The League made plenty of news this week as it held it's annual evaluation event in Indianapolis, some of which will be mentioned in the next block. With the Combine came another media session for the new GM. It's worth a watch if you haven't seen it yet. The team also officially finalized the coaching staff, which now means whatever attention wasn't being devoted to the draft can be.
NDSU's week started with the ⛳️ teams in Arizona for a pair of events. The women finished smack-dab in the middle of the 20-team field while the men were the best of 5.
Then, before ⚾️ retook the diamond, Evan Sankey got his second League Pitcher of the Week award already this season. Then they traveled to Long Beach for a weekend series. They had to come back twice in the opener but were able to get the W 5 - 4. It went down hill from there as LBS showed why they have national attention.
Softball also had a good start to their weekend in Riverside, CA but then dropped Saturday's set as well as the finale Sunday.
After the first day of 🤼 at the conference championship NDSU was in a tie for seventh but with that had some very promising performances.
LIttle if any of the other activity matched what the men's 🏀 pulled off during their opener in Sioux Falls. Similar to the last game they played at the tournament they used an unthinkable run of offense & defense to come from behind. This time they completed the task, eliminating Denver with a 20 point win. They will face the winner of ORU/WIU at 8:30 Monday night. The women came out with a level of execution rarely seen this season but then regressed back to the mean which was enough for KC. Before the games began Heaven Hamling was named Honorable Mention while Rocky Kreuser & Sam Griesel were First Team & Tyree Eady was All-Defense. There are reasons he didn't make a list but there aren't 10 players in the conference better than Grant Nelson which will make the next couple of days all the more entertaining.
And then there was Indianapolis. There hasn't been much word one way or the other about how Cordell Volson did during his time but Christian Watson more than made up for that with a blazing 40 time and a sure-handedness that he didn't always show at the Dome. All it takes it one team for him to be the latest one to smash through the barrier, who knows, maybe one of these years the consideration will be on par with other successful mid-major operations.
It was a slim-pickings sort of week for Moorhead State
But what they did have filled the vacuum nicely!
Monday night men's 🏀 played spoiler to three-loss Augustana in the conference semi-finals as Lorenze McGhee had a monster all around game. It would take contributions by everyone as they faced Duluth in the championship but the Dragons proved to be up to the task for their first conference tournament title ever. They will face the defending champs, NW Missouri St., back in Sioux Falls with a possible second round rematch of the conference title game. Four of the eight teams in the pod are from the Northern Sun. Regionalization is a factor but it's an unfortunate message that winning the title has muted value.
Wednesday brought good news as Travis Joseph & Trevor Berry were recognized for successes during the indoor track & field season.
Right before the calendar flipped Tyler Bormann's team got an affirmation that they are headed in the right direction as freshman Rowan Nelson was named to a pair of All-Conference teams. Their counterparts also had a member recognized for her play as Mary Sem was included on the All-Conference list as well, her second time. The high-note extended to Orlando as the women's 🎾 got their first win of the season. They made it three in a row with a pair of wins Tuesday and kept it rolling Thursday by winning one of two. *** The time in the sun was not so fun for the guys as they lost all six opportunities. To the Southeast of Mickey town ⚾️ also got their first W. In a quick turnaround they dropped their next two before winning two of the final three games of the week. The Sunshine State also proved to be the resting place of the softball team's streak of alternating wins & losses as they took a pair in convincing fashion Tuesday as Megan Gavin continued to dominate from the circle. They in turn dropped a pair before splitting the final two games of the week. With three weeks before their next games they have ample opportunity to work on the issues that were shown.
In the midst of all that Jesse Middendorf was named Most Outstanding Track Athlete. More recognition may be on the way as five qualified for the national meet in their last opportunity to do so.
Getting to 5 games over .500 for the first time since the end of the 2017/2018 season is a nice accomplishment. What's better is winning seven of nine since mid-February to close the gap on the teams at the bottom of the playoff standings. Even without Anthony Edwards, who has been out with knee tendonitis, they've managed to capitalize on a soft stretch of games that will continue into next weekend. With wins over Memphis, Cleveland & Golden State the opponents have not all been bottom-feeders and yet the Howl got the jobs done. Against Oklahoma City Friday they had the second most productive first half in franchise history which lends all the more credence to the idea that issues of prior years have been solved by the coaches and maturation of the players.
The Bolts had a split week. Sioux Falls came to town Thursday. After scoring first the next four got by their goalie while Louden Hogg saved 23 to secure the home victory. Game two was Sunday afternoon in Sioux City. Fargo fell behind 4 - 0 and was limited to two late scores. They will return to the normal scheduling next weekend in Tri-City.
Reminder that scores are added daily plus there's a new home for recruiting news, so check back often!
Even though some tournaments are over it doesn't seem like enough time has passed for the Winter sports seasons to be concluding. Nevertheless, there is far less remaining so enjoy what is still yet to unfold! Now for the games that have been played:
The Davies girls set the tone for their week with a 48 point win in the quarterfinals. North wasn't able to get out of the consolation semi-final but they can take something from the fact that none of the other teams to go against the Eagles had any better fortune. The Davies & West Fargo boys had similarly dominant performances in their first games of the tournament while South gave Sheyenne about as much as they could handle. So the teams reconvened at the SHAC Thursday. The Bruins were once again a tough test but North was able to survive them as Jeremiah Sem, Carter Zeller & Gabe Sagvold all score 19+. Sheyenne & Davies had even more on their plates as West Fargo & Shanley wanted to be the first to spring an upset. In the end neither was able to which set up the familiar pairing in the final game Saturday.
When the girls chances came North nearly secured a spot in one of the state qualifying games but Shanley proved to be too much for them in the second half. The hoopin' Safranski's advanced to the championship game with a 43 point win over West Fargo while Sheyenne lost for the first time since December to GFRR. So West Fargo would have to beat Wahpeton to extend their season, a task which proved too great as the Huskies advanced to the final tournament. That came after West Fargo's boys put a 25 point win on GFC & North edged Shanley by 3. The final spot in the state tournament came down to Sheyenne & Shanley. The Mustangs finished the first half with a 28 - 8 scoring surge and never looked back. In the girls championship Davies again won by 44 as their defense held Red River to only 34 points. After that came the announcement of the conference honors. You can see all the all-conference selections
The final game of the weekend once again pitted the familiar pair of Davies & Sheyenne. The Eagles were able to generate a 12 point lead before halftime and had to survive a Mustang comeback to win 66 - 60.
You can see photos from all the games
Afterward the rest of the conference honorees were announced.
And so the state tournament field was set.
Whatever is better than the best may be the word which most accurately describes the Kindred girls. While the Region 1 boys tournament field just got set they continued their undefeated season with wide-margin victories all the way to & through the final game, a 64 - 40 win over Grafton. Abby Duchscherer finished as the tournament MVP while Terryn Johnson & Kacie Burner joined her on All-Tournament.
North Dakota All-State girls 🏒 was also announced with several area skaters included. Ice news continued to the East as Moorhead was paired with Andover for the opening round of the state tournament this coming Thursday at 8 pm after they beat Elk River 8 - 4, scoring five of the final six goals. The Taters got more good news as Aiden Carlson earned all-state for finishing seventh in the 100M breaststroke.
Minnesota also made significant progress in determining the state 🏀 brackets. Hawley's girls had a great opening round performance but were eliminated by Crookston in the next round. The same happened to Barnesville, against Wadena & then Fergus Falls. Fertile/Beltrami's are the last ones standing as they got past Mahnomen & Fosston and will play Cass Lake tomorrow evening.
There was also a development outside the lines as West Fargo hired former University of Jamestown assistant Kelsey Titus to be their head 🏐 coach.
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