Hopkins Stretches Win Streak to Eight
By Matt Thomas (From 12/31 edition of The Lakeshore Weekly News)

With two legitimate division one players and a host of role players who are more than filling their roles, the Hopkins girls basketball team has now won eight straight as they head into their conference schedule.
After suffering a 41-36 loss to Breck in just the second game of the season, the Royals have been all business. During the eight game winning streak, the Royals have outscored their opponents by almost 24 points a game.
The Royals recipe for success has been a heavy dose of consistency from superstars Jordan Barnes and Leslie Knight and strong play from players like Kaitlyn Lillemoe, Abby Greene, Renee Parker and Annie Isler.
It was Greene who sparked the Royals in the first half of their game with Champlin Park in the quarterfinals of the Apple Valley Shootout on Dec. 27.
The freshman guard scored 14 first half points including 4-5 from three point range as the Royals built a 30-7 lead after the first quarter.
“We are far from a two-man team in Jordan Barnes and Leslie Knight,” Cosgriff said. “We made a concerted effort to have our role players score a little more this year.”
While the Royals offense seems to be clicking on all cylinders, it’s the team’s defense that has been its hallmark the past three seasons.
The Royals continued to force steals with relentless full court pressure the entire first half and the result was a combination of open shoots and easy lay-ups.
Lillemoe scored six points in the second quarter on 3-3 from the field as the Royals took a 52-13 lead into halftime.
Barnes and Knight got their share of points as well. Barnes led all scorers with 18 points, while Knight and Greene finished with 16 apiece.
By games end the Royals had a 78-47 victory after shooting 52 percent from the field and connecting on 66 percent of their three point attempts in a dominating performance.
The Royals advanced to the semifinals to face Stillwater and came out with a 56-46 victory.
Knight led the charge with 22 points, while Barnes and Lillemoe added 15 and ten respectively.
While Knight and Barnes are unquestionably the leaders of the team, Lillemoe’s early season performance has opened some eyes.
“Kaitlyn shoots the ball really well,” Cosgriff said. “The thing about her is that she has a lot of poise on the court and you don’t find a lot with sophomores so we’re real pleased with her effort so far.”
At the end of last week, the Royals were ranked fifth in class 4A. Barnes was in the top ten in scoring in the metro area at 17.8 points per game. Knight is not far behind at 16.5 points per game.
The Royals will get a good test when they open their conference season at Edina on Friday, Jan. 3.
After the conference opener the team goes back outside the conference to face Chaska and Prior Lake on Jan. 4 and 7.

Tonka Girls Striving For Consistency
By Matt Thomas (From 12/31 edition of The Lakeshore Weekly News)

With four experienced seniors in the starting line-up for the second consecutive season, Minnetonka girls basketball coach Bart Inniger is hoping his team can get over the hump.
The team won six games two seasons ago and upped its win total to 11 last year. The team is currently 5-5 this year after consecutive losses to Blaine and Cretin-Derham Hall in the Apple Valley Shootout.
Despite a 57-48 loss to Blaine, there were some good signs for the Skippers. The Bengals are a top ten team with a 7-2 record and the Skippers held their own for 24 minutes.
The Skippers looked ready to knock the Bengals off in the first quarter as they jumped out to a 16-10 ten lead behind strong play inside and outside.
Senior forward Heidi Steinkraus did the dirty work inside while junior Jessica Donovan went 3-3 from the perimeter to give the Skippers the early lead.
The Skippers went cold in the second quarter, but held Bengals star Stephanie Reiter in check to stay in the game. Reiter went just 1-9 from the field in the first half as the teams went into halftime tied at 22.
The teams went back and forth for most of the third quarter, until the Skippers got hot from three point range.
Seniors Christy Ludemann and Heather Davis along with junior Leslie Anderson all hit three pointers in the third quarter to give the Skippers a 41-39 lead.
With the score tied at 44, the Bengals went on a 6-0 run to take a 50-44 lead. It turned out that was all they needed as the Skippers never got closer than four after that.
The Bengals went 9-14 from the free throw line in the final quarter to seal the victory and hand the Skippers another close loss.
“That’s a top ten team in Blaine and its just getting over that hump,” Inniger said. “We’re really close, but we need to win one of those for us to really start believing. We’re capable of doing it, we just need to go out and finish the job.”
Steinkraus finished the game as the Skippers top scorer with 14 points, while Davis added 11.
“It’s been nice for us because every game we’ve had someone different step up for us,” Inniger said. “Heidi had a great game tonight, but we need to be more consistent. We need to have more people score in double figures every night and that will help us down the stretch.”
The Skippers followed their gritty performance against the Bengals with a disappointing 55-42 loss to Cretin-Derham Hall.
The Skippers will now head into the conference season against a team in Armstrong that is struggling to find consistency as well.
The 4-5 Falcons and 5-5 Skippers will meet on Friday, Jan. 3 at Armstrong.
“There’s no question that Hopkins is the front runner,” Inniger said. “With the way we’re playing we’re right in the mix with Edina, Armstrong and Wayzata and I think those are the teams that will be fighting for second, third and fourth.”