Winter roared through the Upper Midwest and forced lots of adjustments. Game-time was moved to Saturday. Not that Saturday was going to be a whole lot better. It was hardly better at all. But the Minnesota State High School League can wait only so long with these things.
Stevens County fans would have loved having this game slated for our P.E. Center on the U of M-Morris campus. But in 2011 it was time for Concordia of Moorhead to get its turn. It's a fair distance up the highway to be sure.
Fans couldn't be blamed for staying home. But "the show must go on," and go on it did, at the spacious fieldhouse of Concordia-Moorhead.
The Hancock girls took the court there in pursuit of the Section 6A championship. Their opponent was Ada-Borup. The Owls were fresh from getting past Parkers Prairie in the 6A-South title game here at UMM.
They stayed on a roll Saturday at the expense of the Cougars of Ada-Borup. Coach Jodi Holleman's Owls worked to a 44-39 win in front of the March Madness crowd.
The success was in spite of having some trouble shooting freethrows. But the Owls came on strong with other attributes, showing they truly are a state caliber team for 2011. They are now in that elite state field.
Next for the Owls: a contest vs. Goodhue at 11 a.m. Thursday at the U of M's Williams Arena.
One of those top attributes Saturday was holding Ada-Borup to under 40 points. In this respect the game mirrored the Parkers Prairie game (score of 40-37 over the Panthers).
The Owls asserted themselves in first half play, putting in 25 points to Ada-Borup's 16. A-B outscored the Owls 23-19 in the second half.
Illissa Koehl was a top contributor for the Owls with her 19 points, plus she stole the ball four times. Her nine of 14 freethrow numbers were decent compared to the team's overall woes in that department (18 of 35).
In total field goals the Owls made 13 of 36 attempts but were skunked in three-pointers (0 for 6).
Courtney Greiner joined Koehl in double figures scoring, putting in ten points, and Courtney also collected 13 rebounds.
Kendra Schmidgall was held below her normal standards partly because of being double-teamed. She also got hampered by fouls but she contributed seven points and three steals to the winning cause.
Shae Brown scored four points and Aria Walstad and Abby Ascheman added two each.
Greiner's 13 rebounds were followed by four each by Schmidgall and Ascheman. Walstad and Greiner each dished out two assists. Koehl was the steal leader (4) followed by Schmidgall and Brown each with three.
Megan Kolness led Ada-Borup in scoring with 16 points.
The Hancock girls basketball Owls enter state with a 26-2 season record. A-B closed out the season at 25-3.
Bring on the state tournament! Williams Arena is a storied floor and the Owls will make permanent memories there, win or lose.
Lose? What's that?
Click on the link below if you'd like to review the Owls' climb through the sub-section, in which they beat WHN, Hillcrest and Parkers Prairie:
http://ilovemorris73.blogspot.com/2011/03/hancock-girls-climb-to-top-of-6a-south.html
Click on the link below to reach the Hancock girls page on Maxpreps:
http://www.maxpreps.com/high-schools/R_B0ODtqnEqmnOJgQqcK_A/hancock-owls/girls-basketball/home.htm
Click on the link below to reach the Hancock girls page on Pheasant Country Sports:
http://www.pheasantcountrysports.com/teamschedule.php?yid=1011&tid=1174&sid=1230158
- Brian Williams - morris mn Minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
No comments:
Post a Comment