Hiawatha Valley League Dominates First Showdown with Three Rivers Conference

Mother nature did not appear to want the HVL and TRC Conferences to have their first showdown event at the Rochester Mayo Civic Center.

The event was moved from Saturday, December 17 to Friday, December 23 and the weather may have been worse the second date.

A couple of the games were cancelled when Caledonia pulled out of the competition meaning the last two games in the arena were not held and what was originally billed as a 14 game event dwindled down to 11.

The Hiawatha Valley League captured nine of the 11 games including every game in the Auditorium.

The Zumbrota-Mazeppa girls rolled past Lewiston-Altura 63-28 in the first game in the more intimate facility.

The first game in the Arena was captured by defending Class 2A girls champion Plainview-Elgin-Millville 52-33 over Stewartville.

Frankly there were not a lot of close games.

We had the second game of the day in the Auditorium on KDHL with Kenyon-Wanamingo extending a six point halftime lead, 42-36 to a 89-66 runaway from Winona Cotter.

Seniors Mara Quam and Gabby Bowlin are outstanding point guards for each team and they did put on a show for the crowd.

Kenyon-Wanamingo's Quam finished with 41 points and Bowlin 32 in the game.

Quam had three 3 point baskets, numerous fast break layups and was 8 for 8 from the free throw line.

Cotter's Bowlin started the game with two 3 point baskets, connected on 3, and was 3 of 4 from the charity stripe.

The Knights finished the game 14 of 17 from the free throw line and the Ramblers were 5 of 6.

Winona Cotter tried a few different people covering Quam and simply had nobody who could keep up with her.  She had 22 points at the half and Bowlin had 19.

Our Held Bus Service of Kenyon Knights of the game were Quam, senior Megan Flom, who connected on five 3 point baskets for 15 points and, senior Savannah Bleese celebrating her 18th birthday with 14 points with a pair of three point baskets and a two for two performance at the free throw line.

The Knights are now 5-1 and the Ramblers 5-4.

The #7 Class A rated Goodhue boys avenged their playoff football loss to Fillmore Central with a 68-42 win in the Arena.

The next auditorium game Zumbrota-Mazeppa boys pulled away late from Plainview-Elgin-Millville for a 65-53 victory.

6'2 junior Isaiah Nolte had 18 points, 6'2 junior Jacob Niebuhr 16, and 6'4 senior Alex Guse 12 points for Zumbrota-Mazeppa.

The Bulldogs had a lot of trouble handling the Cougar trapping half court press so steals turned into buckets and free throws.

Zumbrota-Mazeppa outscored Plainview-Elgin-Millville 13-6 at the free throw line.

The Cougars had a 32-25 lead at the intermission.

The Friday win coupled with a victory over Litchfield on the road Thursday night runs Z-M's winning streak to six games.

In the Arena the Kingsland Knight girls defeated Triton 53-39 and the Pine Island girls scored a 53-40 win over Dover-Eyota.

The Triton Cobra boys downed the La Crescent Lancers 65-52 to pick up their second win of the young season.

The final game in the Arena was another lopsided affair.

Pine Island got 38 points from their bench in a 76-52 win over Dover-Eyota.

The best game of the day in the Auditorium was the contest between Hayfield and Chatfield.

The Vikings won 64-62 after leading 30-28 at the half.

6'0 sophomore Mason Tapp hit a three pointer with 2.35 to go to put Hayfield up and it was see-saw down the stretch.

Chatfield got the ball with 15 seconds to go down by two and were trying to set up one of their sharpshooters for a three point basket.

Hayfield Head Coach Chris Pack said after the game he told his team to deny the long range jumper and that's exactly what they did.

6'0 guard Drew Olive led the Vikings with 20 points including five 3 point baskets.

Hayfield finished with ten 3 pointers and Chatfield also had ten.

The difference was the free throw line where Hayfield scored six points and Chatfield four.

There was running time in the second half of the 85-35 runaway by the Hayfield girls over Southland in the Auditorium.

Juniors Olivia Matti and Carrie Rutledge led all scorers with 15 points each and 5'5 sophomore Emma Holst came off the bench to pitch in 11, including three 3 point baskets.

The Viking bench tallied 32 points and Hayfield finished the game with ten three point baskets.

The crowds were sparse but coaches do plan on having the event again next year in hopes the weather cooperates so they don't have to hold it so close to Christmas.