Stories, etc. on Staples-Motley's girls basketball team

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

Sauk Centre Mainstreeters girls basketball team earns sub-section championship with a convincing 45-32 win over defending champs, New London-Spicer

The Sauk Centre Mainstreeters knocked off the defending sub-section and section champion New London-Spicer Wildcats by a convincing 45-32 margin tonight at St.John's University in the Sub-Section 6AA-East championship game.

The Mainstreeters (25-2) led 23-17 at halftime.

The win avenges a 51-29 loss in last year's sub-section championship to the NL-S Wildcats, while also tying the win total from last year's squad at 25.

It is the first sub-section or district championship for the Sauk Centre girls basketball program.

For comparison, New London-Spicer won sub-section/district titles in the following years (and maybe more in this time span, I just don't remember them all):
1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2009.

**Up next for the Mainstreeters, their first-ever Section Championship berth, this Friday at 6:30pm at St.Cloud State University's Halenbeck Hall. Their opponent will be the Staples-Motley Cardinals, who were 57-53 winners over Benson in the Sub-Section 6AA-West championship game at the University of Minnesota-Morris campus. The Benson Braves (21-7) had a six point lead in the final half but let it slip away to the top-seeded Cardinals (24-5).

Here's some Youtube clips from tonight's game...

The team comes forward to accept their sub-section championship trophy following the big win. Yes, the photographer needs to work on his ability to take photos and video simultaneously.


The Mainstreeters' defense is working hard late in the first half.


More will follow on Wednesday, including more Youtube video clips from the game.

Also, be sure to check out the Sauk Centre Herald's online photo gallery, which will have well over 100 pictures from the sub-section championship game added on Wednesday.

The link is: SaukHerald.Mycapture.com (Hopefully you've already bookmarked that!)

A late note... Congratulations are in order for two members of the Mainstreeters girls basketball team, Kali Peschel and Megan Rieland, as they were both selected to the All-Section 6AA tournament team. More on that will be posted this week as well.

~RO

Streeters WIN!!!

The Sauk Centre girls' basketball team won the rubber match against top-ranked New London-Spicer tonight and took one step closer to their dream of reaching the state tournament.

The Streeters beat the Wildcats 45-32 in front of a large crowd at St. John's University. They will play this Friday for the section championship (opponent to be determined) and a chance to go to the state tournament!!!

John Gusewelle takes 3rd at State at 189

In the Youtube clip below, John Gusewelle is shown during his third-place match of the state tournament on Saturday at the Xcel Energy Center.


~RO

Mainstreeters girls basketball blows out Holdingford in Sub-Section 6AA-East semi-finals, Up Next: conference rival New London-Spicer on Tuesday at 7pm

Coach Bergman employed heavy substitution the entire game.

The Sauk Centre Mainstreeters girls basketball team cranked up the offense back to the level they're used to and blew away the Holdingford Huskers on Saturday night, winning by a 78-42 final score.

The Mainstreeters opened up the first half with a 7-0 run, then built the lead to as big as 30-13 and 39-16 after capitalizing on numerous fastbreak opportunties. At halftime, the score read 41-16 in favor of the Maroon and Gold.

Junior guard Maren Greenwaldt sparked the offense, hitting three of her first four shots beyond the arc.  She led all Mainstreeters with 15 points, followed by Megan Rieland and Kali Peschel each with 14 points.

The Mainstreeters improved to 24-2 with the win, while Holdingford finishes a fine season 15-12 overall, including a 7-7 mark in the Central Minnesota Conference (4th-place tie with Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa).

Up next for the Mainstreeters girls basketball team: a "rubber match" against conference rival and playoff nemesis New London-Spicer in the Sub-Section 6AA-East championship, with tip-off at 7pm at St.John's University on Tuesday night, March 9.

The Wildcats (25-2) pummeled #6-seeded Pierz last night 43-22 in the other semi-final at St.John's. After leading 20-10 at halftime, the Wildcats opened the second half with a 10-0 run and never looked back.

It will be the third year in a row that the two teams will meet in the playoffs, and the third time in the past four seasons that Sauk Centre has made the sub-section finals.

Results out of Sub-Section 6AA-West:
Benson 72, West Central Area 65 OT
New London-Spicer 43, Pierz 22
Sauk Centre 78, Holdingford 42
Staples-Motley 65, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 32

Below is a post-game interview with Greenwaldt and one of the seniors, Rachel Gruber:


A large gallery of photos from the Sauk-Holdingford game have been uploaded to the Sauk Centre Herald's online photo gallery: saukherald.mycapture.com

Look for more from Sauk Centre's post-season win in the March 9 issue of the Sauk Centre Herald.

~RO

Fusion fare well in prelims at state meet

Ben Frericks competes in the 200 medley relay. 

Frericks is a senior making his first appearance in the state meet.

PHOTOS BY TIM MIECZKOWSKI

The Fusion fared well in preliminaries Friday with several swimmers advancing to the medal round. Both the 200 and 400 freesyle relay teams finished sixth, which guarantees them a state medal.

The way it works is the top eight qualifiers in prelims race on Saturday in the finals. The other eight teams race for place, but a 9th place team in prelims cannot finish higher than ninth. But an eighth place teamn could finish first.

Which could happen if Friday's results were any indication. Jacob Koetter entered the meet seeded 19th in the 50 freestyle yet guaranteed himself a medal by finishing eighth by one hundredth of a second. His time was 22.34.

It's no secret that swimmers tend to swim their fastest at the state meet. Perhaps its the water at the U of M Aquatic Center. More than likely its the competition and the adrenaline.

The 200 and 400 freestyle relay teams, made up of Koetter, Jay Zachman, Eddie Bosl and Shay Mieczkowski in the 200 and Koetter, Alex Beste, Zachman and Mieczkowski in the 400 each finished sixth and are also guaranteed a state medal.

Other results include:
*19th place finish for the 200 medley relay team of Chad Rueter, Eddie Bosl, Ben Frericks and Gregg Stein.
* Shay Mieczkowski 15th in the 200 freestyle
* Eddie Bosl 12th in the 100 butterfly
* Shay Mieczkowski 14th in the 100 freestyle

Shay Mieczkowski competed in four events Friday. 

Mieczkowski is capping off a great career and will be 

part of the 200 and 400 freestyle relay teams that 

will battle saturday in the medal round.

Finals resume tomorrow. Check back for details.....

-BZ

Gusewelle battles but falls short in title quest

Guswelle tangles with Joel Bauman of K-M-S

John Guswelle gave it everything he had Friday night, but in the end it just wasn't enough.
Gusewelle, facing the top-ranked 189-pound wrestler in the state in K-M-S senior Joel Bauman, lost 10-7 in a close battle with the University of Minnesota recruit.


Gusewelle scored an early takedown for a 2-0 lead, but Bauman responded with a takedown of his own for a 3-2 lead. Gusewelle tied it 3-3- with an escape, But Bauman led the rest of the way. Down 8-6 Gusewelle almost had Bauman tossed to the floor, but the agile Bauman was able to stay up, and in turn spun Gusewelle down for a 10-6 lead. The lead stood in what many dubbed the championship match even though it was the semifinals.

Gusewelle will now wrestle for third place. He finished third last year at 160 pounds.

"John did everything he possibly could," said Streeter head coach Ken Vogt. "You have to give Joel credit. He's tough."

As you can see, Bauman is a big kid - 6'2" 190 to be exact.

He is headed to the University of Minnesota on a wrestling ride. 

He also is one of the top tailbacks in Minnesota high school football history.

Gusewelle was trying to become Sauk's 10th state champion. Now he'll have to settle for third or fourth.
To Vogt, there isn't a difference between second or third or fourth.

"You come down here to win it," he said. "Everyone was looking forward to this match. But John wrestled well. He is a tough, tough competitor."

Stay tuned for third place results.......

Gusewelle needs to win his next match for 

his 40th on the season,

 and what a season it has been.