Minnesota Girls Basketball State Championship 2023

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www.startribune.com

Minnesota girls basketball state tournament. Get latest stories and updates here

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It's perennial finalist Hopkins vs St Michael-Albertville and Metro Player of the year Tessa Johnson:

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Three angles: Breaking down the Class 4A girls basketball championship game

It's perennial finalist Hopkins vs. St. Michael-Albertville and Metro Player of the Year Tessa Johnson.
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It's Benilde-St Margaret [with star Olivia Olson], likely lacking key guard Kendall McGee, vs tournament first-timer Stewartville:

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Three angles: Breaking down the Class 3A girls basketball championship game

It's Benilde-St. Margaret's, likely lacking key guard Kendall McGee, vs. tournament first-timer Stewartville.
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Maddyn Greenway dominated vs Minnehaha Academy, and Grace Counts provided a perfect dose of help:

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Defending champ Providence Academy returns to Class 2A final

Maddyn Greenway dominated vs. Minnehaha Academy, and Grace Counts provided a perfect dose of help.
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Grace Kindley broke a tie:

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Late three-pointer launches Albany into Class 2A title game

Tatum Findley broke a tie with Goodhue when she scored from afar with 1:10 left.
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BOLD turned to defense to hold down two Hayfield standouts:

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BOLD holds off Hayfield for spot in Class 1A championship game

BOLD turned to a defense designed to hold down two Hayfield standouts, and it worked.
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Top-ranked rangers trailed:

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Mountain Iron-Buhl roars back vs. Brooten-Belgrade-Elrosa, reaches 1A final

The top-ranked Rangers trailed by 11 points with 10 minutes to play.
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So far on Championship Saturday:

A: Mt Iron-Buhl 52, BOLD 21. M-I-B just blew the doors off in the 2nd half.

2A: Providence Academy 74, Albany 60. Albany kept it close in the 1st half. in the 2nd half, PA broke it open with their size and quickness. Greenway got rolling and had plenty of help.
 

Tessa Johnson and St Michael-Albertville edge superpower Hopkins for State title.

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St. Michael-Albertville bursts from the gate, gets away with 4A title

Hopkins mounted a challenge in the second half but stopped a point short of making up ground lost at the start.
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"Tessa Johnson, the Star Tribune Metro Player of the Year, had 27 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists for the Knights, who had four players score in double figures.

Defending champion Hopkins, which trailed by as many as 21 points in the first half, closed to within one"
 

I'm just repeating what I heard, so don't shoot the messenger
Can anyone confirm that the Hopkins girls lack of sportsmanship? Heard some of the starters wouldn't allow the silver medals to placed around their necks while other starters sent up reserves to get their medals? Heard they held the runner-up trophy waist high and backwards so no one could see it? If this is true, that's ridiculous and the coach should be ashamed to let the players act that way.......
 


Some really great games. I haven’t watched a ton of hs basketball since my daughter graduated but my goodness these girls teams are playing at an amazing high level and there is not a ton of difference in the level of play between the classes from 1A through 4A. Huge crowds. The only disappointing thing I saw was some really bad sportsmanship in a couple of the championship games, won’t rip on kids but hopefully lessons can be learned.
 

cheeseheadgophfan said:
I'm just repeating what I heard, so don't shoot the messenger
Can anyone confirm that the Hopkins girls lack of sportsmanship? Heard some of the starters wouldn't allow the silver medals to placed around their necks while other starters sent up reserves to get their medals? Heard they held the runner-up trophy waist high and backwards so no one could see it? If this is true, that's ridiculous and the coach should be ashamed to let the players act that way.......
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They were upset, In the moment it was probably tough. I didn't see anyone refuse to take the medal or make someone else go get it, didn't seem to want to wear them. You could tell they were pissed they lost. Thats part of sports. When they are older they will realize they made a great comeback and it was a good basketball game. Hopkins is used to winning, I get the disappointment I saw some of the players not standing with teammates as a little disrespectful. Win as a team lose as a team even if your pissed. Coaches can coach about it, but you are not going to be able to control everyone's emotions. I mean Hopkins is a collection of AAU All Stars so they probably don't even have that big a connection to the school. Stewartsville was visibly upset they lost too but I don't think they were as demonstrative in not accepting medals. The 3A and 4A championships were great games to watch. High School sports isn't the same anymore, it's a collection of have and have not schools, where All Star teams gather at the same schools every year. It's really bad in Hockey and Youth Hockey.
 





I watched the 4A championship game. Piss poor sportsmanship on Hopkins part for sure. Not all of them, mainly starters. I call it the Ken Novack Jr. syndrome. Hopkins boys did it a few times before. It start’s at the top, coaching. Represent your team,your school,and your community with class.
 

Just in case anyone missed the scores:

3A: Benilde-St. Margaret's 66, Stewartville 60
Benilde had an 8pt lead at half (34-26). Benilde led by Lumpkin with 21 and Olson with 19. Stewie led by Hedin with 17 and Strum with 12. Benilde 19-30 FT's / Stewie 7-12.

4A: St. Michael-Albertville 71, Hopkins 70.
SMA led by 17 at half (42-25). Hopkins outscored SMA 45-29 in 2nd half. Final stats were close - Hopkins made 1 more FG (with 24 more FGA) but SMA made one more 3-pt'er and 2 more FT.
Each team had four in double figures. SMA led by Johnson with 27. Hopkins led by Woodson with 21.
 

cheeseheadgophfan said:
I'm just repeating what I heard, so don't shoot the messenger
Can anyone confirm that the Hopkins girls lack of sportsmanship? Heard some of the starters wouldn't allow the silver medals to placed around their necks while other starters sent up reserves to get their medals? Heard they held the runner-up trophy waist high and backwards so no one could see it? If this is true, that's ridiculous and the coach should be ashamed to let the players act that way.......
Click to expand...
They're teenagers, but influenced by adults/coaches. Many players wouldn't let them put the medal on them and they were less than happy with second place. It wasn't a good look and was disrespectful but hopefully some adults will help them work through it going forward. I wasn't perfect as a teenager. My sophomore daughter remarked the STMA staff looked and acted much more professional than the Hopkins staff. Appearances and leadership matter.
 

gopherdudepart2 said:
They were upset, In the moment it was probably tough. I didn't see anyone refuse to take the medal or make someone else go get it, didn't seem to want to wear them. You could tell they were pissed they lost. Thats part of sports. When they are older they will realize they made a great comeback and it was a good basketball game. Hopkins is used to winning, I get the disappointment I saw some of the players not standing with teammates as a little disrespectful. Win as a team lose as a team even if your pissed. Coaches can coach about it, but you are not going to be able to control everyone's emotions. I mean Hopkins is a collection of AAU All Stars so they probably don't even have that big a connection to the school. Stewartsville was visibly upset they lost too but I don't think they were as demonstrative in not accepting medals. The 3A and 4A championships were great games to watch. High School sports isn't the same anymore, it's a collection of have and have not schools, where All Star teams gather at the same schools every year. It's really bad in Hockey and Youth Hockey.
Click to expand...
I saw some of their players who were not displaying good sportsmanship. For me that’s on the coach to have an expectation that win/ lose you act respectful of the game. An earlier poster commented on Greenway. As a freshman somebody needs to sit her down and challenge her to be more like Sue Bird and less like Diana Taurasi…….
 



GoldInDirt said:
They're teenagers, but influenced by adults/coaches. Many players wouldn't let them put the medal on them and they were less than happy with second place. It wasn't a good look and was disrespectful but hopefully some adults will help them work through it going forward. I wasn't perfect as a teenager. My sophomore daughter remarked the STMA staff looked and acted much more professional than the Hopkins staff. Appearances and leadership matter.
Click to expand...
I know a couple on the STMA staff. They are very professional and courteous.
 

I also saw the poor sportsmanship of Hopkins! 3 players didn"t put the medal around their neck! I also noticed only one captain came forward to get the trophy and there are usually 4 captains! I'm sure some won't agree with me but it made me feel better about losing these players to other schools
 

Tessa Johnson was easily the best player on the floor in that 4A game. She had the ball in her hands like 80 percent of the time and I can't remember her coming off the floor. Hopkins had way more good players they could rotate in and keep on the pressure. STMA two best players really could not come off the floor or Hopkins would have gone on big runs. Excellent game!
 



Agreed the head coach at STMA kind of rubbed salt into the wound well after normal composure time after initial celebration. Maybe some history to that response that we don’t know of.
From what they showed on TV only one girl chose to not have medal around her neck. She never refused but just reached out for the medal. The other girl who didn’t take medal over her neck was done because the presenter was too short to get it over her head with her high hair style. They tried but then she just took it in her hand after presenter had difficulty.
There may have been other things not shown on tv but let’s not search for things that were not there.
 

MNSpaniel said:
Agreed the head coach at STMA kind of rubbed salt into the wound well after normal composure time after initial celebration. Maybe some history to that response that we don’t know of.
From what they showed on TV only one girl chose to not have medal around her neck. She never refused but just reached out for the medal. The other girl who didn’t take medal over her neck was done because the presenter was too short to get it over her head with her high hair style. They tried but then she just took it in her hand after presenter had difficulty.
There may have been other things not shown on tv but let’s not search for things that were not there.
Click to expand...
A bunch, maybe 1/3 to 1/2, didn't wear medals. The STMA celebration didn't seem over the top in person. Coaches only have so many opportunities to win State in their lifetime. He was genuine in his reactions and hugged each player after they were given their medal. And the game was great. A tale of two halves.
 

STMA did their best to throw that championship game away.....the amount of shots they took within 15 seconds of getting the ball were crazy....what the coach was telling his players there in the 2nd half we will never know....but holy smokes the game should have never been that close
 

I think we’re going to see a change in styles for a lot of teams next year, when the shot clock comes in to play for the whole season. While I agree that STMA should have slowed it down a little more in the second half, there’s only going to be so much slowing down they can do going forward. And that’s a good thing for the sport, as well as for the girls who are going to be playing in college.
 

People also need to realize that this was a conference rematch and Hopkins swept the 2 games during the season. That likely added to the emotions on both sides. Not many events anymore where you're expected to instantly show composure and stop grieving or celebrating for a TV production.
 

*Disclaimer: I am an alum of STMA HS and was present at The Barn Saturday night, so anything I write comes from that lens.

I'm also fairly certain that STMA hadn't beaten Hopkins since joining the Lake Conference until Saturday night. And if they had, it was a long time ago.

Game awareness is a lost art. There were several times where STMA got an offensive rebound away from the basket, and instead of taking the ball out and running another 30 seconds off the clock, went hard to the rack. While it's a good instinct to have, one also has to be aware of the game situation.

As for the medals business, at least 4 or 5 of the Hopkins players never put the medals on their neck. I understand that it's going to burn to lose gold instead of winning silver, but it's not insignificant to be in that spot. Get those medals on your neck.
 

GoldInDirt said:
A bunch, maybe 1/3 to 1/2, didn't wear medals. The STMA celebration didn't seem over the top in person. Coaches only have so many opportunities to win State in their lifetime. He was genuine in his reactions and hugged each player after they were given their medal. And the game was great. A tale of two halves.
Click to expand...
Have no clue how you could have missed the coach's celebration. It was clearly over the top. Grant it coaches have so many opportunities, but they are adults and should act like one regardless of the situation. Wasn't a very good teaching moment. As far as I'm concerned, the head coach rubbed it in to Hopkins with his celebration.
 

#2Gopher said:
Have no clue how you could have missed the coach's celebration. It was clearly over the top. Grant it coaches have so many opportunities, but they are adults and should act like one regardless of the situation. Wasn't a very good teaching moment. As far as I'm concerned, the head coach rubbed it in to Hopkins with his celebration.
Click to expand...
I saw the whole thing. We're going to have to agree to disagree with our perception of it.
 

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