i love morris: Chloe Scholl on third place MN team

Saturday, March 23, 2024

Chloe Scholl on third place MN team

Chloe Scholl (from "X")

Interesting thing to note about state is that a lot of the games are really pretty one-sided. You might say this is "counter-intuitive." So again I think of this as I note that the Alexandria girls won pretty handily in their first state tournament game. The score was 67-50 as the Cardinals with Chloe Scholl got past Rock Ridge.

Chloe is the daughter of former MACA Tiger Heather Lucken. I actually can't remember if we were "MACA" then, maybe we were "MAHS." It gets hard to remember details like this as the years go by. Time marches on.

It was a treat to see Heather at the wake for Myron Syverson this past week at the funeral home. Honestly, I don't think I had seen her since she graduated from high school. She looked young and fresh. Me? Not so much. Also at the wake I was able to see Jodi, daughter of the late Myron. She was probably in school in the same general time period as Heather. Jodi had one clear forte athletically: gymnastics. She too looked young and fresh.

Well, Heather has had a lot on her plate as a high school sports parent. She is in the wave of proud parents getting caught up in the best of "March Madness." Getting to state is reaching the summit. Wouldn't it be wonderful to speak in terms of the MACA girls program reaching state? One can never feel sure if the limitations on this are due to "talent" or program quality. It can be like arguing chicken or the egg. Heh heh.

Heather was in sports in Morris when the school was trying to come out of a prolonged phase of chronic problems with programs. The progress was halting at times. Things did get better. But look at this past season: our girls lost their first game in post-season. I personally think we had more "talent" than that. Chicken or the egg? Now we can think about "next year."

The Alexandria Cardinals defeated Rock Ridge at Maturi Pavilion. They encountered an obstacle in round 2. It was DeLaSalle which prevailed 82-69 over the Cardinals at Williams Arena. Two days later, the spirited Cards took to the court to play their last game. At stake was third in state. One nice thing about being in the third place game: You have a chance to end your season with a win.

And that's exactly what Chloe Scholl and her Cardinal mates did on Saturday, March 16. They defeated Stewartville 69-55 at Concordia-St. Paul. I happen to know that Concordia is home of the "Comets." UMM teams once played them regularly.

The Cardinals finished the season with a 26-5 record, a perfect 12-0 in section, a perfect 14-0 in conference, and 10-2 at the home court. Chloe's grandmother Bev Kieffer surely has to be smiling ear to ear. I still well remember when Heather played basketball. Alex is among the larger schools in the Minnesota "AAA" category.

(Obviously I initially typed Bev's name "Bev Lucken." Good thing I proofread.)

Alexandria 69, Stewartville 55

Alexandria hardly owned the third place game throughout. Trouble seemed to be spelled in the first half, partly due to foul trouble. Stewartville took advantage and assumed a 32-26 lead toward the end of the half. Alex bore down to make things closer. Alex in fact crept out to the lead by one point at halftime, 34-33. An 8-1 run supplied fuel.

Alex showed a winning caliber in second half play as they entertained their fans at Gangelhoff Center.

The Alex coach is Wendy Kohler.

The key run toward the end of the first half had MaCee Linow at the fore with two 3-pointers. In all this Cardinal had four 3's in the first half. Her point total for the game would be 17.

Alex had just a modest lead through the first eight minutes of the second half. Alex produced the decisive spark: a 10-3 run over a span of four minutes, thus a lead of 56-45 with 6:45 left to play. They led by at least nine the rest of the way.

Alex worked to hold down Stewartville's Taylor Klement. Klement was a force in first half play with 16 points. She went quiet in the game's last 18 minutes: just two points.

Alex was in the third place game in 2023 as well as this year. Maybe this year's success erased some of the disappointment from 2023, when Alex was stopped by a last-second buzzer-beater by the foe. That score was 57-56.

Alex can keep its goals set high, indeed, as 16 players are juniors or younger. Chloe Scholl scored four points vs. Stewartville. Hadley Thul was team-best with 25 points. She was followed by MaCee Linow 17, Allie Haabala 16, Lauaren Beyer 5, Scholl 4 and Kate Hennessy 2.

I'm old enough to remember when Bev Lucken (nee Clausen) was Morris High School Homecoming queen. I believe that was in '65 for a '66 grad. Days of the Morris "Pylin" restaurant across from the school! Maybe even Heather doesn't remember that! It was an "American Graffiti" type of place. I digress for sure.

Most of my youth was spent when high school girls basketball did not exist! Doesn't that blow your mind? Girls were supposed to take home ec. and be in FHA. Well, different times to be sure.

Today our eyes are focused on Caitlin Clark and her Iowa team, set to play in the afternoon when I'm writing this post. It's 9:30 as I complete the first draft. Good luck to Ms. Clark who has done so much for women's basketball.

Congrats to Chloe Scholl and the Cardinals on giving fans such thrills. Chloe is a junior, according to "Maxpreps." Let us never forget Chloe's grandfather Rick Lucken. Rick was a Vietnam veteran and one of a kind.