The Staples-Motley Cardinals girls basketball team last advanced to the state tournament in 2002. That year, they lost to eventual Class AA state champion New London-Spicer in the quarterfinals in St.Cloud.
Staples (without Motley) also advanced to the Class A state tournament under the old two-class format in 1984 (3rd place) and 1985 (state champions).
The first story that I'll add is a very good story from the West Central Tribune, (Willmar) on the Cardinals' 57-53 win over Benson.
The link is: http://www.wctrib.com/event/article/id/64679/
Senior guard Nikki Pearson and senior forward Caitlin Robinson are both four-year varsity players for the Cardinals girls basketball team. Pearson is a 1,000-point scorer (the 4th at S-M), having eclipsed that plateau in their last loss of the season, a 60-55 Mid-State Conference game against Wadena-Deer Creek.
Staples-Motley was the Mid-State Conference runners-up this season, behind champion Pequot Lakes.
The following was gleaned from an article in the Brainerd Dispatch published earlier this week, written by Jeremy Millstop.
Cardinals head coach Arden Beachy, now in his seventh season at the helm of the program, said the following about their match up with sub-section finalist Benson:
"Both of their post players are long and can play outside-inside," said Beachy.
"That could present some matchup problems for us. They're both pretty good
perimeter shooters, but they're relentless on the boards. We have to really box them out, but still cover them away from the basket."
Lack of height has been the Cardinals' Achilles' heel, but they've found ways to win without it. S-M has won seven straight and 12 of its last 13.
"We'll need to create turnovers in the backcourt," said Beachy. "If we do that then their post players will get fewer opportunities. Also, we've been getting out to fast starts the last few games and that will be a key in this one."
An influx of young talent, combined with the veteran leadership of Nikki Pearson and Caitlin Robinson, has the Cardinals playing the way Beachy has preached since he started coaching.
"The girls are finding out it's fun to play this way," said Beachy. "It's fun to play an up-tempo game with a lot of defensive pressure. Plus, it allows a lot of girls to play, which makes for better rapport in the locker room."
Here's a link to a story about the Cardinals' last loss of the season, an upset loss to Wadena-Deer Creek 60-55 on February 16...
http://www.sportscow.com/newsarticle.php?yid=0910&tid=77&sid=1230407&nid=36255
Scoring summary for S-M from that loss: Nikki Pearson 18, Caitlin Robinson 17, Mikayla Wing 6, Ashley Lisson 4, Abby Smith 4, Bobbie Jo Mathe 6.
S-M has now won their past eight games.
A little history on recent Cardinals girls basketball seasons...
They were 22-4 in 2004-2005, a season in which they earned the #10 ranking in Class AA entering the Section 6AA playoffs. They had the #2 seed that year and were upset 48-41 in the sub-section semi-finals to #3-seeded Holdingford. The Huskers went on to lose 68-61 to eventual section champion Albany.
(Just for fun, here's the link to a story on that game vs Holdingford)
http://www.sportscow.com/newsarticle.php?yid=0405&tid=77&sid=1230407&nid=14954
The Cardinals went 12-14 in 2005-06, then 11-13 in 2006-07, then 8-16 in 2007-08, and finally 16-11 in 2008-09. Last season, they were nipped in the sub-section quarterfinals in a 45-44 overtime loss to eventual West champion Osakis.
They return 8 players from their 2008-2009 squad.
~RO
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