Prep sports goes full bore in mid-January!

Boys basketball: Tigers 65, YME 37
Morris Chokio Alberta pushed its win total to nine Friday, winning by a hefty margin over Yellow Medicine East. Coach Mark Torgerson's Tigers took control with a 38-21 lead at halftime. They applied finishing touches to win in the 65-37 final, here.
Opponents are stymied trying to determine who to focus on, in the Tiger offense. There are many spokes in the Tigers' offensive wheel. Friday saw Cole Riley pace another balanced offensive attack. Cole put in 16 points and he was one of ten Tigers scoring. Wow!
M-CA came out of the night with a 9-2 season record and 5-1 W/L numbers in conference. This was win No. 7 in a row for the surging orange and black crew.
Riley had eight rebounds to complement his 16 points.
The Tigers were four of 13 in three-point shooting with four different players scoring this way: Eric Riley, Dan Tiernan, Alex Erickson and Brody Bahr.
Cole Riley and Riley Arndt were the rebound leaders with eight and six respectively. Erickson deftly picked up four assists.
In total field goals the Tigers made 22 of 54 shots. They had an outstanding night at the freethrow line where the stats were 17-for-23.
Let's roll up our sleeves and list the point scorers: Mac Kampmeier (8), Riley Arndt (10), Cole Riley (16), Eric Riley (6), Sam Mattson (2), Dan Tiernan (3), Tyler Roske (6), Alex Erickson (5), Cody Cannon (4) and Brody Bahr (5).
Taylor Olson led the Sting with 13 points.
Viva Morris Chokio Alberta boys basketball for 2011! Fans at the spacious Morris Area gym are cheering with zest.

Girls basketball: YME 60, Tigers 41
The M-CA girls were humbled on the boards in being dealt defeat Thursday by YME. The Tigers ended a disappointing week (an earlier loss to Paynesville) by falling to the Sting at the Granite Falls gym.
The Tigers are hardly alone in being humbled by the Sting. Yellow Medicine East came out of Thursday with a 10-0 season record and 8-0 in conference. Coach Dale Henrich's Tigers ended the week at 4-5 overall and 2-4 in league.
The final score Thursday was 60-41.
How awesome were (was?) the Sting on the boards? The team rebound numbers were 48 for the host Sting and 25 for the Tigers.
Angie Scheffler was a force for the Sting as they pulled away. Angie accounted for 17 of the YME rebounds and she scored a team-best 21 points.
Kelsey Loew made two three-pointers for the Tigers and Hannah Sayles sank one.
Erica Domnick led M-CA in rebounds with nine while Erin Schieler collected five. Beth Holland dished out four assists, and Katie Holzheimer stole the ball twice.
Domnick topped the scoring list with her nine points. Continuing with the scoring list we have: Erin Schieler (7), Holzheimer (7), Loew (6), Sayles (5), Holland (4), Shadow Olson (2) and Natalie Johnston (1).

Girls hockey: Storm 4, Northern Lakes 3
The margin of victory came with a goal by Sara Rajewsky with about four minutes left, when the MBA Storm girls defeated Northern Lakes Tuesday. Dani Schultz assisted. Schultz had scored the three previous goals in this 4-3 Storm victory.
The home triumph continued an impressive skein of Storm success on the ice. The squad entered mid-week owner of an eight-game win streak. In overall record these skaters could boast 12-2 numbers.
In the first period it looked as through MBA might cruise to success. MBA built a 3-0 advantage. Schultz scored at :31 with an assist from Rajewsky to put MBA on its way. Schultz made the score 2-0 with an unassisted goal at 1:33. Schultz then put MBA up 3-0 with a goal at 16:26, assisted by Sam Falk and Monica Lindblad.
Instead of putting away the foe in period #2, the Storm spun their wheels for a while, failing to score and allowing a goal by Northern Lakes' Mandy Carlson (Kaylyn Eggena assist).
The wheel-spinning continued into the third period. Erika Monson of NL scored at 1:57 of the third (Alex Palm assist), and Eggena sent the puck into the net at 6:12 unassisted.
The score had suddenly become tied!
But Rajewsky seized back enough momentum to end the night on a winning note for Morris Benson hockey. Rajewsky and Schultz showed the type of chemistry (goal/assist) that has built much MBA success.
Brooke Falk was the Storm's goaltender and she had 24 saves. NL goalie Kat Jensen picked up 37 saves.

Boys hockey: two wins, a loss in recent skating
The Morris Benson boys hockey Storm defeated Prairie Centre 4-2 on the road Thursday. Read Gary Hansen's thorough summary of this winning night by clicking on the link below:
http://www.mbastorm.com/news_article/show/74983?referrer_id=217802-morris-benson-area-storm-hockey-news

The MBA boys fell to the Northern Lakes Lightning by a score of 5-2 in January 11 home skating, at our Lee Community Center. Again, please click below to read Gary's summary:
http://www.mbastorm.com/news_article/show/74717?referrer_id=217802-morris-benson-area-storm-hockey-news

And on January 8 the outcome was an 8-3 win over the Worthington Trojans at the Lee Community Center. Click below to read Gary's summary from the MBA website:
http://www.mbastorm.com/news_article/show/74453?referrer_id=217802-morris-benson-area-storm-hockey-news

Boys basketball: Tigers 77, Paynesville 43
The M-CA boys are showing chemistry with balanced scoring as the win total gets hiked. It got hiked to eight on Tuesday (against two losses) as the Tigers blew past Paynesville 77-43.
Four Tigers scored in double figures led by Cole Riley whose precise shooting eye led to 24 points scored. Mac Kampmeier and Alex Erickson each put in 12, and Riley Arndt joined the barrage with ten.
Erickson made both of the Tigers' successful three-pointers.
Tyler Roske and Eric Riley contributed to the mix, each with six points, and the following Tigers also scored: Dan Tiernan (4), Brody Bahr (2) and Sam Mattson (1).
The Tigers clearly seized this game by halftime, at which point the score was 34-19. The Tigers made 13 of 20 freethrow attempts. They entered midweek still with just one conference loss.
Tanner Wendroth led Paynesville in scoring with 13 points.

Girls basketball: Paynesville 59, Tigers 55
Paynesville found the range in three-point shooting, a department where you can make up ground in a hurry, and those Bulldogs came from behind to defeat the M-CA girls Tuesday. M-CA was in quite good shape halfway through this home game, leading 27-18, so coach Henrich must have been upbeat along with his players.
Then came the second half when the Bulldogs started to let fly from long range. They made seven of nine attempts from beyond the three-point stripe in that half.
The M-CA lead eroded and was eventually gone.
Erika Schlangen was a key Bulldog displaying that sharp shooting eye.
The Tigers ended up on the short end by four points, 59-55, and slid back to .500 in season won-lost (4-4).
Paynesville finished the night with 50 percent success in three-point shooting (nine-for-18). The Tigers made three of nine in that department and were 16 of 47 in total field goal shooting. In freethrows the Tigers were quite sharp with 20 of 29 numbers.
Hannah Sayles was at the fore of M-CA scoring with her 16 points. She was joined in double figures scoring by Erica Domnick with 12.
Let's continue with the scoring list: Beth Holland (9), Sarah Kuhn (8), Erin Schieler (4), Shadow Olson (3), Katie Holzheimer (3) and Kelsey Loew (2).
Sayles made two of the Tigers' three-pointers. Holzheimer made the other.
Kuhn topped the rebound list with eight while Domnick collected seven. Olson contributed three assists, while Schieler had four steals and three blocked shots to lead in those departments.
Morris Chokio Alberta basketball is helping make this arduous winter, weather-wise, a little more palatable with a determined and entertaining brand of play, even when victory might be elusive.
To repeat a suggestion, it would be neat to see the boys and girls basketball programs join hands for an attractive and informative website, just like what the MBA Storm has. Coaches needn't bear a disproportionate burden of the work. A variety of individuals could be involved.
I mean, if I can do it. . .
-Brian Williams - morris mn Minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com