Blooming Prairie Rolls; Medford’s Kniefel Hits 2,000 Points

Blooming Prairie girls basketball used a decisive run to grab control of their playoff game Monday night to beat Randolph 65-30. Medford's all-time leading scorer Emma Kniefel reached another milestone in their 71-51 victory over Blue Earth Area in a playoff opener. Lake Crystal-Welcome Memorial ended NRHEG's season 58-46.

BP and Randolph traded long runs early in their Section 1A quarterfinal at Century High School in Rochester. The Awesome Blossoms started 9-0. The Rockets responded with an 8-0 stretch. BP imposed their will at that point according to coach John Bruns, "We then made a decisive move and behind great defense and ball movement on offense, went on a 19-0 run to take a 28-8 lead midway through the first half."

"The second half was more great defense and hot shooting and we were able to get the game into running time up more than 35." Megan Oswald scored 24. Bobbie Bruns scored 17 and Julia Worke added 15. Bruns and Worke each hit three three-pointers.

Top-seed Blooming Prairie (20-5) will face No. 4 seed Hayfield Saturday, February 29 at 11 am at the Mayo Civic Center with coverage on Kat Kountry 105 FM. The other semifinal has No. 3 seed Filmore Central against No. 6 Grand Meadow. The final is March 5 at Mayo Civic Center.

Monday night was Medford's playoff opener in Section 2AA. The second-seeded Tigers topped Blue Earth Area 71-51 on their senior night, which was cancelled last week. Kiefel scored 24 points to eclipse the 2,000 career point mark. Tiger seniors include Kniefel, Kiley Nihart, Izzy Reuvers, and Alorah Wiese.

Medford plays Lake Crystal Welcome Memorial in the subsection semifinals Friday, February 28 at Mankato East High School at 7:45 pm. The Tigers beat the Bucs early this season. The other subsection semifinal is top-seed Waseca against fourth seed Fairmont.

LCWM topped NRHEG 58-46 in Lake Crystal. Panthers coach A Onika Peterson says, "LCWM came out extremely strong in the first half. We struggled to get going on offense and defensively we were allowing them to get uncontested shots."

"Thank you to Jayna Domeier our one senior. She is an absolutely great teammate and has been amazing to have in our program. We are excited for what is to come with the athletes that we have coming back."