The Hastings girls basketball team (15-11) emphatically ended their regular season with two wins destroying both Tartan (7-17) and South St. Paul (10-16). The game against Tartan finished 82-29 and against the Packers, 63-24. The two big conference wins need to be enough positive momentum for the girls headed into their section game on Feb. 26 at 7:00 p.m. in Hastings when the Raiders take on Park of Cottage Grove.
Versus Tartan
The Raiders dominated the Titans by grabbing the lead and never relinquishing it and they took a 40-20 lead into the intermission. Hastings did not let off the gas in the second half and the defense played even stronger, allowing only nine second half points to the Titans while scoring 42. The final was Hastings 82, Tartan 29.
The girls cleared the bench for this game with 17 Raiders getting time on the floor and 11 scoring. Most of the starters played for 22 minutes or less.
Haley Strain led in scoring with 17 points and rebounds with 15. Keagan McVicker tallied 16 points and five rebounds. Violet Schult, Jillian McTague and Rachel Notch each scored nine, and Evelynn McGree and Piper Brockman each scored six.
At South St. Paul
The Raider defense combined with the young South St. Paul shooters caused the Packers to barely hit double digits in scoring for each half. The first half they had a total of 11 points, and they had 13 in the second half. Hastings scored 39 and 24 respectively.
16 Raiders saw action this game and scoring was once again led by Strain who had 23 and another 15 rebounds. McVicker had nine, Schult had eight, McTague seven and both Kate Ruder and Brockman had six.
Up Next
Hastings earned the fourth seed in the Section 3AAAA tournament and will host fifth seeded Park of Cottage Grove on Feb. 26 at 7:00 p.m. Tickets for sections are handled differently than normal. 
The Raiders (15-11) took on the Wolfpack (10-16) earlier in the season at the holiday tournament where Hastings won 50-33. The winner of this game will head to the number one seed Eastview on Mar. 1 at 2:00 p.m. The winner of that game plays for the section championship and a trip to the state tournament.
The 23-3 Eastview Lightning will be a tough out given they are the fourth ranked team in the state. Eagan is the two seed at 17-9, Rosemount at 13-13 is the three seed, then Hastings and Park. Bloomington Jefferson at 7-19 is the six seed and Burnsville has the bottom seed at 2-24.