The matchup between Mahtomedi and Hastings has not yet reached the status of rivalry for both teams, but for Hastings, it has been one of those that irritates the players and fans. Why? The current crop of Raiders seniors has yet to beat Mahtomedi at the varsity level. In fact, the Zephyrs have won at least the last ten meetings, until Dec. 17 that is when Hastings finally took down Mahtomedi 56-54 removing a huge proverbial thorn from their side. After that emotional win, Hastings had to travel to Mendota Heights to take on Two Rivers on Dec. 20 where they won 69-55.
Versus Mahtomedi
Against the Zephyrs, Mahtomedi jumped out to an early lead connecting on a couple of three-point shots before attempting and missing 10 three-pointers in a row. Hastings quickly fought back in a defensive tussle for the remainder of the game. The two teams exchanged leads quite frequently with neither team truly pulling away from the other the entire night.
Hastings took a 30-26 lead into the intermission and both teams came out even stronger defensively in the second half. With 20 seconds remaining and the game tied at 54, Brooke Mace had another opportunity to play hero. Mace’s shot went up bounced around and fell out of the rim for the score to stay tied. Piper Brockman was camped under the rim, and she came up with both the rebound and the put back to give the Raiders the 56-54 lead. Mahtomedi made a quick effort to tie but failed and Haley Strain nabbed the rebound before being fouled. Strain went to the line with the opportunity to lock up the win with less than two seconds remaining in regulation, but both of her free throws were just off the mark.
Thankfully for Hastings, the extra point opportunities did not matter as they held on to finally defeat Mahtomedi to keep the top spot in the Metro East conference tied among five teams. Two Rivers, Hastings, Mahtomedi, Hill Murray and South St. Paul all had one win and no losses in the conference which gives them each one point and the five-way tie before the rest of the week played out. If the tiebreakers needed to happen, the order the teams are listed is how they would be placed in the conference, but the season is so young, it is too early to get caught up in that too much.
At Two Rivers
The Raiders made the trip up to Mendota Heights on Friday night to see if they could knock out one of the teams they are tied with. Early in the first half, there were a few lead changes, but it did not take long for the Raiders to jump out to a multiple bucket lead. The Raiders finished the first half up 35-29. The second half was more of the same, Hastings played stout defense, holding the Warriors to 26 second half points enroute to a 69-55 win.
Haley Strain led the Raiders with 21 points, Keagan McVicker and Rachel Notch each had 12, Violet Schult tallied nine and Jillian McTague scored six.
The action in the second round of games for the week dropped two of the five teams that shared first place into second. Hastings, Hill-Murray and South St. Paul remain tied for first heading into the winter break.

Up Next is the Hastings Raiders HS Basketball Holiday Tournament. The tournament takes place Friday, Dec. 27 and Saturday, Dec. 28. Where there is the opportunity to see 24 games in 48 hours. Concessions will be open the entire tournament and fans will have a chance to see both the boys and girls teams, B/C Squad through Varsity. Teams from Forest Lake, Bloomington Jefferson, Bloomington Kennedy, Farmington, Park Wolfpack, and New Prague will participate. Stay updated on tournament scores/games on the Hastings Raiders Basketball FB page. Some games will be streamed on local radio and others can be found on the Hastings HS Sports Streaming YouTube channel. The scheduled game times are the same for both days as far as time slots, but the matchups depend on who wins and who loses on Friday. The updated schedule will be found on the Hastings Raiders Basketball Facebook page for the Saturday games.

The first game of 2025 will be on Jan. 3 at home against Simley at 6:30 p.m.