But otherwise it was a quiet week by the Purple.
NDSU started the week hosting Kansas City for đ . Despite matching them in all the main categories the home team was shutout.
Fast forward to Friday, track & field hosted their Open. Not surprisingly, both the men and the women finished near or at the top of the many events.
Just down the street, a few hours later, the đ team hosted ORU. Lead by Emily Dietz's 15 & 12 the women open up the four-game home-stand with a 70-49 win. They also got 14 from Ryan Cobbins while Katie Deaton (12) & Michelle Gaislerova (11) chipped in off the bench. The eighth board by Dietz was her 500th. With what she's done during this shortened season she may well be able to put herself near the top of both points and rebounds next season.
The men survived a pair of 20-point performers to win 61-54. Maleeck Harden-Hayes paced with 15 & 9 while Sam Griesel & Jarius Cook added 13 & 11 respectively.
The T & F quickly transitioned to the Dakota Quad on Saturday. The different uniforms next to them made little difference for either half of that machine.
Likewise, the women won all four quarters on the way to their 14th victory. 44 of their 78 points came from the trio fo Cobbins, Heaven Hamling & Reneya Hopkins while ORU finished with 63. The men fought til the end to make it a sweep but 23 & 17 by Kevin Obanor overcame Rocky Kreuser's 20 and Griesel's 14 & 10, 80-74 visitors.
The week concluded with a pair for 𤟠. With another border trophy on the line, NDSU took care of SDSU, 18-16, but were outmatched by Iowa State, 32-6.
đ also hooked the Bunnies on Sunday, cruising to a straight-set win lead by Syra Tanchin's 16 kills.
Which leaves the pro-Bison achievements of the week.
As a competitor in the Quad, Payton Otterdahl threw a season best shot put which ranks third in the world this year. With the Olympics still on track for the Summer, the Mountain appears to be getting nearing his peak.
And then there was the near-catch heard round Minnesota. Joe Haeg nearly had the play of his lifetime during tonight's championship but couldn't quite reel in the touchdown. With a local pro head coach who won't even call those sorts of plays it will be still go down in sports lore, but could have been all the sweeter of a night for the newest champion!
Moorhead State started the week on Thursday with a visit by Minot's 𤟠and finished ahead by the narrowest of margins.
Friday included their track & field teams joining in the Bison Open and closing with some requisite finishes. The men missed out on two more games but the women hosted Minot after their own unplanned haitus. Lead by a 26-point performance by Peyton Boom the Dragons took the win 86-76. Natalie Steichen added 18 while Mariah McKeever scored 13. The Saturday rematch proved to be a different story as both teams scored considerably less points. Whether it was due to tired legs or not, the Beavers pulled away late, 65-61.
More on it later, but here's the full run-down of signatures for Moorhead đ .
The near-year of waiting by the Cobber men's đ team had to last a little longer. Set to host St. John's on Wednesday, the game was "postponed" for the usual reason. The women got their game in on Wednesday against St. Benedict but finished down 74-65.
On Friday their track & field teams participated in the Bison Open. The women finished in third while the men had the fifth best showing.
Then came the first busy Saturday! The đ men opened against St. Thomas but were shown what the soon-to-be D1 already has in place. The women also had the Tommies and managed to keep the game closer but couldn't quite overcome a suffocating second quarter.
The đ teams also debuted on Saturday, though that was as scheduled. The men started at St. Mary's while the women hosted them. The men finished down 3-1 while the women played to a 0-0 tie.
A so-called "soft" stretch of the schedule started on Monday against Cleveland. In classic, Minnesota-fashion they managed to get close but ended on the wrong end of a 100-98 final. From there they traveled to San Antonio but it turned out be a case of "same story, different day." 111-108. Then came a Friday/Saturday double-header in Oklahoma City. They scratched out their sixth win of the season, 106-103 but then fell short on Saturday. The optimistic view would be that they managed to get within a shots difference after being down 21 at halftime. The pessimistic take would be that it's just another loss in what may already be a lost season. With four of the next five against sure-fire playoff teams the uncertainty may have evaporated by this time next week. With 32% of the season already complete, the time to embrace the suck and instead be okay with them trying to hold onto their pick in the supposedly-loaded draft is also not far off. That may come at a cost of the head coaches job, but if some of the stat-heads are to be believed that may not be the worst thing.
The door was opened with the addition of Andrelton Simmons and Minnesota kept the progress going in the last few days. Via a trade they added relief pitcher Shaun Anderson from San Francisco and then they claimed Ian Hamilton off waivers to further improve the pen. But the biggest development was the long-awaited reunion with Nelson Cruz to solidify designated-hitter. Another move or two (minimum) is warranted but with Spring Training set to start in less than 3 weeks the pressure is on all teams to keep strategically adding players from the free agency pool.
Fargo's team spent the weekend in Waterloo, IA. Game 1 started with a pair of first period goals by the bolts, first by Austin Wong then Tristan Broz, their ninth goals of the season. 18 seconds into the middle period Broz netted one more, to become the first double-digit scorer on the year but likely not the last with six others at seven or more scores.
Waterloo responded with a goal seconds later and with under a minute left in the period but Brennan Boynton shut them out in the third to secure the 3-2 win.
Kyle Smolen got into the act 10 minutes into the rematch. Except for a Waterloo score early in the next, the offense was limited on Saturday. The only divergence the rest of the way was a game-winner by Broz later in the second period.
Even with some recent struggles they've maintained a comfortable lead in the Western Conference. They'll have a chance to pad it even more with five in a row at home, including three next weekend.
In similar fashion to the TC team, the red birds made some moves in the past week. The first announcement regarded Drew Ward joining Detroit's organization after averaging .335 with 14 doubles, 17 home runs, 45 RBIs and 42 runs scored in 58 games. Not long after word came out that they were adding pitcher Blake Rogers. A day later they added outfielder Jordan George. The players aren't household names but the moves indicate that the start of the season is drawing near!
Another busy week started with a visit by Wahpeton to South in boys đ .
Then came the day that athletes dream about for years.
Friday night included a trip by West Fargo to Davies for girls đ .
Super week on the prep level concluded with L/E/M coming down to play Oak Grove's boys đ .
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