Girls basketball roundup: MaCee Linow's 8 threes help Alexandria jump on Rocori

The Alexandria girls basketball team went on the road to get a section and conference win on Tuesday night as the Cardinals (10-11) beat Rocori (8-15) 77-61.

“We were locked into the game plan and bolted out to a 44-21 halftime lead and didn’t look back as we brought the same intensity to the second half to seal the deal,” Alexandria head coach Wendy Kohler said.

It was a career night for freshman guard MaCee Linow. Linow hit eight threes and finished with 26 points.

Freshman forward Hadley Thul added 20 points, and fellow freshman forward Chloe Scholl also added 13. Ella Steussy and Allie Haabala eached finished with 8, and Elle Heydt chipped in 2 points for the Cardinals.

Alexandria moves into a big test on Thursday as Sartell-St. Stephen (15-7) comes to town for a 7:15 p.m. start time.

Osakis is gaining confidence with every win late in the season.

The Silverstreaks improved to 18-5 on Tuesday as they beat Class AAA’s Little Falls (4-18) on Monday and followed that up with one of its bigger wins of the season in a 49-44 victory over Pierz (16-6) on Tuesday.

The Pioneers are currently the No. 2 seed in the Section 7AA standings through the QRF on Minnesota-scores.net.

“We knew this was going to be a battle throughout the whole game,” Osakis head coach Pat Kalpin said. “Defensively, they play aggressively, and force you to be strong with the basketball. I thought we did a nice job handing the ball and taking good shots the entire game. We also shot the ball well, which was nice since we had to work hard for every shot. We had some key moments and plays in the first half that helped us build our lead. We were down 14-17, and on consecutive possessions, Tessa Stanek got a steal and bucket and then hit a 3 to give us a 19-17 lead. We ended the half on a 10-0 run to take the lead at half.”

The Silverstreaks and Pioneers exchanged big shots in the second half. Pierz led 40-39 at one point, but Osakis got a three from Alexis Johanson on the next possession.

“We were able to take care of the ball and hit some big shots late in the game to get the win,” Kalpin said. “Hayleigh Niehoff had a great game, scoring 16 points and leading us with 3 steals, which all came at key moments in the game. Mara VanNyhuis had a solid night scoring 11 points and adding 8 rebounds. Kiley Kranz rebounded well with 11 and also had a key steal late in the game. It was a great team win again for the girls. Playing these close games are fun to be a part of. More importantly, learning how to win the close ones like these help the team gain the confidence needed going into postseason play.”

OSAKIS     24 25 49

PIERZ      17 27 - 44

TOTALS - OSAKIS - FG - 19-40; Three-point FG - 5-15; FT - 6-10; Rebounds - 28; Assists - 9; Deflections - 10; Steals - 9; Blocks - 1; Turnovers - 17; PIERZ - FG - 16-46; Three-point FG - 5-19; FT - 7-9; Rebounds - 22; Assists - 8; Turnovers - 15

OSAKIS - Tessa Stanek - 8 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals; Lexi Spychalla - 1 rebound; Mara VanNyhuis - 11 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, , 2 steals; Alexis Johanson - 9 points, 1 rebound, 2 assists; Hayleigh Niehoff - 16 points, 1 rebound, 3 steals; Carlee Muenzhuber - 3 points, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block; Kiley Kranz - 2 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal

PIERZ SCORING - Katie Leidenfrost - 4; Britney Schommer - 2; Kiara Olesch - 13; Ashley Kimman - 6; Kenna Otte - 3; Alyssa Sadlovsky - 16

Brandon-Evansville (9-12) ran into one of the best teams in its section on Tuesday as Wheaton-Herman-Norcross stymied the Chargers in a 60-22 win for the Warriors (17-3).

“It was a tough shooting night for us, but the girls kept their heads up and played with good effort,” B-E head coach Zach Traphagen said. “I was happy with our ball movement against their zone, and that led to some really good looks at the basket. Wheaton is really long and fairly athletic, so they make it tough on opposing teams to get good clean looks. We get Wednesday to practice, then are back at it again on Thursday and Friday to wrap up our four-game week.”

WHEATON-H-N     33 27 - 60

BRANDON-EVANSVILLE     14 8 -22

B-E TOTALS - FG - 7-37; Three-point FG - 4-21; FT - 5-11; Assists - 3; Blocks - 1; Rebounds - 19; Steals - 8; Turnovers - 20

B-E - Grace Otto - 1 rebound; Sophie Koep - 3 points, 2 rebounds; Olivia Otto - 3 points, 5 rebounds, 1 steal; Sydney Schaefer - 7 points, 3 rebounds, 1 steal; Kaytlyn Pattrin - 1 point, 1 block, 2 steals; EmmaLee Brethorst - 1 point; Skylar Bitzan - 1 point, 1 rebound; Hadley Baune - 3 points, 1 assist, 1 rebound, 1 steal; Kylee Dingwall - 2 assists, 3 rebounds, 2 steals; Madison Anderson - 1 steal; Kiley Lund - 4 points, 3 rebounds

West Central Area won its fifth straight game on Tuesday as the Knights (14-5) held an opponent to under 40 points for the fourth consecutive game by beating Minnewaska (14-9) 63-37.

Claire Stark led the way with 23 points and 8 rebounds. Lexi Bright was also in double figures with 22 points to go along with 7 assists, 5 rebounds, 5 steals and 6 deflections.

WCA 63, MINNEWASKA 37

WCA - Claire Stark - 23 points, 8 rebounds & 2 assists; Lexi Bright - 22 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds, 5 steals, 6 deflections; Macy Grosz - 5 points, 2 steals, a rebound, 1 assist; Mya Foslien - 4 points, 2 assists, a rebound, 1 steal; Addison Staples - 4 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist; Elizabeth Rustan - 3 points, 8 deflections, 2 steals, 2 blocks, 1 assist; Halle Foslien - 2 points, 1 assist, 1 rebound; Jayden Styba - 4 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 assist; Kennedy Ulrich - 2 rebounds

(Stats not yet available) 

Browerville-Eagle Valley (16-6) 61, Parkers Prairie (9-9) 56

Osakis (18-5) 49, Pierz (16-6) 44