Speaking of Sports

By John Fragodt, Sports Reporter

Laker state basketball fans had the chance to witness three of the top scorers in Minnesota basketball history during the state tourney, although they probably didn’t know it.  Yes, three of the top four scorers in Minnesota girls’ basketball history played in the state Class AA semifinals.

Rebekah Dahlman, of Braham, owns the state record for points in a career by a girl with 5,060 career points.  Wow!  Minnehaha Academy senior Addison Mack ended her career with 4,687 points after scoring 32 points in the Class AA third-place game against Minnewaska Area.  She is second overall among Minnesota girls.

Anders Broman, of Lakeville Christian Academy, owns the overall scoring career record with 5,119 points, but his record will be in great jeopardy next season.  That’s because two girls who played in the state Class AA finals have over 4,400 career points and are juniors, meaning they still have one season of high school basketball remaining to add to their unbelievable point total and give Broman and Dahlman a run for their money.

Providence Academy junior Maddyn Greenway, who has won four-straight state titles with the Lions, has 4,454 career points following the championship game, while Crosby-Ironton junior Tori Oehrlien now has 4,427 career points going into her senior season.

They went into the championship game only four points apart, but Greenway scored 40 in the title game and Oehrlien had 17.  That leaves them about 600-plus points away from the state girls’ record and about 700 points away from the overall record of Broman.

That should make next year’s girls basketball season very exciting because you know they’ll be looking over each other’s shoulders as they battle for the overall state career scoring record.  And, wouldn’t it be amazing to see them back in the Class AA title game next winter with the scoring record on the line?

What’s it take to score 1,000 points a season?  Well, it takes a lot of talent, a lot of success by the team in the postseason and a lot of playing in lopsided games when other schools might instead, put some other players in the game.  When my boys played in high school, I used to hate playing lopsided games because that meant my sons would sit on the bench for a lot of the second half while other players on our team got a chance to play.  

Providence and C-I like those games, though, because it gives their players a chance to rack up the points against inferior foes.  Greenway did not leave the semifinal game against the Lakers until 3:53 remained in the game with Providence leading 86-41.  Yeah, I’d say the game was pretty much decided by then . . . Mack meanwhile, missed only 1:21 of the third-place game against the Lakers despite Minnehaha winning by 19.

In the semifinals, both Mack and Oehrlien played all 36 minutes and in the quarterfinals, Oehrlien missed just 1:32 of the game despite winning by 25, Mack played all 36 minutes against Caledonia, and Greenway missed just 2:17 of a 35-point win over New Richland-HEG.  That might not be the right thing to do, but they do it anyway and will definitely continue to do it next year as well.

Providence only played five girls for almost the entire state tourney and you can bet Oehrlien will be playing in a lot of lopsided games next season for C-I as she tries to keep pace with Greenway.  Providence went 32-0 this season and Crosby-Ironton was 32-1.  Divide 1,000 points by 32 and you have to average over 31 points to score 1,000 points in a season.  And then, try to do it six years in a row.  Wow!