Austin Packers girls basketball cruises by Winona 63-25 Tuesday evening

The Austin Packers girls’ basketball team, the No. 1 team in the state in the last Class AAA poll from the Associated Press played host to the Winona Winhawks in a Big 9 Conference matchup at Ove Berven Gym Tuesday evening, and Cassidy Schute led 10 Packers who broke into the scoring column with 17 points as Austin rolled to a 63-25 win.

The Packers jumped out to a 17-0 lead before the Winhawks tallied their first field goal of the game with 10:40 left in the first half to make the score 17-2, and Austin finshed the half on a 29-8 run to lead 46-10 at the half.  The Packers forced 20 Winona turnovers and led by as many as 43 in the second half on their way to the win.

Schute scored all 17 of her points in the first half for Austin, while Olivia Walsh was also in double figures with 10 points, Ajiem Agwa and Reana Schmitt each added eight points, Hope and Emma Dudycha each tallied five points, Maire Tolbert scored four points for the Packers, Mya Walters and Kiru Othow chipped in two points apiece and Marissa Schute scored one point for the Packers, who moved to 9-0 in the Big 9 Conference and 11-1 overall on the season with the win.

Austin returns to action Friday night in Rochester versus the Mayo Spartans, with varsity action set to tip off at 7:30 p.m.