Sauk Centre Set For Girls Basketball State Tournament
The Sauk Centre girls basketball was barely tested through the Section 6-2-A tournament and are now set to test their skills and abilities at the Class AA State tournament Wednesday night at 8 p.m. at Williams Arena in Minneapolis against Conference rival, Minnewaska Area.
The Mainstreeters are 27-2 and are coached by Scott Bergman. Bergman is making his 10th State Tournament appearance. He is also the school's Athletic Director. Bergman joined me on WJON. He believes they are playing their best basketball right now because they are the healthiest they've been all season. Sauk Centre blew out Foley 68-48, Annandale 72-43 and Milaca 60-37 to earn this State Tournament berth. The Mainstreeters were the top seed in the section and are seeded #4 in the Class AA State Tournament. Minnewaska is seeded #5.
The two schools split their two meetings this season with Sauk Centre winning 58-48 on December 13 before Minnewaska edged the Mainstreeters 51-48 on January 31. Bergman says the two teams know each other very well. He goes on to say, to have two teams from the same conference playing each other in the state tournament says a lot about the quality of girls basketball in Central Minnesota.
Sauk Centre is led by guard Cierra Kortan and post Victoria Jennissen. Bergman says both have been 4 year starters. He says Jennissen surpassed 1,000 career points this season and become the career blocks leader at the school. Kortan surpassed 2,000 career points to become the all-time points leader at Sauk Centre surpassing Kali Peschel. Peschel played college basketball at Iowa.
Bergman says they are a deep team that also includes senior Maddie Schuster, who he calls a "lock-down defender" along with key bench contributor Sienna Klaphake and junior post Elizabeth Herickhoff and sophomore point guard Kahlen Suelflow. Kortan will play college basketball at Concordia-St. Paul, Jennissen will play at the University of Mary and Herickhoff has verbally committed to play at Southwest Minnesota State. If you'd like to listen to my conversation with Scott Bergman, it is below.
Sauk Centre Roster:
| Number | Name | Position | Height | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stadsvold, Nadia | G | 5'4 | 10 |
| 3 | Thieschafer, Nora | G | 5'5 | 9 |
| 5 | Broich, Megan | G | 5'6 | 10 |
| 11 | Suelflow, Kahlen | G | 5'4 | 10 |
| 13 | Borgmann, Peyton | G | 5'5 | 10 |
| 15 | Kortan, Cierra | G | 5'8 | 12 |
| 21 | Schuster, Madelyn | G | 5'7 | 12 |
| 23 | Thieschafer, Nya | G | 5'7 | 11 |
| 25 | Determan, Paige | G | 5'6 | 9 |
| 31 | Feltman, Anna | P | 5'8 | 10 |
| 33 | Klaphake, Sienna | F | 5'9 | 12 |
| 35 | Herickhoff, Elizabeth | P | 6'2 | 11 |
| 41 | Uphoff, Megan | P | 5'8 | 11 |
| 43 | Sjogren, Addison | G | 5'6 | 9 |
| 45 | Jennissen, Victoria | P | 6'4 | 12 |
| 51 | Nelson, Kaiya | F | 5'8 | 9 |
| 53 | Riley, Jenna | F | 5'8 | 10 |
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