Weather holds off for MACA girls game

The MACA girls hosted Minnewaska Thursday night before the new onslaught of bad weather. I'm looking out my window facing north right now, 7:50 a.m. Most inhospitable conditions, the classic roaring northwest wind. You live on Northridge Drive and you really get appreciation of the northwest wind. You really have to respect it. The earliest settlers out here were shocked at how strong the winds could be. 

MACA team member Addie Cihak lives in the neighborhood. So does tennis coach Britney House. For some reason our neighborhood wasn't real fired up about Christmas lights this year. I wonder if everyone's spirits were being worn down by the daily headlines. And right now we have ICE as the focus. And the protests against it. 

ICE is the Federal police, a law enforcement dimension we really are not used to. We think of state and local in connection to law enforcement. And even that can get overbearing sometimes. You been annoyed by a seat belt ticket that seemed trivial? Well you don't want Federal police to come after you or to even notice you. 

Minnesota is in the crosshairs. You aren't Pollyannish, are you? Surely you should realize that a big reason for this is that our governor was on the national ticket that ran against the current president. Will we even have elections again? And if we do, will they be legitimate or will Republicans "cook" things? Look what happened in 2021 when the Trump supporters attempted to storm the nation's capitol. 

And for what? Pure unadulterated power? 

And now we may see the insurrection act used against our state. And we're getting no help or sympathy from our congressperson out here in western Minnesota? Michelle Fischbach? Fischbach is oriented in quite the opposite way, putting her loyalty to the Orange Man ahead of her devotion to Minnesota. We voted for this. 

 

Minnewaska 56, Tigers 46

Well, the weather held off for the MACA Tigers to play a potent Minnewaska Area team Thursday night. Fans observed at our Tiger Center. The outcome could be deemed encouraging, even though it was a loss. You probably are aware that the Lakers are a power. They took fourth in state last year. And at present they are getting votes in AA. They have some familiar names back from last year. 

The Tigers trailed by eight at halftime. In the end it was a ten-point deficit. 'Waska won this game 56-46. 

Oh shoot, the West Central Tribune has "stats not available" for MACA. Is this ever going to end? Is anyone trying to give the Willmar paper a hard time over this? Would a pressure campaign work? How sad that the stats are "not available" to the WC Trib. 

The WC Trib would nomally be my best hope. I cannot find the MACA details anywhere else. Well, I do have the 'Waska details. And I'm prefectly happy to write about those Lakers. I have family connections to Glenwood. The Lakers outscored the Tigers 27-25 in the second half.

Lauryn Ankeny topped 'Waska's scoring with 15 points. Alia Randt was right behind with 13. Four other Lakers scored: Berlynn Green 9, Nori Song 7, Kendall Danielson 6 and Olivia Danielson 6. 

'Waska showed sharpness in long-range shooting as three players each made two 3's: These were Randt, Green and Kendall Danielson. Song made one 3-pointer. 

Green led in rebounds with ten followed by Randt with eight and KendallDanielson with seven. Green and Song each had two assists. Randt paced the steals category with four. Olivia Danielson blocked two shots.

 

UMM women fall in OT

I'm pleased to say I was in attendance for the UMM women's hoops affair Wednesday at the P.E. Center. UMM hoops is fine entertainment in this bleak weather time of year, n'est-ce pas? All that was missing was a UMM victory but we came oh so close. 

The score was tied at the end of regulation. So the overtime was played in which the visiting Rams of North Central outscored the Cougars 18-12. The Cougars fell in the 88-82 final. We had a great start as we outscored the Rams 19-11 in the first quarter. 

A win would have gotten us pointed in the right direction. Alas, as it stands we're 4-11 overall, 1-1 in the UMAC. 

Claire Stark

The Cougars sure showed good scoring balance. Our four double figures scorers were led by Claire Stark with 20 points. Grace Perry scored 17, Maddy Grove 14 and Gianna Klarenbeek 11. Shelby Mortenson and Brooke Ver Steeg each contributed eight points and Anna Myers four. 

We were 6 of 16 in 3-point shooting with Perry standing out with her four makes. Klarenbeek added two 3's to the mix. Perry was team-high in rebounds with ten. Ver Steeg dished out five assists. 

My own little fan's bias: let Klarenbeek shoot more! She brings the Iowa magic to our women's basketball. 

I had my usual Snickers bar ($2) as a snack during the entertainment. Check out the schedule y'all and consider attending. 

There's a big college sports gambling scandal in the news. I fully expected this with the proliferation of sports gambling. When I was a kid, any kind of gambling was considered immoral.

 

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.co