College basketball: Lady Jays prepare for Region 13A tourney

By Doug Wolter

March 01, 2017 07:18 PM

DOUG WOLTER

WORTHINGTON -- Mismatches may loom large in Saturday’s Region 13A college women’s basketball game between Minnesota West and Anoka-Ramsey.

And the mismatches will go both ways.

The Lady Jays will have a height advantage when the two teams meet at Coon Rapids for a 6 p.m. tip-off. On the other hand, the Golden Rams’ wealth of outside shooters gives them an edge on the perimeter, and they’re likely to harass the Jays’ ball-handlers on the defensive end.

“The problem is you’ve gotta take care of the basketball before you find that mismatch,” said West head coach Rosalie Hayenga-Hostikka.

The two teams split a pair of games during the regular season, but Anoka-Ramsey is the No. 1 seed in the four-team tournament that it hosts Saturday and Sunday. The Rams are 10-2 in the Minnesota College Athletic Conference (MCAC) and the Lady Jays are 8-4.

In the other semifinal game Saturday, Rochester Community and Technical College (9-3 in the MCAC) and MState-Fergus Falls (8-4) contend at 8 p.m. The championship game is set for 5 p.m. Sunday, with a berth in the NJCAA national tournament on the line.

Hayenga-Hostikka notes that all four teams in the tournament are very capable of winning it all. “Four really good basketball teams, and whoever plays the best is gonna go,” she said.

First things first. The fourth-seeded Lady Jays will have their work cut out against the Rams.

“We have to be able to take care of the basketball against them. They always have that high-intensity, high-pressure,” Hayenga-Hostikka said Wednesday afternoon.

Defensively, at least one of the Jays’ taller players will need to defend outside her comfort zone.

“We’re going to have to defend 35 feet away from the basket,” said the West coach.

Anoka-Ramsey, meanwhile, will have to deal with a very balanced Minnesota West squad. Katherin Ihnen leads the team with a 17 points-per game average. Andrea Hinkeldey averages 14 points per game, Emily Haubrich 11.6, Tanner Gunnink 10.6, Ashlynn Wabeke 10.4 and Taylor Noid 9.4. Noid dishes out 6.6 assists per game. Ihnen averages 10.1 rebounds per outing, with Hinkeldey coming in at 8.8 and Gunnink 8.4.

By Doug Wolter

Doug Wolter joined the Worthington Globe in December of 1983 as a sports reporter. He later became sports editor, and then news editor and managing editor. In 2006 he moved to Mankato with his wife, Sandy, and served as an editor at the Mankato Free Press. In 2013 he and Sandy returned to Worthington to take up the job of sports editor at The Globe, and they have been in Worthington since.

Doug can be reached at dwolter@dglobe.com.

College basketball: Lady Jays prepare for Region 13A tourney

DOUG WOLTER dwolter@dglobe.com WORTHINGTON -- Mismatches may loom large in Saturday's Region 13A college women's basketball game between Minnesota West and Anoka-Ramsey. And the mismatches will go both ways. The Lady Jays will have a height advan...