Area girls basketball action from Thursday

The Blooming Prairie Awesome Blossoms girls basketball team was looking to bounce back from an opening-round loss to No. 2 ranked in Class A Hayfield Vikings at the Hayfield Holiday tournament Thursday afternono versus the Zumbrota-Mazeppa Cougars in Round 2, and it was the Blossoms wearing out a path to the free-throw line in a hard-fought 66-57 win.

The Blossoms held a slim 25-23 lead at the half, but the biggest key to the game was Blooming Prairie taking an astounding 41 trips to the free throw line and making 31 of them for 75%, while the Cougars shot 20 free throws and made 10 of them for 50%.  Shawntee Snyder led all scorers in the game with 27 points, guard Macy Lembke was also in double figures as she swished two of BP’s three 3-pointers in the game for 11 points in all, Claire Schwarz drained the other 3-pointer for the Blossoms on her way to 10 points, Addison Doocy chipped in eight points from the front court, Ella Smith scored six points, and Catelyn Bartlett totaled four points in the win.

The Blossoms are now 8-2 overall and 5-1 in the Gopher Conference heading into the 2024 portion of their schedule, which will kick off at home versus Maple River in the Gopher Conference on January 5th.

The Grand Meadow Superlarks were also in action at the Hayfield Holiday tournament Thursday as they were also looking to bouce back from an opening-round loss Wednesday at the hands of Zumbrota-Mazeppa versus Kenyon-Wanamingo, and it was Gracie Foster drilling six 3-pointers on her way to 22 points to help lead the Larks to a 50-33 win.

Grand Meadow led 26-9 at the half, and besides Foster’s 22 points, Lexy Foster was also in double figures in scoring with 14 points, Lauren Queensland drained a pair of Grand Meadow’s nine 3-pointers overall in the game on her way to 10 points, Grace Soltau totaled two points, and Aspen Kolling and Rylee Schaufler each scored one point apiece in the win.

With the win, the Superlarks are now 5-4 overall on the season, and Grand Meadow returns to action on Tuesday, January 2nd versus Hayfield in a rematch of the Section 1A title game from last season.  You’ll hear the game from Grand Meadow on AM 1480 KAUS, with the pre-game show that evening scheduled to start at 7:00 p.m., and the varsity tip-off is set for 7:15 p.m.