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Jan. 6—WORTHINGTON — The Minnesota West basketball teams have reached the most critical point of the regular season with Minnesota College Athletic Conference (MCAC) South division play just ahead.
Both teams open division play Wednesday at home against M State Fergus Falls as they each have expectations to perform well in the division.
Here is a preview of each team ahead of MCAC South division play.
The Lady Jays (11-5) are ranked third in the latest NJCAA Division III poll and are expected to be near the top of the MCAC South.
One of their past hurdles in the division this year was typically Rochester, but the Yellowjackets are not sponsoring women's basketball this year despite winning two of the last three national titles.
That team is Anoka-Ramsey, another foe that has given the Lady Jays trouble in the recent past.
The Golden Rams are 12-3 overall and the No. 1 team in the country. They also beat the Lady Jays twice last year. The first was a 67-66 loss in the Region 13A championship and the second was a 64-45 defeat in the national third-place game.
"They're number one in the nation, they're the top team and I feel like we can play with anybody in the south," said head coach Rosalie Hayenga-Hostikka. "But just like every year, we can't have bad five-minute spans in the south, or somebody will catch you, so I have every expectation."
9-5 St. Cloud Technical could be another tough opponent for the Jays as they open with a 6-6 M State Fergus Falls team that has won its last three games. Ridgewater is 6-9 overall and Riverland 0-11.
The Lady Jays ended non-conference play in Devils Lake, North Dakota with a 1-1 mark over the weekend.
They blew out Dakota College at Bottineau 92-66 in which they shot an efficient 51.5% from the field and made 12 3-pointers.
Four of those treys came from Izzy Klumper, who scored a game-high 21 points to go with three steals. Sadie Krahling added 20 points and Katrina Schutz added 17 points with eight rebounds. Maddie Kamm had nine assists and Katelyn Frodermann 11 rebounds.
The Jays then lost to Lake Region State 84-62 as Schutz scored 13 points and Kamm finished with a double-double 11 points and 10 boards.
That doubleheader ended a tough non-conference slate for Minnesota West that included bouts with some Division I and II programs, which Hayenga-Hostikka said prepares her team well for what's ahead.
"We're doing some really good things, we just have those, just some lulls," said the coach. "But again, we're playing a tough schedule, so I think it's night and day. I'm excited to get into conference and play people in Division III and see exactly where we're at."
The head coach also said her team is much better than when the season started, noting the players being more familiar in their roles.
The Lady Jays are led by players like Schutz, who leads the team in scoring (16.7 points per game) and rebounds (8.9 per game) and was named NJCAA D3 Women's Basketball Player of the Week last month.
Krahling, who started the season coming off the bench due to a late ending to her volleyball season. She is now a starter as a reigning all-region player. Klumper is a sharp-shooting transfer from Augustana and fellow transfer Payton Reimers from Bethany Lutheran is second on the team in scoring at 16.2 points per game. Kamm is averaging 6.3 assists per game.
Jayda Hellewell is a current starter from Balaton and Frodermann is a post presence from Adrian.
"I think we have kind of settled into what's expected when we're out there," Hayenga-Hostikka said. "You have that beginning of the year where it's really hard and then we get to this point, and then we just have to keep building."
The Bluejays (8-7) stumbled toward the end of their non-conference slate as they are currently on a four-game losing streak and have lost seven of their last nine games after starting 6-0
Now they head into MCAC South division play a little banged up going against some of the toughest competition in the country.
Every team in the division is above .500 as the top record in the division belongs to Riverland, who is currently 15-1 and ranked fifth in the nation.
Anoka-Ramsey is another tough team at 13-2 and a No. 13 national ranking and Ridgewater is 11-2 and receiving votes in the rankings as well.
Minnesota West's first division opponent, M State Fergus Falls, is 10-3 and beat the Bluejays twice last year. St. Cloud Technical is 8-3 and Rochester is 8-7.
At the beginning of the season, third-year head coach Dan Tharp said he expected his team to finish in the top four of the division standings as it narrowly missed out on the region tournament last year.
The Bluejays dropped their final two non-conference games to Dakota College at Bottineau and Lake Region State.
Da'Shaundis Moore led the team in scoring with 16 points against Dakota College at Bottineau as the Bluejays lost 90-82. Calvin Flood and Austin Florence each added 13 points and Daniel Jones had 12. The Bluejays made 13 3-pointers, but their opponent shot over 58% from the field.
Jones paced the Jays in scoring off the bench with 13 points in the Jays' 107-85 loss to Lake Region State. Kewone Jones and Julian Pacheco each added 11 and Florence had 10.
The Bluejays have recently been without a key starter in Keion Irvin due to injury but still have a pretty deep roster of rotational players.
Jones is the team's leading scorer at 15.9 points per game and Flood is averaging 3.8 assists as the team's primary point guard. Florence has 8.9 points per game this season as he's recently been part of the starting five. Jones has been a spark off the bench for the Jays all season at 6.9 points per game.
Moore has started five games and has seven points per game. Owen Beilke has started every game and is a 6-foot-6-inch forward who gives the team size.
The Minnesota West doubleheader with M State Fergus Falls is set for Wednesday, with the women's game to start at 5:30 and the men's game to follow.
Continue reading...
Both teams open division play Wednesday at home against M State Fergus Falls as they each have expectations to perform well in the division.
Here is a preview of each team ahead of MCAC South division play.
The Lady Jays (11-5) are ranked third in the latest NJCAA Division III poll and are expected to be near the top of the MCAC South.
One of their past hurdles in the division this year was typically Rochester, but the Yellowjackets are not sponsoring women's basketball this year despite winning two of the last three national titles.
That team is Anoka-Ramsey, another foe that has given the Lady Jays trouble in the recent past.
The Golden Rams are 12-3 overall and the No. 1 team in the country. They also beat the Lady Jays twice last year. The first was a 67-66 loss in the Region 13A championship and the second was a 64-45 defeat in the national third-place game.
"They're number one in the nation, they're the top team and I feel like we can play with anybody in the south," said head coach Rosalie Hayenga-Hostikka. "But just like every year, we can't have bad five-minute spans in the south, or somebody will catch you, so I have every expectation."
9-5 St. Cloud Technical could be another tough opponent for the Jays as they open with a 6-6 M State Fergus Falls team that has won its last three games. Ridgewater is 6-9 overall and Riverland 0-11.
The Lady Jays ended non-conference play in Devils Lake, North Dakota with a 1-1 mark over the weekend.
They blew out Dakota College at Bottineau 92-66 in which they shot an efficient 51.5% from the field and made 12 3-pointers.
Four of those treys came from Izzy Klumper, who scored a game-high 21 points to go with three steals. Sadie Krahling added 20 points and Katrina Schutz added 17 points with eight rebounds. Maddie Kamm had nine assists and Katelyn Frodermann 11 rebounds.
The Jays then lost to Lake Region State 84-62 as Schutz scored 13 points and Kamm finished with a double-double 11 points and 10 boards.
That doubleheader ended a tough non-conference slate for Minnesota West that included bouts with some Division I and II programs, which Hayenga-Hostikka said prepares her team well for what's ahead.
"We're doing some really good things, we just have those, just some lulls," said the coach. "But again, we're playing a tough schedule, so I think it's night and day. I'm excited to get into conference and play people in Division III and see exactly where we're at."
The head coach also said her team is much better than when the season started, noting the players being more familiar in their roles.
The Lady Jays are led by players like Schutz, who leads the team in scoring (16.7 points per game) and rebounds (8.9 per game) and was named NJCAA D3 Women's Basketball Player of the Week last month.
Krahling, who started the season coming off the bench due to a late ending to her volleyball season. She is now a starter as a reigning all-region player. Klumper is a sharp-shooting transfer from Augustana and fellow transfer Payton Reimers from Bethany Lutheran is second on the team in scoring at 16.2 points per game. Kamm is averaging 6.3 assists per game.
Jayda Hellewell is a current starter from Balaton and Frodermann is a post presence from Adrian.
"I think we have kind of settled into what's expected when we're out there," Hayenga-Hostikka said. "You have that beginning of the year where it's really hard and then we get to this point, and then we just have to keep building."
The Bluejays (8-7) stumbled toward the end of their non-conference slate as they are currently on a four-game losing streak and have lost seven of their last nine games after starting 6-0
Now they head into MCAC South division play a little banged up going against some of the toughest competition in the country.
Every team in the division is above .500 as the top record in the division belongs to Riverland, who is currently 15-1 and ranked fifth in the nation.
Anoka-Ramsey is another tough team at 13-2 and a No. 13 national ranking and Ridgewater is 11-2 and receiving votes in the rankings as well.
Minnesota West's first division opponent, M State Fergus Falls, is 10-3 and beat the Bluejays twice last year. St. Cloud Technical is 8-3 and Rochester is 8-7.
At the beginning of the season, third-year head coach Dan Tharp said he expected his team to finish in the top four of the division standings as it narrowly missed out on the region tournament last year.
The Bluejays dropped their final two non-conference games to Dakota College at Bottineau and Lake Region State.
Da'Shaundis Moore led the team in scoring with 16 points against Dakota College at Bottineau as the Bluejays lost 90-82. Calvin Flood and Austin Florence each added 13 points and Daniel Jones had 12. The Bluejays made 13 3-pointers, but their opponent shot over 58% from the field.
Jones paced the Jays in scoring off the bench with 13 points in the Jays' 107-85 loss to Lake Region State. Kewone Jones and Julian Pacheco each added 11 and Florence had 10.
The Bluejays have recently been without a key starter in Keion Irvin due to injury but still have a pretty deep roster of rotational players.
Jones is the team's leading scorer at 15.9 points per game and Flood is averaging 3.8 assists as the team's primary point guard. Florence has 8.9 points per game this season as he's recently been part of the starting five. Jones has been a spark off the bench for the Jays all season at 6.9 points per game.
Moore has started five games and has seven points per game. Owen Beilke has started every game and is a 6-foot-6-inch forward who gives the team size.
The Minnesota West doubleheader with M State Fergus Falls is set for Wednesday, with the women's game to start at 5:30 and the men's game to follow.
Continue reading...
