The Minnewaska boys and girls basketball team’s both picked up victories on Friday against Melrose.
The Minnewaska girls team picked up dominant 69-26 road win, while the Minnewaska boys team won 61-46 at home.
Lauryn Ankeny nearly finished with a double-double for the Minnewaska girls team as she had eight points and nine rebounds. Sydney Dahl led the way in scoring with 15 points.
The Minnewaska girls team (6-2) forced 34 turnovers in its win over Melrose (2-5) on Dec. 20.
The Minnewaska boys team only led by one-point at halftime of its game on Friday but outscored Melrose 38-23 in the second half to win by 16.
“Really fun atmosphere on our home court,” Minnewaska head coach Zach Traphagen said. “We know that wins aren’t easy to come by in the West Central Conference, and we certainly earned this one. Our defensive intensity and effort was the difference, as we really struggled to score against Melrose’s length in the first half. We used our defense to generate our offense in the second half and our guys finally figured out how to hold onto a double-digit lead and close out the game. It’s a great start to the year, but we know there is a ton of basketball yet to be played so we need to stay hungry.”
The Minnewaska boys team improved to 6-2 on the year with the win and dropped Minnewaska to 2-4.
Marc Gruber and Luke Danielson both had 16 points in the Minnewaska boys team’s win.
The Minnewaska boys play Pipestone Area (1-5) at 5:45 p.m. on Dec. 30 at Southwest Minnesota State.
The Minnewaska girls team plays in a tournament at Southwest Minnesota State on Dec 27-28, 2024. Minnewaska plays Minneota at 5:30 p.m. on Dec. 27, 2024.
Minnewaska – 33 36 – 69
MELROSE TEAM STATS – FIELD GOALS – 11/36; THREE-POINTERS; FREE THROWS – 4/11; ASSISTS – 1; BLOCKS – 3; REBOUNDS – 24; STEALS – 5; DEFLECTIONS – 2; FOULS – 12; TURNOVERS – 34
MINNEWASKA TEAM STATS – FIELD GOALS – 26/73; THREE-POINTERS – 7/21; FREE THROWS – 10/19; ASSISTS – 10; BLOCKS – 4; REBOUNDS – 35; STEALS – 22; DEFLECTIONS – 22; FOULS – 13; TURNOVERS – 15
MINNEWASKA INDIVIDUAL STATS – Addyson Kath – 11 points, 2 blocks, 6 rebounds, 2 steals, 5 deflections; Alia Randt – 8 points, 1 assist, 3 rebounds, 3 steals, 4 deflections; Berlynn Green – 3 points, 1 assist, 1 rebound, 1 steal; Lauryn Ankeny – 8 points, 3 assists, 9 rebounds, 4 steals, 2 deflections; Lauryn Stryhn – 1 rebound, 1 steal; Sydney Dahl – 15 points, 3 assists, 7 rebounds, 4 steals, 3 deflections; Megan Thorfinnson – 8 points, 2 rebounds, 3 steals, 3 deflections; Kendal Danielson – 1 steal; Phemie Oeltjen – 2 points; Jayda Kolstoe – 10 points, 3 rebounds, 1 steal, deflections
Minnewaska – 23 38 – 61
MINNEWASKA TEAM STATS – FIELD GOALS – 23/55; THREE-POINTERS – 4/14; FREE THROWS – 11/18; ASSISTS – 13; BLOCKS – 1; REBOUNDS – 18; STEALS – 14; DEFLECTIONS – 3; FOULS – 14; TURNOVERS – 10
MELROSE TEAM STATS – FIELD GOALS – 16/46; THREE-POINTERS – 5/14; FREE THROWS – 8/15; BLOCKS – 5; REBOUNDS – 36; STEALS – 3; FOULS – 17; TURNOVERS – 22
MINNEWASKA INDIVIDUAL STATS – Tristan O’Neil – 6 points, 1 rebound, 1 steal; Marc Gruber – 10 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 deflection; Zachary Palmer – 6 points, 3 assists, 4 rebounds, 5 steals, 1 deflection; Levi Johnson – 8 points,1 assist, 2 rebounds, 1 steal; Luke Danielson – 16 points, 1 assist, 1 block, 1 rebound, 2 steals, 1 deflection; Connor Frey – 2 points, 2 assists, 3 rebounds, 1 steal; Tenzin Dahl – 2 points, 2 assists, 3 rebounds, 1 steal; Kaiden Harvey – 3 points, 1 steal; Owen Meulebroeck – 2 points, 1 assist, 2 rebounds, 1 steal
New York Mills girls break away from Parkers Prairie
The New York Mills girls basketball team led by just one point (23-22) at halftime against the Panthers Prairie Panthers but outscored Parkers Prairie 33-17 in the second half to get a 56-40 win on Dec. 20.
Annika Dunrud led New York Mills (4-2) with 16 points while Autumn Hartman led Parkers Prairie (3-4) with nine points.
Parkers Prairie hosts Swanville (4-4) at 7:15 p.m. on Jan. 2, 2025.
Other area scores from Friday, Dec. 20, 2024
BOYS
PACT Charter (5-2) 62, Brandon-Evansville (4-3) 61
Henning (6-0) 60, Parkers Prairie (1-4) 39
Ashby (6-0) 56, Battle Lake (0-7) 44
West Central Area (3-3) 62, Morris Area-Chokio-Alberta (4-2) 59
GIRLS
West Central Area (6-2) 51, Morris Area-Chokio-Alberta (3-7) 33
Sam Stuve covers a variety of sports in the Douglas County area. He also is assigned to do some news stories as well.
