Photo by Paul Trende
Goodhue girls basketball (1-seed, 26-3), ranked #3 in Class AA, used a quotient centered around junior guard Elisabeth Gadient, and an offense which, when it scored, scored in chunks, to subdue #13 in AA Caledonia (3-seed, 25-3) in the 1AA championship game. Scott Sorenson’s Warriors never led as the Wildcats were an offensive buzz saw. Goodhue jumped out 9-2 and 15-5 and led 43-31 at the half. The ‘Cats scored on 15 first half possessions. Total points scored on 10 of those possessions equaled 33 (or 3.3 points per scoring possession). Because of offensive rebounds, Josh Wieme’s Wildcats had a five-point possession and a four-point possession (both in their 15-5 start), plus a three-point play, and seven stand-alone three-pointers (from five different players). Goodhue stayed well ahead in the second half because of free throws. They made 15 of 26 after intermission. Hitting 18 total free throws, 10 total threes, and racking up 18 offensive rebounds for 17 second-chance-points, the Wildcats put 78 on the board in ending Caledonia’s season 78-58. Defensively, the Wildcats limited the Warrior starting five, all seniors, to 31 total points. Josie Foster (12 pts, 6-11 FGs), a sophomore, and Aubrie Klug (11 pts, 4-8 FGs 6 rebs), a freshman, were the only Warriors in double digits. Each had just two second half points. Senior Alexis Schroeder had 9 points (3-8 threes) all in the second half. Senior Jovial King chipped in 8 (pts) and 7 (rebs). Gadient, a 5’11” junior guard, had a game-high 26 points with 6 rebounds to lead the Wildcats. She hit four threes, including a couple from very deep, and went 8 of 9 at the free throw line. Kendyl Lodermeier (19 pts, 10 rebs, 4 asts) and Melanie Beck (10 pts) also hit double figures. Tori Miller added 7 (pts) and 8 (rebs). Goodhue was 10 of 22 (45%) from deep, 18 of 31 from the line (58%), and 25 of 55 (45%) from the field, beating the Warriors in every shooting category. Caledonia went 6 of 25 from deep (24%), 4 of 7 (57%) from the line, and 24 of 65 from the field (37%). The Warriors almost kept up in offensive rebounds (15) and second-chance-points (11). It is a tough end to the season for a senior-laden Cal squad that handled #6 Lourdes in the semifinals and thus had high hopes to make state. The Warriors had a 12-game losing streak snapped. They ended the year at 25-4 as TRC-East champion and 1AA runner-up. They added eight wins to last year’s 17-11 squad and posted their most wins and furthest post-season progress since the 2018-2019 1AA Champion and State Runner-Up squad (26-5). The senior class was nine strong including starters Schroeder, King, Paige Klug, Ava Privet, and Isabelle Schultz, reserves Arianna Tostenson, Elly Milde, Kennedy Kruse, and Hannah Myhre.
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