Girls basketball splits final two games

Sixth-seeded Raiders headed into sections

By Bruce Karnick
Posted 3/2/23

The Raiders Girls Basketball team entered the week at 16-8 with two games remaining in the regular season, both against conference foes. First on the schedule was Hill Murray and the final game of …

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Girls basketball splits final two games

Sixth-seeded Raiders headed into sections

Posted

The Raiders Girls Basketball team entered the week at 16-8 with two games remaining in the regular season, both against conference foes. First on the schedule was Hill Murray and the final game of the regular season was Simley.

The girls traveled to St. Paul on Tuesday night to take on Hill Murray. The Pioneers took the lead early and kept it the entire first half, heading into the intermission up 31-20. Hastings made it interesting after the break, fighting back to a tie.

“You have to give credit to the Pioneers, they just beat us,” said Head Coach Trent Hanson. “They are the most improved team in the MEC (Metro East Conference) since January 1 in my opinion and they showed it. They were very physical and had us on our heels a little bit all night long. It was one of the few games this year where we trailed early and played catchup most of the game. Our kids are fighters, we came back from 11 down at half to tie it up in the second half, but we couldn't close.”

Hastings did indeed fight back but still lost by 12, 62-50. But that might not be a bad thing, let the team see some adversity from a squad that they should have beat just before the section playoffs.

Keagan McVicker led the team in points with 20 with Haley Strain right behind her with 13. Strain had the rebound lead again with seven and Lindsey Wagner added five.

Hastings then was host to the Simley Spartans on Friday for the final home game of the season. The Raiders dominated this game, leading 32-13 at the half and winning 60-29.

“There is no better way to wrap up a regular season and final home game of the year than by playing well in a fun Friday night game. The kids were great in this one. Good pace, solid execution, positive contributions on both ends from all 10 rotation players. Our assist to turnover ratio of 12/12 was our best of the season, with the 12 TOs a season low. We recorded a season-high seven blocks and rebounded at an 83% clip on the defensive end, both also season highs,” explained Hanson.

McVicker had five assists, one turnover, 13 points, eight rebounds, five deflections and three steals. Emma Bakker had 18 pts, eight rebounds, three deflections, and two steals. Hailey Strain earned a double double with 11 points, 13 rebounds, and also three blocks.

With the regular season now over, the Raiders look to the Section 3AAAA tournament where they have a tough road ahead to the state competition. They will travel to Eastview High School in Apple Valley on Wednesday, March 1 at 7:00 p.m. and hopefully, the Raider fans pack the stands to show the team support like they have never seen it before.

Sixth-seeded Raiders headed into section

It was a typical Section 3AAAA seeding meeting where the rest of the section completely disregards fact and coaches cast votes to determine seeding. Since Hastings is the only Metro East Conference (MEC) team in the section where the bulk of the teams come from the South Suburban Conference (SSC), the SSC teams bully Hastings into lower seedings than deserved.

“Our kids deserve better, period,” said Interim Head Coach and Athletic Director Trent Hanson. “There is no way we should be seeded behind two teams with losing records and lower QRFs, one of which we beat head-to-head.”

Hanson was not happy about the process either and he now joins other Hastings coaches in better understanding the frustrations of how their teams react when it comes to section seeding. The supposed reason behind Hastings getting bumped? The SSC is a ‘tougher’ conference, but not according to the QRF numbers that every other section in the state uses. QRF is known as the Quality Results Formula and it was designed to assign points to wins based on a few factors, including the difficulty of schedule.

Hastings had a record of 2-2 in the section, 17-9 overall with a QRF of 140.3. Park of Cottage Grove was 1-5 in the section, 11-14 overall with a QRF of 132.7. Bloomington Jefferson was 2-1 in the section, 11-15 overall with a QRF of 125.4. Both have lower QRF rankings than Hastings but yet they both were seeded higher than Hastings. Hastings is ranked as the 31st team in the state, Park at 36th and Jefferson at 41st. It is truly maddening to fathom two teams, each with six fewer wins and one that Hastings beat head-to-head, are getting seeded higher than Hastings. The only real way to describe it is bullying and it is very sad that our athletes are treated this way by adults that are meant to teach them in a positive fashion.

Despite his true displeasure with the section, Hanson has the right attitude looking forward.

“We can't control the other coaches' votes, only our mindset and preparation going in. It is what it is, and the kids will dial in accordingly. Eastview is very athletic and is a talented defensive team. We will have our hands full for sure. I love where our team is at and how far they've come. They have nothing to lose going on the road this week. I've got no doubt you'll see great effort, great teamwork and kids that leave it all out there on Wednesday.”

With the section seeding, instead of being seeded fourth, where they truly deserved to be, they are seeded sixth. The tough part of being the sixth seed is, one, they no longer have a home playoff game. Two, it dramatically changes that first game in a win or go home scenario.

With the game being an away game, the Lady Raiders will travel to Eastview High School in Apple Valley on Wednesday, March 1 at 7:00 p.m. and hopefully, the Raider fans pack the stands to show these ladies support like they have never seen it before.