the rematch between Braham and Providence Academy in the semifinals on Friday night. Braham had beaten Providence Academy back in the early part of the year at the Hopkins Breakdown tournament on a buzzer beater by Austyn Eng and the Lions wanted revenge badly. But Braham prevailed in a very physical contest that left the Lions of Providence Academy heartbroken. To add injury to insult, Providence Academy lost the very next morning in the consolation final (in a game I helped cover) on a buzzer beater by Sauk Centre's Kali Peschel in overtime.
Class AAA - DeLaSalle prevailed over Hill-Murray for the championship in what proved to be yet another heartbreaking end for the Pioneers led by Bethany Doolittle and Tessa Cichy. This was a match-up of two teams that have had their share of heartaches in state championship finals over the last few years and this time it was DeLaSalle's turn to prevail. Head coach Faith Johnson Patterson helped guide the Islanders to the top; enduring a roller-coaster season of injuries and off-court issues as well.
Class AAAA - As expected Hopkins took the top prize here; knocking off up-and-coming challenger Eden Prairie. Tied at 22 at the half, the Royals broke open a tight game and cruised to yet another championship. Brianna Williams was spectacular at times and the Coffey Sisters garnered some spotlight as well. The Eagles do have both Jackie Johnson and Shayne Mullaney back for next year but it will be interesting to see how head coach Chris Carr develops his bench. For me the big disappointment was Maple Grove's opening round loss to last year's runner-up White Bear Lake. While the Crimson appeared to have the edge at halftime, they simply went stone-cold in the second half from the perimeter and there was nothing Stephanie Davison or Ellen Edison could do to stem the tide of the White Bear Lake squad. Last year's champion Lakeville North ended the Cinderall story run of upstart Anoka but got hammered in the semifinals by Eden Prairie.
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