•  Minnewaska’s defense keys upset win over NLS, sending Lakers into section finals

The Minnewaska Area girls basketball team reached the Section 3AA championship game with a pair of big wins last week, including a victory over the top-seeded NLS Wildcats in the sub-section finals, Thursday at SMSU, 42-36.

The Wildcats have been ranked third in State Class AA for most of the year and had only one loss before losing to the Lakers.

Minnewaska Area, which also beat KMS in the sub-section semifinals last Tuesday at Willmar, 59-32, is set to face Fairmont in the section championship at 5 p.m., Thursday, March 6 at SMSU in Marshall.  Fairmont, the second seed in the south half of the section, upset Jackson County Central to reach the finals.

“Fairmont will be a tough battle,” coach Nick Danielson said.  “They don’t have a lot of height, but they work very hard and rebound the basketball very well.  They also like to fastbreak and push the basketball.”

The Lakers, who improved to 26-3 overall, also set a school record for number of wins in a season with 26.  The previous record of 24 had been set a couple of times in 1995-96 and 1996-97 when the Lakers went 24-5 overall.

Four Minnewaska girls teams have qualified to state, including the 1994-95, 1995-96, 1996-97 and 1998-99 seasons.  Minnewaska Area finished second in 1997 and 1999, losing to Mike Dreier and the NLS Wildcats in the 1997 finals (55-51) and also losing to Blake in the 1999 title game (53-44).

Well, the Lakers finally got payback on Dreier and the Wildcats with the big win last week!  NLS had defeated the Lakers earlier this season in the fifth game of the year, 54-47.

“It was a pretty special night; I’ve always looked up to Mike Dreier and to beat him in a big game like that was a lot of fun,” Danielson said.  “It had been 27 years since a Minnewaska girls team has beaten NLS.  The girls are very excited.

“It was a great moment for them and we were all super proud of them.  We’ve been preparing for that game all season and that was the girls’ goal to get back to that game.”

Waska 59, KMS 32

The Lakers earned a berth in the sub-section finals with a 59-32 win over KMS last Tuesday at Willmar.  Minnewaska led 24-13 after a very low-scoring first half and then outscored the Saints 35-19 in the second half.

Minnewaska Area forced KMS into 32 turnovers while recording a possible school-record 26 steals, including 10 by Addy Kath, who came within one rebound of a triple-double.

KMS led 7-2 after the first four minutes of the game as the Lakers couldn’t buy a basket.  However, the Saints would go the next eight minutes without scoring again while the Lakers went on a 16-0 run to take an 18-7 lead, forcing KMS to call a timeout with  9:45 left in the first half.

The Saints scored right away following the timeout, but Kath hit a 3-pointer  moments later and a 3-pointer by Lauryn Ankeny put the Lakers up 24-11 with 2:00 left.

The only points scored over the final two minutes of the first half were a pair of free-throws by the Saints, giving the Lakers a 24-13 lead going into halftime.

Minnewaska Area shot 29 percent from the field (23-for-79), including just 5-of-25 from long range and 8-of-18 from the line.  Those numbers will certainly have to go up if the Lakers expect to have any chance against NLS in the sub-section finals.

“Offensively, it was probably one of our poorer outings of the season; we did not shoot very well from the field or from the free-throw line,” coach Danielson said.  “We talked to the girls after the game and told them to just put that game behind us.  We have to believe that tomorrow night those shots are going in and I think we can give New London Spicer more than they can handle if we make shots.”

KMS scored the first two points of the second half to pull within 24-15, but that would be as close as the Saints would get as Waska went on another big run of 11-0 to increase its lead to 35-15 with about 12:30 left in the game.

Megan Thorfinnson and Sydney Dahl, the Lakers’ leading scorers, struggled in the first half offensively, but they combined for seven points during the 11-0 run, giving the team a boost of confidence heading into the final minutes of the game.

A couple of minutes later, Kath hit another 3-pointer and Ankeny had a steal and layup to put the Lakers up 44-19 and the Lakers would stay comfortably ahead the rest of the way.

The only suspense during the final minutes was KMS’ Maddie Luft hitting her 1,000th point with about a minute remaining in the game.  She ended the game with 15 points and her career with 1,001 points.

Ankeny had a great all-around game with 17 points, four assists, seven rebounds and three steals, while Kath had 12 points, nine rebounds and 10 steals, and Thorfinnson added 10 points and five thefts.

“Addy Kath had a super game last night for us and the last six weeks or so she has really elevated the level of her play defensively and offensively,” Danielson said. 

Olivia Danielson chipped in with eight points, three assists, five rebounds and four steals, while Dahl also had eight points along with two assists, seven boards and two steals, Jayda Kolstoe had three points and four rebounds, and Kendall Danielson had two points.

Minnewaska 42, NLS 36

The Lakers held NLS scoreless for  over seven minutes during a key stretch of the game, helping Minnewaska Area upset the Wildcats in the sub-section finals at SMSU, Thursday night, 42-36.

“It was definitely one of our better defensive games of the year and it’s so fun watching the girls play like that,” coach Nick Danielson said.  “It was a nice atmosphere in the gym.  We have had great support from the community and the girls really thrive off of that when there gets to be a lot of energy in the gym,  they can really crank up the defensive intensity when that happens.

“Everyone is very excited for this week’s game against Fairmont.”

Minnewaska Area trailed 19-18 at halftime, but outscored the Wildcats 24-17 in the second half, including a margin of 10-4 over the game’s last 7:30.

It was a battle of defenses and the Lakers’ proved they have the better one as they forced NLS into 22 turnovers with their relentless pressure.

Lauryn Ankeny and Sydney Dahl provided most of the offense, combining for 29 points, but all seven regulars were instrumental in helping the Lakers’ overcome longtime nemesis NLS.

The Lakers scored the game’s first points on a drive by Dahl, but NLS quickly went up 6-2 as the Lakers went 4 1/2 minutes without a score after their opening basket.

Minnewaska Area continued to struggle with its offense for most of the first half.  The game was tied at 6-6 with 13:05 left in the first half after a steal and layup by Ankeny, but NLS went up 17-10 on an 11-4 run over the next six minutes.

Jayda Kolstoe fed Dahl for a couple of baskets later in the first half to pull Waska to within 19-16 and Ankeny’s sixth steal of the first half followed by a nice left-handed layup pulled the Lakers to within 19-18 by halftime.

NLS scored just two points over the final 7:23 of the first half.

Dahl hit a 3-pointer to open up the second half to put the Lakers up again at 21-19 and two free-throws by Megan Thorfinnson increased the lead to 23-19 moments later.

A 15-footer by Danielson kept the Lakers up 25-22, but NLS went on a 9-2 run over the next five minutes to reclaim the lead at 31-27.

Ankeny hit a 3-pointer a little while longer to close the gap to 31-30 and a shot by Dahl inside off an inbounds play put Minnewaska Area back up 32-31 with 8:14 left in the game.

A free-throw by NLS’ Ava Carlson with 7:30 left tied up the game at 32-32, but that would be the last the Wildcats would score until 25 seconds remained in the game.

In the meantime, the Lakers got a jumper in the lane by Ankeny with 6:08 left, a 3-pointer by Ankeny with 5:00 remaining and a big 3-pointer by Alia Randt with 1:19 left in the game to push the Laker lead to 40-32.  “It was a close game and you never really feel confident until the final horn goes off, but when Alia hit that 3-pointer with just a little over a minute to go, you could really feel that tonight’s our night!”

Thorfinnson hit another free-throw with 36 seconds left before NLS finally broke a 7 1/2-minute scoreless drought with 25 seconds left in the game.

It was too little, too late as the Lakers started celebrating their big win, sending Minnewaska Area onto the section finals.

Dahl had 15 points to lead the Lakers.  She had a number of key baskets early in the game to keep the Lakers close.  Ankeny added 14 points, two rebounds, five steals and two blocked shots.  She was everywhere for the Lakers and hit numerous key shots for Minnewaska Area.

Olivia Danielson added four points, while Alia Randt had three points, two boards and three steals, Thorfinnson also had three points along with three rebounds and two steals, Kolstoe had two points and three rebounds, and Kath had one point and a team-high six rebounds.

Minnewaska 59, KMS 32

KMS 13 19 — 32

Minnewaska (25-3) 24 35 — 59

WASKA stats:  23-79 FG (5-25 3pt); 8-18 FT; 14 assists; 6 blocks; 34 rebounds; 26 steals; 16 fouls; 7 turnovers. . . Scoring:  Lauryn Ankeny 16, Addy Kath 12, Megan Thorfinnson 10, Sydney Dahl 8, Olivia Danielson 8, Jayda Kolstoe 3, Kendall Danielson 2 . . . Rebounding:  Kath 9, Ankeny 7, Dahl 7, O. Danielson 5, Kolstoe 4. . . Assists:  Ankeny 4, O. Danielson 3, Kath 3, Dahl 2 . . . Steals:  Kath 10, Thorfinnson 5, O. Danielson 4, Ankeny 3, Dahl 2 . . . Blocks:  Ankeny 2

KMS:  11-45 FG (1-11 3pt) 9-12 FT; 2 assists; 42 reb; 5 steals; 13 fouls; 32 to . . . Scoring:  Madelynn Luft 15, Acelynn Hacker 11 . . . Rebounding:  Mad. Luft 15, Mam. Luft 11

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Minnewaska 42, NLS 36

Minnewaska (26-3) 18 24 — 42

NLS 19 17 — 36

WASKA stats:  16-58 FG (4-18 3pt); 6-12 FT; 2 assists; 6 blocks; 18 rebounds; 13 steals; 10 fouls; 15 turnovers . . . Scoring:  Sydney Dahl 15, Lauryn Ankeny 14, Olivia Danielson 4, Alia Randt 3, Megan Thorfinnson 3, Jayda Kolstoe 2, Addy Kath 1 . . . Rebounding:  Kath 6, Thorfinnson 3, Kolstoe 3, Ankeny 2, Randt 2 . . . Assists:  two with one each . . . Steals:  Ankeny 5, Randt 3, Thorfinnson 2 . . . Blks:  Ankeny 2

NLS:  15-39 FG (1-7 3pt); 5-9 FT; 2 assists; 23 rebounds; 7 steals; 15 fouls; 22 turnovers . . . Scoring:  Ava Carlson 17, Taylor Munsch 7, Ayla Caskey 4. . . Reb:  Piper Barney 11, Korbin Tanner 5 . . . Other stats NA

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