At 15-7 overall and 9-1 in the conference, the Hastings Raiders Girls Basketball team is poised to finish at worst, second in the Metro East Conference (MEC) and with a little luck and some hard work, they could potentially finish first. The team they trail in the standings in Mahtomedi, who are 10-0 in MEC play and the Raiders have them on the schedule for Friday. But, let’s not get ahead of ourselves here, let’s talk about the week that was for the lady hoopsters.

The first team the Raiders took down last week was the 17-4 (7-3 in conf.) North St. Paul Polars, then Hastings took out the 4-17 (1-8 in conf.) Two Rivers Warriors, both of whom are MEC opponents. The wins for the week extended the Raiders win streak to seven and they have won 11 of the last 13 games.

“They continue to improve and increasingly play a cohesive, unselfish, tough, and poised style,” said Head Coach Trent Hanson about play of the girls this season.

Against North, the Raiders took control and never relinquished it outscoring the Polars 35-25 in the first half and 33-27 in the second half for the 68-52 win.

“This was a quality win against a good opponent that came in at 16-4 overall and on a nice winning streak. North plays at a fast pace and brings a ton of defensive pressure. Our kids really shared the ball and played with a disciplined pace. Highlights from the game included: we out-rebounded North 53-28 and we had a season high 21 assists,” explained Hanson.

Many Raiders contributed to the win. Keagan McVicker recorded a triple double; 17 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists and only four turnovers in 29 minutes. Emma Bakker recorded a double-double with 27 points (including 3-5 from 3-point range), 13 rebounds, and four assists. Haley Strain also recorded a doubledouble with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Rachel Notch added six points, Kate Ruder had five rebounds and 0 turnovers in her 15 minutes.

On Friday, the Raiders traveled to Mendota Heights to take on Two Rivers. This was another game that Hastings simply took control of from the start.

Hanson was excited about the play of his team, “I’m really proud of the way this one unfolded. Two Rivers has the biggest post player in the league, and they played us incredibly physical. The officials let a lot go, and the girls played with a lot of poise. We had some foul trouble of our own and turned it over a bit more than we’d like. But it’s tough to be picky when you hold the opponent to 31 points and win by such a wide margin. This was our third straight MEC game ‘the second time through’ and for the third straight game we increased our margin of victory compared to the first round.”

All but two Raiders scored in this game, led by McVicker with 23 points including 4-6 from three point range, five assists and five rebounds, Lindsey Wagner 14 points, including 4-8 from three.

This is where things get interesting for the Raiders with three very tough opponents in the four remaining games and the first is Feb. 15th at South St. Paul. Then the toughest challenge of the regular season will be Mahtomedi on Feb. 17th at home. Hill-Murray follows that up on Feb. 21st and Simley on Feb. 24th. All four games are slated for 7:00 p.m. tips.

A win against South. St. Paul to start this four-game run would nearly lock the Raiders into at least second in the conference. Hastings won the first game 48-45. Mahtomedi is beatable especially with it being at Hastings. The Zephyrs were the Raiders last loss 77-63. Hastings beat Hill-Murray by 11 the first contest and they completely shut down Simley 41-22.