State's No. 1 girls team keeps rollin'

The saying, "We've got a target on our back by being ranked No. 1," just doesn't have much ring to it these days.

After Minneota rang up its sixth straight win, 83-37 over Russell-Tyler-Ruthton Thursday night, the fact is, there may be a target, but nobody, so far, has been in range to hit a bullseye.

Instead of contested games, Coach Chad Johnston has been getting games with a chance to test his reserves, work on the details of the game and all-the-while trying to keep his starters in focus.

He didn't have much trouble with that Thursday night when sophomore Abby Hennen scored 26 points with eight rebounds with Lydia Sussner adding 22. Sussner also grabbed 15 rebounds as the pair of Vikings scored 48 points together, or more than half of their team's points. And they had 23 of the team's 36 rebounds.

An undersized, over-matched Knight squad fell behind early at 12-3 and never caught up. By halftime it was 51-23 and another runaway Viking ship headed for a victory.

Mnneota had 13 steals, five of them by Abby Hennen, as they forced 24 RTR turnovers.

Now Minneota turns its attention to Isle, MN — where they open up a four-team, two-day tournament tonight against host Isle (1-7). They play at 5 p.m. Spectrum (4-3) will play the Lake of the Woods Bears (5-1) in the other game.

Winners and losers play on Saturday in Isle.

MINNEOTA (2's, 3's, FT F-TP) Audra Buysse 0 0 0-0  0 0; Lizzy Gillingham 3 0 1-2 1 7; Abby Hennen 10 1 3-3 2 26; Morgan Hennen 3 0 1-1 3 7; Morgan Kockelman 2 0 1-1 1 5; Katie Konold 0 0 0-0 0 0; Mariah Muhl 0 0 0-0 2 0; Natalee Rolbiecki 2 1 0-0 0 7; Abby Rost 1  0 0-0 1 4; Jeren Rost 1 0 0-0 0 2; Madison Sorenson 0 0 0-0 0 0; Lydia Sussner 10 0 2-5 1 22. Totals 33 3 8-14 11 83.

RUSSELL-TYLER-RUTHTON  (2's, 3's, FT, F TP) Joni Biren 1 1 0-0 3 5; Skylar Borresen 0 1 0-0 1 3; Kalleigh Carr 2 0 0-0 3 4; Allie Christianson 2 0 1-2 2 5; Rylie Hess 1 0 0-0 0 2; Haley Muenchow 0 0 0-0 2 0; Madison Muenchow 1 0 0-0 0 0 2; Ashley Owen 0 0 0-0 0 0; McKinley Schreurs 0 0 0-0 0 0; Brooke Thomsen 4 0 1-5 2 9; Shawna Thomsen 2 1 0-0 4 7. Totals 13 3 16-45 16 37.

Score by Halves

RTR                  23    14    —    37

Minneota          51     32    —   83

Statistics:

SHOOTING (AB-R-H-RBI) Minneota (33 of 62 for 53 percent; 3's 3 of 9 for 33 percent; overall 36 of 71 for 51 percent); RTR (2's 13 of 37 for 35 percent; 3's 3 of 8 for 38 percent; overall 16 of 45 for 36 percent).

FREE THROWS: Minneota 8 of 14 for 57 percent; RTR 2 of 7 for 29 percent.

REBOUNDS: Minneota 36 (Sussner 15, A. Hennen 8; M. Hennen 3; Rolbiecki, A. Rost, J. Rost 2 each); RTR 20 (S. Thomsen 5; Biren, B. Thomsen 3 each, Hess, Carr, Christianson 1 each).

TURNOVERS: Minneota 12; RTR 24.

STEALS: Mnneota 13 (A. Hennen 5, Gilligham 3, Kockelman 2, A. Rost, Sussner, Yost 1 each); RTR 7 (H. Muenchoe 2, Biren, Borresen, Carr, M. Muenchow, B. Thomsen 1 each).

ASSISTS: Minneota 19 (A. Hennen 5, Sussner 4, M. Hennen, Kockelman, Konold 2 each, Gillingham, Muhl, Rolbiecki, A. Rost 1 each); RTR 10 (S. Thomsen 3, B. Thomsen, H. Muenchow 2 each, Carr, M. Muenchow , Wendland 1 each).

BLOCKS: Minneota 4 (A. Hennen 2, M. Hennen, Sorenson 1 each); RTR 0.

B SQUAD: Minneota 53, RTR 43.