John's Journal: West Central Area Rises Early, Gets Things Done

The girls basketball team from West Central Area was up early Friday morning. It was going to be a big day and the Knights were excited as they prepared to play at Williams Arena for the first time. The program’s only previous state tourney experience had come in 2021, when they lost a state quarterfinal game in Perham during those pandemic-affected days.

The Knights had looked sharp in Thursday’s Class A state quarterfinals down the hall at Maturi Pavilion, defeating Cromwell-Wright 61-54. There was optimism in the air early Friday, when everyone was up by 7 and then working out in the gym at Hamline University in St. Paul before heading to the University of Minnesota campus for a noon game that not too many outside of West Central Area -- the communities involved are Barrett, Elbow Lake, Hoffman, Kensington, and Wendell (as if you didn’t know) – figured the Knights would win.

The opponent was one of the best teams in small-school basketball. The Goodhue Wildcats, top-seeded at state, won titles in 2016 and 2017 and did the same last year. With another repeat on their minds, the Wildcats are known for a relentless press, physical play and quality athletes.

West Central coach Becca Holland knew all about Goodhue.

“We made sure we were ready for their press,” Becca said a little after 2 o’clock Friday. “We saw their press yesterday against (Walker-Hackensack-Akeley in the quarterfinals) so we knew they were coming out in that. It was not something new, but just something that we had to refresh our brains on. We knew 21 (Goodhue’s Kendyl Lodermeier) was going to kind of be their go-to girl, so we worked on that a little bit this morning as well, looking at fronting. … We talked in the locker room before the game about doing the small things, making sure that we're talking on defense, keeping our girl in front of us, not letting them get second-chance baskets. And we did that stuff really, really well.”

No, no kidding. The final score was WCA 58, Defending Champs 50 and it was a remarkable thing to see.

Goodhue couldn’t hit the broadside of a battleship in the first half, making only eight of 32 field-goal attempts (25 percent). The Wildcats finished the game hitting 20 of 64, and 31.3-percent shooting won’t get you to the next round.

“I thought we got into good spots, and I don't feel we always made it a good shot,” said Goodhue coach Josh Wieme. “Sometimes it was rushed. We were off balance. … That’s an outstanding defensive team that West Central has. They're very strong, they were in great position, they move their feet well, and I do think their physicality had a lot to do with the shots not falling for us.”

The Knights shot 45.2 percent from the field and had four players in double figures: Mya Foslien with 15, Addison Staples and Jayden Styba with 12, and Macy Grosz with 11. Addison and Macy also had 11 rebounds each.

“That's huge,” Holland said. “How do you lose a game when you have four kids in double digits working together? That’s hard to stop. As well as the kids coming off the bench with energy? Everyone knew their role, they bought into it and did what they were supposed to do.”

Lodermeier led Goodhue with 15 points and 15 rebounds, and Lola Christanson had 13 points.

“Yesterday we hit 12 threes,” Wieme said. “Today it was two (for 16). So if you want to try to free Kendyl up a little bit and take a little pressure off of her, we’ve just got to hit some outside shots. I don't know how many text messages I sent to friends that were wishing us luck. They asked, ‘How's it going to go?’ I said, ‘We’ve got to hit some shots.’ And two was not enough.”

West Central Area is (conveniently) a member of the West Central Conference. Other WCC teams playing at state are Minnewaska Area and Sauk Centre, both in Class 2A. West Central Area lost to both of those teams twice in conference play, also losing to New London-Spicer (2A) and Breckenridge (1A). The Knights were hard-wired for a run at state after Section 6 playoff wins over Brandon-Evansville (by 14 points), Hancock (by five), Breckenridge (by three in overtime) and Underwood (by five).

In Saturday’s state championship game the Knights will meet against MACCRAY, which beat Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s 60-56 in Friday’s other semifinal.

Brielle Janssen, a 6-foot-1 junior, led MACCRAY with 26 points and 18 rebounds. She made six of 19 field-goal attempts and 12 of 16 free throws.

“Brielle is a unique player,” said Wolverines coach Shaun Condon. “If LeBron James was guarding her she would try and go score the ball. She just has that mentality. And what's impressive is she makes everyone else better.”

St. Mary’s was led by sophomore Morgan Mathiowetz with 28 points and 12 rebounds.

--This is St. Mary’s fourth time at state, all under 36-year coach Bruce Woitas, but this time is different in that the Knights get to play a full tournament. In 1999, state quarterfinals were held at outstate sites; the Knights lost and there was no consolation bracket. In 2005, they came to state but again it was one and done. And in 2021 pandemic restrictions were in place as St. Mary’s reached the state semifinals at Target Center, but again no consolation round was held. This Knights will meet Goodhue in Saturday’s third-place game at Concordia University in St. Paul.

“These kids got the experience of what it's supposed to be like,” said Woitas, whose career record is 561-364. “Up here, you’ve just got to compete. And our kids competed right to the end.”

--What’s MACCRAY, you may ask? The district involves the communities of Maynard, Clara City and Raymond.

Cretin-Derham Hall’s Gunderson Has Some Stories

Cretin-Derham Hall girls basketball Tara Gunderson has a couple of interesting distinctions in her hoops career.

The first is that she was a member of the last group of girls to play six-on-six basketball in her home state of Iowa She grew up in the small town of Lake Park in northwest Iowa. Starting in the 1920s and continuing through the 1992-93 season, six-on-six basketball involved six players on each team – three forwards, three guards – and no one crossed the center line. (Video can be found on YouTube.)

“My mom played it in like 1957 and so it was a big deal,” said Tara, who played basketball at Iowa State.

“I had to transition, learn how to play point guard five-on-five,” she said. “But yeah, so I'm old. We have talked about the experience for young women to get to play at the state tournament and the crowds and to be on a college court. It's awesome. They're getting to play at a really exciting time for women in sports.”

Gunderson’s other data point involves three-point shooting at Iowa State. She started a lengthy Cyclone streak when she made a three-pointer on Feb. 19, 1995, at Colorado. After that, Iowa State hit at least one three in every game for almost 30 years. The streak ended on Jan. 14, 2025, when the Cyclones went 0-for-7 against Texas Tech in Ames.

To this day, Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly has a play that’s called “Lake Park” in honor of Gunderson. According to the Des Moines Register, it’s a simple ball-reversal play designed to get players moving. When done correctly, the post player sets a back screen that helps free up an open shooter from beyond the arc.

Gunderson was the head coach at Chaska for 16 years before moving to Cretin-Derham Hall in 2023. Her Chaska team won a state title in 2021.

Happy To Be Cheering For Marshall

Remember the aircraft that flipped upon landing in Toronto last month? All 76 passengers and four crew members on board survived, and one of the passengers is the father of a Marshall basketball player involved in this week’s state tournament.

John Devos, who travels to the Toronto area for business on a regular basis, told the Marshall Independent he was “pretty lucky and pretty blessed … Once we rolled, I thought we were done.”

When Marshall coach Dan Westby saw John Devos –father of Tigers junior Halle Devos -- at a game upon his return home, “I went up to him and I told him, ‘John, it’s good to see you and I've never meant that more.’ ”

--Postgame quote from Benilde-St. Margaret’s coach Tim Ellefson after the Red Knights defeated Alexandria in the Class 3A semifinals: “We talk all the time about, ‘What are we doing this for? What are our goals?’ Are we here to get awards? Are we here to score 40 points, are we here to score 2,000? No, we're here to win banners. And that's kind of been our mantra.”

A Sign Of Positivity At The State Tournament

Fans often hold handmade signs at state tournaments. The signs almost always express support for the home team, but a sign in the Goodhue crowd on Friday took a different tack.

Goodhue senior Caleb Lodermeier (cousin to Kendyl) wore a striped referee shirt to the game. The sign he held had in large letters: GO REFS. In smaller letters were the names of several officials who are well-known in Goodhue and southeast Minnesota. They included high-level multisport officials M.J. Wagenson (simply MJ on the sign), Marshel (short for Marshall Behrens) and others.

It was the best sign in sports history.

--MSHSL staff member John Millea has been the leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Bluesky at johnmilleamn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts. Contact John at jmillea@mshsl.org or john.millea@ymail.com