Owatonna Girls Basketball Faces Tough Opener Tuesday

Owatonna girls basketball coach Lindsey Hugstad-Vaa might feel a little deja vu when the Huskies take the floor against Farmington in Tuesday's season opener. The Tigers beat OHS in the section playoffs last season and return four players who scored in double figures in that 54-48 win. Owatonna returns all five starters from that game.

This time the teams meet in Farmington to open the regular season at 7PM on Kat Kountry 105FM. The Huskies are likely to start a five-senior lineup with Sydney Schultz, Ahnna Stelter, Bria Wachowiak, Jenna Zeman and Stephanie Liebl all back from last seasons' 18-9 team.

Hugstad-Vaa is excited to get the season underway and says this will be one of the toughest games the team plays all season. Owatonna beat Farmington during a regular season game in 2016-17. OHS travels to Mankato East Saturday, December 2 and holds their home opener on Tuesday, December 5 versus Mankato West.

Tuesday is also season-opening night for Blooming Prairie, Triton and Medford. The Awesome Blossoms go to Dodge Center to face the Cobras in the first game for new Triton coach Melissa Young, "We return some great youth and experience to build on. We have a transfer in Taylor Young, along with some kids that did a great job last year in Sydney Gilliland, Kendra Petersohn, Nicole Kress, Paris Ellingson, Kiara Boeck and some great kids to step in with versatility and work ethic."

Blooming Prairie loses their top scorer and rebounder from last season, Marissa Larson, Kylie Forystek, who led the team in assists and Jasmine Anderson. Coach John Bruns says, "There are a lot of question marks as we begin the season. Lack of depth and inexperience will be an issue early in the season." BP brings back several players who played significant minutes last season with McKenna Hein, Samantha Wurst, Ayren Ingvalson, Julia Worke, Maya Lembke and Megan Oswald.

Medford girls basketball plays Tuesday night at Tri-City United.

Owatonna girls hockey faces the defending Section 1AA champ Farmington Tuesday night at 7PM on Kat Kountry 105FM in Farmington. The Huskies are back in 1AA after two seasons in 1A. OHS (2-0) has won each game by a wide margin, but will face a tough test against the 3-1 Tigers who return their top seven scorers from last winter and are coming off a 4-3 victory over top ten ranked Eden Prairie.