Girls’ basketball playoff games in 3A and 3AA postponed until Friday

WORTHINGTON — Due to inclement weather, the semifinals of the South Sub-Section of Section 3A and 3AA were cancelled Tuesday night and pushed to the same times on Friday.

The cancellations came a bit on the late side, as Worthington Athletic Director Mike Traphagen, who was hosting Fulda, Wabasso, Adrian and Southwest Christian at Worthington, didn’t receive word regarding games being postponed until 4:45 p.m.

With Wabasso coming more than 60 miles to Worthington to play Fulda at 6 p.m., cancelling games nearly an hour before game time wasn’t too convenient.

“It wasn’t my call,” Traphagen said. “I got the call from Region 3 around (4:45 p.m.).

“I think they were concerned about the drive homes after games for teams.”

Even for Fulda it was difficult.

“It was very tough to get the phone call on the bus,” Fulda coach Gregg Slaathaug said. “Once you get on the bus, you feel like it’s on and it took a little while to come down.

“There’s things in life you just can’t control. The girls are resilient and there’s nothing you can do about it. On one hand, it’s a little frustrating, but at the same time it’s the same for everyone.”

Adrian coach Randy Strand had the Dragons ready to go Tuesday.

“You have to take a step back and refocus,” Strand said. “You get all set for it, but the weather is just one of those things.

“We aren’t going to do much (with the extra days of practice). It’s a matter of keeping the wind in our sails. We are just going to come out and play hard, which is something you can always do. (The postponement) changes things, but everybody is in the same boat.”

In 3AA, Worthington and Pipestone Area were 15 minutes away from arriving at Jackson County Central for the teams’ matchup at 6 p.m. in 3AA when WHS coach Eric Lindner got the postponement call.

“Bad part is that we had them focused and ready to go and we have to get them refocused on Friday,” Lindner said. “The good part is it gets us a couple more days of practice.

“I think the north sections were going to be affected and they didn’t want us to have different schedules. You wish it was done sooner, but we need to remind ourselves that kids, spectators and players being safe is more important than a game.”

Even when clouds, rain and snow don’t allow the sun to shine, there’s a bright side to everything.

“It is what it is,” SWC coach Denise Nerem said. “We’ve had a couple of injuries, so of course we enjoy the extra couple of days.

“It gives us a little more time to go through the things that we’re working on. We look forward to the extra days.”

Lindner echoed Nerem’s thoughts.

“As a coach, you always welcome extra days of practice,” Lindner said. “It could have been done sooner, but the most important thing is that we all got home safe.”

In 3A, top-seeded Fulda will take on No. 4 seed Wabasso at 6 p.m. Friday at Worthington, which will be followed by No. 2 seed SWC and No. 3 seed Adrian at 7:30 p.m.

In 3AA, top-seeded Worthington will take on No. 5 seed Pipestone Area at Jackson County Central at 6 p.m. Friday, which will be followed by No. 7 seed Windom and No. 3 seed Fairmont at 7:30 p.m.

Sub-section championship games will be pushed from Friday to Monday.

Tags: southwest christian, sports, prep, basketball, fulda, trojans, adrian