The Raider girls basketball team (13-11) has been struggling to find consistency in their play the last few weeks with a 2-6 record over the last eight games, the girls find themselves sitting right in the middle of both the conference and section standings. They played two games last week dominating North St. Paul (8-12) 80-41 and then falling to St. Anthony (14-9) 68-51.
Against North St. Paul
The performance Hastings had against North St. Paul is the performance fans hope to see each time the ladies’ step on the floor. The Raiders’ led start to finish jumping out to an early 10-1 lead before the Polars scored seven to get within two. Hastings took control with both a quick, swarming defense and shooters that seemingly couldn’t miss in the first half. Haley Strain had 20 points and Keagan McVicker 11 before the intermission and at the half, Hastings led 52-18. By the time the game was over, they froze the Polars out 80-41.
16 total Raiders saw time in the game. Strain led with 28 before being relieved, McVicker had 15, Rachel Notch and Kate Ruder each had seven, Violet Schult and Piper Brockman each had six.
At St. Anthony
The Huskies led most of the game and had a commanding 45-24 lead at the intermission. Hastings fought hard but could not overcome the 21-point half time deficit against the Huskies swarming defense. St. Anthony had a plan to stop the Raiders, and it worked. They kept all but two Raiders to single digit points.
Strain led the Raiders by scoring with 13, Schult had 11, McVicker nine and Notch, Brockman and Ruder each had four.
Up Next
The ladies are down to their last regular season game, at South St. Paul on Feb. 20 at 7:00 p.m. Shortly after that game, they should learn their fate for the section tournament seeding. With a significantly better record and a head-to-head win over Park of Cottage Grove, there is absolutely no reason that Hastings should finish in the section seeding lower than fourth. It is also going to be difficult to argue for moving up much, with the only possibility being, to leapfrog Rosemount to the third seed. Rosemount’s record is currently one game worse than Hastings, but their schedule was more difficult.
With there being only seven teams in Section 3AAAA, Eastview will likely get the one seed and a first-round bye. The four and five seed should be on that same side of the bracket, so Hastings should host Park if the seedings hold as they should with the winner of that game facing off against Eastview. The first round of the girl’s section tournament is scheduled at the high seed on Feb. 26 at 7:00 p.m. We will make sure to update readers on our social media.