Exciting thriller won by Fusion swimming and diving team

At the Dassel-Cokato pool against Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato tonight, the Melrose-Sauk Centre Fusion boys' swimming and diving team picked up their third win of the season against no losses by a 96-90 score.

Co-head coach James Schreiner reported that the Fusion didn't lead the entire night until after the final event, the 400 freestyle relay. Facing a sizeable deficit in the team points, the Fusion got a huge 1st/2nd finish in the 100 backstroke with John Schwieters and Isaac Schreiner gaining the top two spots.

In the 100 breaststroke, the Fusion got a crucial 2nd/3rd/4th finish to gain momentum before clinching the win with great performances in the last event.

M-SC now has a ragged practice schedule around the Christmas holiday before traveling to a very tough Brainerd tournament on Friday, Dec. 27.

Read more coach's comments from the past week of action in this week's Sauk Centre Herald.

A few other sports updates from tonight:
The Mainstreeters boys' basketball team stayed undefeated in the West Central Conference with an 85-70 win over visiting Minnewaska Area. They led 45-34 at the break.

The Prairie Centre Area boys' hockey team won their sixth game in a row with a 6-2 final score at the Benson Civic Arena over the winless Morris/Benson Area Storm. The North Stars are 6-3 overall and put their win streak on the line against undefeated (7-0) and fourth-ranked St. Cloud Cathedral tomorrow night (Dec. 20) at the MAC in St. Cloud.

This was noteworthy: the Melrose Area Dutchmen boys' basketball team defeated a very good Montevideo squad tonight in a WCC game by a final score of 64-63 in overtime. They've got a big day coming up for their basketball program on Saturday...be sure to read a copy of the Melrose Beacon to learn more about that.

Tomorrow night, the Mainstreeters boys' and girls' basketball teams travel to Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City high school for a WCC double-header. The varsity girls play at 6 p.m. in the main gymnasium, while the B-squad boys play at that time in the auxiliary gym. They switch for the nightcap around 7:45 p.m., when the varsity boys and B-squad girls tip off.

Mixed bag for varsity sports teams

The good news first.

In non-conference boys' hockey action tonight, Prairie Centre Area defeated Redwood Valley/BOLD 8-2 in Redwood County. The North Stars improve to 5-3 overall and travel to Benson this Thursday to face Morris/Benson Area (0-7) in a Section 6A match up.

The Mainstreeters girls' basketball team pounded on Paynesville Area in an 82-40 win.

The Melrose-Sauk Centre Fusion boys' swimming and diving team defeated visiting Alexandria 99-87 in an exciting home dual win.

The Sauk Centre-Melrose wrestling team (2-5 overall) dropped two West Central Conference duals in a home triangular. They lost 45-25 to Quad County and 39-31 to Paynesville Area. In the other dual, Quad County topped Paynesville 39-33.

At St. Cloud, the Mainstreeters boys' basketball team suffered their first loss of the year by a 63-58 final score to St. Cloud Cathedral. The Crusaders are 6-2 overall, while the Mainstreeters are 6-1. Up next is a home game against Minnewaska Area in a key West Central North Conference meeting this Thursday night.

Read more on all the action in this week's Sauk Centre Herald.

SC-M wrestling gets two wins

At a quadrangular in Melrose on Friday night, Sauk Centre-Melrose won two matches and lost one in wrestling action. They beat Prairie Valley 57-16 and Osakis 39-33 before losing to Holdingford 38-36.

Jordan Winter, Antonio Ortiz and Rodrigo Milla all went 3-0.

Up next: a triangular in Sauk Centre starting at 5 p.m. next Tuesday night, Dec.17.

Streeter girls dominate Lady Dutchmen

The Mainstreeters demolished cross town rival Melrose Friday night in girls’ basketball, 70-29.

Sauk made nine three-pointers, led by Shania Baum, who was 3-for-5 from beyond the arc, and finished with 11 points. Amanda Weir led the Streeters with 12 points and Madison Greenwaldt added 10.

Sauk dominated early and never looked back as they opened up a huge halftime lead. Melrose couldn’t get the ball in close and struggled with shooting from the perimeter.

The win improves the Streeters to 3-0 on the season. They will travel to Paynesville next Tuesday. For more on Friday’s game and on Tuesday‘s match up check out next week’s Sauk Centre Herald.

Deters, Stars shut out Litchfield

Clay Deters stopped 24 shots as the Prairie Centre North Stars defeated Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato 1-0 in front of a large crowd at the Sauk centre Civic Arena Friday night.
Cody Steward, back in action for his second game after serving a four-game suspension at the beginning of the year due to an on-ice fracas in the Stars' last game a year ago, scored the game's lone goal when he netted one while the Stars were short handed. It was his first goal of the season.
Deters and the Prairie Centre defense did the rest. The Stars had two close chances late to put the game away with an empty netter but narrowly missed both times.
The win improves the Stars to 3-3 and is their third win in a row. They beat Wadena-Deer Creek 7-1 on Tuesday.
They will travel to Bagley/Fosston on Saturday.

Photos and video from Friday's game below:

(Watch the final minute here:)

Mainstreeter boys' basketball is 6-0

A hard-fought 64-61 win was the outcome of the Sauk Centre vs. Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta boys' basketball game tonight in Morris. The West Central North Conference win improves the Mainstreeters' overall record to 6-0 and 2-0 in the league.

With just under a minute to go, two MA/CA free throws gave the host Tigers a 61-59 lead. Matthew Moritz then drained the go-ahead score with 29 seconds on the clock with a three-pointer to put Sauk Centre on top for good. The Mainstreeters led 37-31 at halftime and built their lead as large as 16 points in the second half over the winless Tigers (0-5, 0-4 WCCN).

Josh Buschette was the leading scorer with 21 points, four assists and three steals. For the game, Sauk Centre shot 25-of-57 from the floor.

Up next: a tough road trip to the St. Cloud Metro Area, where they'll square off with St. Cloud Cathedral. The Crusaders, members of Section 5AA, are 5-2 overall and one of just two unbeaten teams left in the Granite Ridge Conference. They also have a potent offense with a 72 points-per-game average. Sauk Centre is no slouch either, of course, as they have a 73.5 points-per-game average so far.

Two Sauk Centre teams are in action at home Friday night in Sauk Centre: Prairie Centre Area boys' hockey and the Mainstreeters girls' basketball team. The SC-M wrestling team also has a home event, a quadrangular down in Melrose that starts at 5 p.m.

Streeters win big over Montevideo

Watch Madison Greenwaldt go coast-to-coast for the Streeters in their lopsided win over Montevideo Tuesday to improve to 2-0 on the season. For game stats and story be sure to grab a copy of this week's Herald.