•  Lakers go almost 11 minutes without scoring in 2nd half

Sauk Centre kept the Lakers scoreless for over 10 minutes in the second half during a 58-38 win at Minnewaska Area High School, Thursday, clinching the WCC title in the process.

Sauk Centre, which beat West Central Area by one point earlier in the week, is 9-0 in the conference while the Lakers fell to 7-2 and WCA is 5-3.  

Earlier in the week, the Lakers won at Montevideo, 55-40, and Minnewaska Area also played at Redwood Valley, Saturday, losing 74-66.  A recap of that game will be highlighted next week.

The Lakers, who are 14-7 overall and 7-2 in the conference, have three-straight home games coming up, including a game against KMS, Tuesday (tomorrow), a WCC contest against Morris Area-CA, Friday, and a game versus Melrose Area, Tuesday, Feb. 13.

The battle between Minnewaska Area and KMS could be for the second seed in the north half of the Section 3AA Girls Basketball Tournament, set to begin Saturday, Feb. 24.

Waska 55, Montevideo 40

The Lakers stayed one game back of Sauk Centre after winning at Montevideo last Tuesday night, 55-40.

Minnewaska Area shot 32 percent from the field (22-for-69), but made up for it with a big night on the boards and on defense.

The Lakers, who were also 4-of-19 from 3-point range and 7-of-16 from the free-throw line, had 46 rebounds on the night, including 11 from Addy Kath, while also forcing Montevideo into 38 turnovers.

Sydney Dahl led the offense with 14 points and seven rebounds, while Megan Thorfinnson added nine points, four assists and three steals, and Alia Randt had eight points, seven boards and three steals.

For the game, the Lakers had 21 steals, including 10 from Lauryn Ankeny, who also had seven points, four rebounds and two assists.

Minnewaska Area led 29-20 at halftime before outscoring the home team 26-20 in the second half.  Brooke Lindeman had 12 points to lead the Thunderhawks.

Kath also had seven points and four assists for the Lakers, while Avery Fier scored seven points and had two steals, Jayda Kolstoe had three points and three boards, and Olivia Danielson had nine rebounds.

Sauk Cen 58, Waska 38

The Lakers were in the game for the first half before the Mainstreeters outscored the Lakers 27-12 in the second half to win by 20, 58-38.

A win by the Lakers would have pushed Minnewaska into a tie for the conference lead.  Instead, SC earned another conference championship and remained unbeaten.

The Lakers, who were led by Megan Thorfinnson’s nine points, trailed early 5-2 before taking their first lead at 6-5 on a basket by Jayda Kolstoe off a nice feed by Thorfinnson.

Sauk Centre, which got 20 points and 19 rebounds from sophomore Elizabeth Herickhoff, went up 27-17 a few minutes later, but the Lakers cut the deficit to 29-26 on three free-throws by Addy Kath, and 3-pointers by Kolstoe and Thorfinnson.

SC scored the last basket of the first half for a 31-26 halftime lead and then opened up the second half with a 8-4 run to extend its lead to 39-30 with about 13 minutes left in the game.

That’s when the lights went out for the Lakers, who did not make a basket for the next 11 minutes while SC vaulted out to a 55-30 lead.

Both teams sent in the subs at that point and the Lakers finally hit the scoring column again, scoring eight points in the final two minutes, but it was too little, too late.

For the game, the Lakers shot 17 percent (10-of-60).  No Laker shot better than 50 percent for the game as Addy Kath had six points and a team-high 11 rebounds, Jayda Kolstoe also had six points, Alia Randt and Sydney Dahl both had four, Kendall Danielson scored three and Avery Fier, Lauryn Ankeny and Carly Jergenson each added two points.

One of the keys to the loss was a 53-28 rebounding advantage by SC, who won despite turning the ball over 22 times.

Waska 55, at Monte 40

Waska (14-5) 29 26 — 55

Montevideo 20 20 — 40

WASKA stats:  22-69 FG (4-19 3pt); 7-16 FT; 46 rebounds; 11 assists; 21 steals; 6 blocked shots; 23 turnovers; 17 fouls . . . Scoring:  Sydney Dahl 14, Megan Thorfinnson 9, Alia Randt 8, Avery Fier 7, Lauryn Ankeny 7, Addy Kath 7, Jayda Kolstoe 3 . . . Rebounding:  Kath 11, Olivia Danielson 9, Dahl 7, Randt 7, Ankeny 4, Kolstoe 3, Thorfinnson 2 . . . Assists:  Thorfinnson 4, Kath 4, Ankeny 2. . . Steals:  Ankeny 10, Thorfinnson 3, Randt 3, Fier 2 . . . Blocked shots:  Ankeny 2, Dahl 2

MONTE stats:   Scoring:  Brooke Lindeman 12, Teagan Epema 8, Taya Weber 6, Lily Eisenlohr 6 . . . Rebounding:  Epema 9, Helgeson 9 . . . Other stats not available

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Sauk Cen 58, at Waska 38

Sauk Cen 31 27 — 58

Waska (14-6) 26 12 — 38

WASKA stats:  10-60 FG (3-18 3pt); 15-20 FT; 28 rebounds; 5 assists; 10 steals; 4 blocks; 6 turnovers; 5 fouls . . . Scoring:  Megan Thorfinnson 9, Addy Kath 6, Jayda Kolstoe 6, Sydney Dahl 4, Alia Randt 4, Kendall Danielson 3, Lauryn Ankeny 2, Avery Fier 2, Carly Jergenson 2 . . . Rebounding:  Kath 11, O. Danielson 2, Dahl 2, Thorfinnson 2, Kolstoe 2 . . . Assists:  Kath 2. . . Steals:  Ankeny 3, Thorfinnson 2, Randt 2, Kath 2

SC:   Scoring:  Elizabeth Herickhoff 20, Kahlen Suelflow 14 . . Rebound:  Herickhoff 19, Jennissen 13 . . . Other stats not available

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