The Minnewaska Area girls basketball team got its record to .500 with a 59-56 win at West Central Area, Thursday night.  The win was the seventh-straight for the Lakers, who at one time this year were 0-7.

The Lakers had a 3-0 week last week, winning at home against Osakis last Monday (61-35), at Melrose Area last Tuesday (56-38) and over the Knights, Thursday.

Minnewaska Area, which improved to 12-12 overall and 6-6 in the WCC, has one regular-season game left at Albany, Tuesday (tomorrow) before getting ready for the playoffs.

The Lakers earned the third seed in their half of Section 3AA and were set to host sixth-seeded WCA at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 25.

The winner moves on to face the winner of #7-Morris Area and #2-Montevideo at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 28.  Top-seeded NLS hosts #8-ACGC and #4-Litchfield entertains #5-Paynesville in the other first-round games.

 The sub-section final is set for 8 p.m., Thursday, March 2 at SMSU in Marshall and the Section 3AA title game is slated for 5 p.m., Friday, March 10 at SMSU.

Waska 61, Osakis 35

The Lakers held Osakis to just nine second-half points on the way to a 61-35 victory at home last Monday night.  It was the fifth-straight win for the Lakers who are also 10-5 in their last 15 games.

Minnewaska Area led 27-16 with 4:30 left in the first half after a pair of steals by Alia Randt led to baskets for Brooke Kolstoe and Randt.  However, foul trouble helped Osakis get within 31-26 by halftime.

A pair of baskets early in the second half by Kolstoe and Sydney Dahl upped the Lakers’ lead to 40-28 with 13:26 left in the game and another steal by Randt led to another easy basket and a 42-28 lead with 11:38 remaining.

Minnewaska continued its second-half mastery, increasing its lead to 49-31 with 8:05 left in the game and went on to outscore the visitors 12-4 the rest of the way to give the Lakers their second-largest margin of victory this season (26 points) after beating Morris Area by 29 points in their previous game.

Early 3-pointers by Leslie Murken, Dahl and Randt gave Minnewaska Area an early 20-10 lead and the Lakers had their largest lead of the first half when Dahl made one-of-two free-throws with just over 10 minutes left in the first half.

Brooke Kolstoe ended the game with 18 points, five rebounds and four steals, while Dahl added 12 points, eight boards and three blocked shots.

They combined to go 10-of-19 from the field for the Lakers, who shot 34 percent from the field (20-for-58) and 16-of-28 from the line (57 percent).

It was another great team effort by the Lakers, who also got seven points and two assists from Megan Thorfinnson, six points and two steals from Murken and six points and three boards from Jayda Kolstoe.

Randt ended the game with five points, two assists, three rebounds and four steals, while Addy Kath had five points, two assists, six rebounds and two steals, Avery Fier had two points, and Lauryn Ankeny had two assists, three rebounds and three steals while igniting the team were her tenacious full-court defense.

Waska 56, Melrose 38

Sydney Dahl had a monster game to lead the Lakers to their sixth-straight win during a 56-38 victory at Melrose Area last Tuesday night.

Dahl, a sophomore forward, had 15 points, eight rebounds, eight steals, three assists and two blocked shots to lead another great effort by the Minnewaska girls.

The Lakers, who shot 32 percent from the field (23-for-70), led 24-16 by halftime and then outscored the home team by 10 points in the second half to win going away.

The only negative for the game was a 4-for-13 effort at the free-throw line.

Megan Thorfinnson added 10 points, five boards and five steals for the Lakers, while Brooke Kolstoe also scored in double figures with 10 points, three rebounds and three steals.

It was also the seventh-straight game the Lakers have held an opponent under 50 points.

Lauryn Ankeny chipped in with seven points, two boards and five steals, while Alia Randt had two of her team’s six 3-pointers on the way to seven points, Addy Kath had five points, two assists, two rebounds and two steals, and Avery Fier had two points and two rebounds.

Minnewaska 59, WCA 56

The Lakers rallied from a 33-25 halftime deficit to beat the WCA Knights, 59-56, Thursday night at WCA High School in Barrett.

Defense and free-throw shooting proved to be two of the keys to the win as the Lakers had 18 steals and 25 deflections while also going 12-of-17 from the line.

Megan Thorfinnson led the Lakers’ offense with 14 points, four assists, three rebounds and five steals, while Sydney Dahl continued her steady play this season with 13 points, seven boards and two steals.

The Lakers had seven players hit the scoring column as Brooke Kolstoe added nine points, four rebounds and three steals, Lauryn Ankeny had eight points and three rebounds while keying the Lakers’ full-court defense pressure, and Alia Randt had six points, two boards and three steals.

The Lakers shot 27 percent from the field (21-for-76), but also went 5-of-19 on three-pointers and got off 76 field goal attempts for the game, which could be a season-high for the team.

Also scoring for Minnewaska, which has scored above 55 points in its last six games after scoring 50 or less points in 13 of its first 18 games, were Jayda Kolstoe with five points, two rebounds and two steals, and Addy Kath with four points, two assists, four rebounds and two steals.

at Waska 61, Osakis 35

Osakis 26 9 — 35

Minnewaska (10-12) 31 30 — 61

WASKA stats:  20-58 FG (5-20 3pt); 16-28 FT; 12 assists; 31 rebounds; 16 steals; 16 fouls; 12 turnovers . . . Scoring:  Brooke Kolstoe 18, Sydney Dahl 12, Megan Thorfinnson 7, Leslie Murken 6, Jayda Kolstoe 6, Alia Randt 5, Addy Kath 5, Avery Fier 2 . . . Rebounding:  Dahl 8, Kath 6, B. Kolstoe 5, J. Kolstoe 3, Lauryn Ankeny 3, Randt 3 . . . Assists:  Thorfinnson 2, Ankeny 2, Randt 2, Kath 2 . . . Steals:  Randt 4, B. Kolstoe 4, Ankeny 3, Kath 2, Murken 2 . . . Blocks:  Dahl 3

OSAKIS stats:   Stats not available

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Waska 56, at Melrose 38

Minnewaska (11-12) 24 32 — 56

Melrose 16 22 — 38

WASKA stats:  23-70 FG (6-21 3pt); 4-13 FT; 8 assists; 23 rebounds; 25 steals; 15 fouls; 14 turnovers . . . Scoring:  Sydney Dahl 15, Brooke Kolstoe 10, Megan Thorfinnson 10, Alia Randt 7, Lauryn Ankeny 7, Addy Kath 5, Avery Fier 2 . . . Rebounding:  Dahl 8, Thorfinnson 5, B. Kolstoe 3, Fier 2, Ankeny 2, Kath 2  . . . Assists:  Dahl 3, Kath 2 . . . Steals:  Dahl 8, Ankeny 5, Thorfinnson 5, B. Kolstoe 3, Kath 2 . . . Blocks:  Dahl 2

MEL stats:   Scoring:  Kaydence Bertram 17, Paige Gruber 12 . . . Rebounding:  Gruber 18, Bertram 6 . . . Other stats not available

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Waska 59, at WCA 56

Minnewaska (12-12) 25 34 — 59

WCA (9-13) 33 23 — 56

WASKA stats:  21-76 FG (5-19 3pt); 12-17 FT; 8 assists; 25 rebounds; 18 steals; 10 fouls; 10 turnovers . . . Scoring:  Megan Thorfinnson 14, Sydney Dahl 13, Brooke Kolstoe 9, Lauryn Ankeny 8, Alia Randt 6, Jayda Kolstoe 5, Addy Kath 4 . . . Rebounding:  Dahl 7, B. Kolstoe 4, Kath 4, Ankeny 3, Thorfinnson 3, Randt 2, Jayda Kolstoe 2  . . . Assists:  Thorfinnson 4, Kath 2 . . . Steals:  Thorfinnson 5, B. Kolstoe 3, Randt 3, Kath 2, Dahl 2, J. Kolstoe 2

WCA stats:   Stats not available

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