By Scott Sorenson, special to The Argus

The Caledonia girls basketball teams have had a very successful summer. Here is a summary of three teams.

On July 9th our 6th grade team competed in the Minnesota Pacesetter Invitational basketball tournament held at the College of St. Bens in St. Joseph, MN.

They were invited to the tournament by winning at least two games in a qualifying tournament held back in April. The 6th grade girls played great, winning the Consolation Championship.

The tournament gave us a great look at how we as a team stacked up against the rest of the state and the girls showed that they could compete with anyone. It also gave the girls an idea of what they need to improve on in order to be able to compete at this level. The team was coached by Mitch Mullins.

8th graders excelÝ

On July 10th the 8th grade girls competed in the Minnesota Pacesetter State Championships which they qualified for by winning a regional tournament back in April. Again the girls were outstanding winning the Minnesota State Basketball Championship, beating New London Spicer in the Championship game by 1 point.

The only way a team can compete in this tournament is by winning a regional tournament, so the competition was phenomenal. Our girls were outstanding, playing a very aggressive up-tempo style of basketball.

In the first game they beat a very good Bemidji team, they then played and beat a very solid team from Kenyon-Wanamingo.

Then in the championship game they were running away from a extremely tough NL-S team until NL-S mounted a comeback to close the gap to one. But the girls were not frustrated they just dealt with it and went back to what they know and that is to play swarming defense and pushing the ball. This was an eye opener for a lot of the players in that they were able to compete with the best in the state and come out on top. The team was coached byÝKevin Klug.

Editorís note: We did not receive a photo of the 8th grade team, but should have one for next weekís paper.

Freshmen shine too

On July 10th our 9th grade girls basketball team competed in the Minnesota Pacesetter State Championships which they qualified for by winning a regional tournament back in April. The girls lost in the consolation championship to Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop.

They started the tournament by playing the eventual champion Crookston, a team that has never lost a game in this tournament the past 4 years. The girls got down early but never quit competing and working their way back into the game until Crookston just took over and won the game.

The next game they played against Worthington. In a very intense game with the score going back and forth, the girls rallied to win the game to put them in the consolation championship where they faced GFW in another well played game. We lead most of the way until they made a couple clutch shots.

The biggest of them all came with four seconds left in which there was a scramble under their basket and they put the ball in to lead by one. We had a good look at the last second shot to win the game and girls executed a very good play but the shot just rimmed out. The team was coached by Carl Fruechte.

All in all it was a very busy weekend of basketball against the best competition in the state and our girls made us proud as they showed they could compete with the best. But it also shows us that their is room to get better and the girls realize that and have been spending a lot of time in the weightroom and gym to get better. Great job girls,Ýyour parents, coaches and I are very proud of you! Thank you for some great games.

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Caledonia Argus
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E-Mail: editor.argus@ecm-inc.com