They lost to the team whose name shall not be spoken and were finally uncompetitive. Mercifully we only have to sit through one more of these displays and then the rebuild can begin AKA draft season! So flush it and let's move on.
NDSU got back to work against South Dakota St. Thursday evening. As has so often been the case, the men finished in classic fashion coming back from a 20-point deficit in the second half to tie the game before the Bunnies jumped back ahead for good. For the women it was a slow death, coming up a few points short in all four quarters as a display of the improvement that's still needed. The scheduled visit by South Dakota was cancelled but the same problem didn't arise on the women side. South Dakota floored it in the second quarter and never looked back en route to a 27-point victory.
Wrestling was in Chattanooga for the restart of their season. A dominant first day put them in position to win Sunday and Jared Franek was happy to oblige!
Outside the lines, Cordell Volson was named to another All-American list.
Moorhead State resumed competition in Aberdeen and showed that they were ready to get back. The men went first and had the chance to win in regulation but for the resilience of Saul Philips' bunch. Late in the second overtime the game was still up for grabs, finishing in favor of the home team. The women were less obliging. They took an eight point lead into the locker room and finished the game with a 20 - 10 fourth quarter to even out their conference record at 4-4. Peyton Boom had another 23 point evening. They will back on the road next weekend in Sioux Falls & Nebraska.
Cancellations extended the Holiday pause but the women's team snuck in a game Sunday against River Falls. The teams started and ended on an equal footing but the middle quarters went RF's way by 14 points and that was the difference in the game. Mary Sem finished with her best offensive performance of the season and she's scored 17 or more in three straight.
Minnesota concluded a sporadic week+ with the chance to notch another win against the team who never should have been allowed to keep their name. It finished as the third straight loss as they've now been on the wrong end of the score in five of the last six games. The bright side is that the absence of star players and subsequent struggles have not doomed them to the play-in or a bad lottery pick because the other teams with mid to high-teen wins have also been struggling. With several favorable matchups over the next week & a half they will need to capitalize or the margin of error will become similar to that of the team who just had their postseason chances crushed.
A turbulent season for the Bolts went on pause for Christmas. In the two-game sample since returning from the two week break the team showed astounding improvement! The first game back came Friday against Sioux Falls. A two goal lead in the first two minutes of action ballooned to six as they scored eight times while only two shots got by Louden Hogg. It was three scores better than their previous best this season and they did well to match it Saturday in Sioux Falls. They once again struck twice in the first period, stretching their advantage to 4 - 0 before the Stampeded got one score of their own. It put some distance in the standings between the cellar-dwellers & Fargo but the Bolts may be so far out of contention that a second half surge won't solve it. Even so, getting a few more run-away wins would liven up the arena for the months that remain!
Reminder that scores are added daily plus there's a new home for recruiting news, so check back often!
Now for this week's highlights
The final squeeze before the 1 became 2 included a top three showing by both of Moorhead's ski teams at Brainerd. Outdoor sports continued at the inaugural West Fargo 🏒 Classic. The host boys beat Dickinson by four while the Fargo Co-op shellacked the Midgets. The tough time in West Fargo continued as Sheyenne also skated off with a quartet lead over Dickinson. In their second match of the event West Fargo kept it rolling with a seven score win versus Mandan.
Local success on the ice continued when the North boys traveled to Crookston. As Nathaniel Fritel, Reece Dorsey & Owen Branson scored two a piece the Spartans cruised to an eight score victory.
The most significant development for local hockey this week may be the first professional score for former Spud Will Borgen.
Big wins continued on the 🏀 court.
The most noteworthy one came as Horace picked up it's first varsity win against North Border by 27 as four players finished with at least nine points, lead by eighth grader Lilia Donnelly's 14. They quickly got their second with a 33 point win over Beach as six players chipped in eight or more, again lead by Donnelly with 17. Moorhead chipped in with a pair of routes as well, beating Breckenridge by 37 & Roseville by 22, the last of which secured them the championship of their holiday event.
Back across the river the West Fargo girls continued their throttling with a 51-point win over GF Central. Much more modest but still good enough to qualify for best-of consideration, the West Fargo boys had a 20-point victory over GFC. North's boys did likewise with a 31-point victory against Devils Lake.
On the outskirts Northern Cass's girls finished 20 up on Cavalier while Enderlin won by 25 at the Pentagon against Canton. In the win Gus Hurlburt broke the four-digit barrier.
The week also included the 🤼 fest at the Dome. Among the local finishes at the Rumble was Zack Fankhanel taking first for Moorhead. Sheyenne also had a first place finish by Morgan Strandberg at 113 lbs.
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