High School Girls Basketball Focus: It's been a special season for Grand Meadow coach Queensland

Jan. 16—Ryan Queensland is enjoying the best of multiple worlds as he directs the Grand Meadow girls basketball team.

That starts with all the success the Superlarks have had this season. Grand Meadow is 10-2, its only losses to No. 4-ranked Hayfield and an athletic Kingsland bunch.

Queensland looks back at the loss to Hayfield as a confidence builder. The Larks fell just 49-46.

"That was a very fun game in Hayfield," Queensland said. "Hayfield is very good and very well coached. Plus, Hayfield is a tough place to play. But we gave them a taste of how we can play and what we're capable of. We had a chance at the end."

Then there is the all-for-one nature of this Grand Meadow team and the synergy the Larks have together.

Having four prominent seniors on the team helps — Sydney Cotten, Kendyl Queensland, Rebecca Hoffman and Alexis Westrum. That is a foursome that knows each other well and it's reflected on the basketball floor.

"We've got good senior leadership and some experience," Ryan Queensland said. "There are some girls there who are really connected, work hard and play together."

The coach also appreciates that with this team, there isn't one player who gets the most attention. In his nine years as the Larks' varsity coach, this is likely the most balanced team he's had. That's reflected in their statistics, with three starters averaging in double figures (sophomore Lauren Queensland, 13.8 points per game; junior Lexy Foster, 12 ppg; senior Cotten, 10.3 ppg;) and another — senior Kendyl Queensland — at 8.3 ppg.

"I love that balance," Ryan Queensland said. "All of our players can score when the opportunity is there. They are all playing for one common goal, to look at the scoreboard at the end of the night with the hope that our scoring total is bigger than our opponent's."

Finally, there is Ryan Queensland's opportunity to coach two of his daughters at the same time. That is 5-foot-11 senior guard/forward Kendyl and 5-11 sophomore forward Lauren.

Kendyl is a do-everything player for her dad, a primary ballhandler, the team's top defender and also one who averages 4 assists and 3 rebounds per game.

Lauren is an inside-outside player who besides those 13.8 ppg. also averages 8 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals.

Getting to direct two of his three daughters at once (oldest daughter Riley Queensland is a junior guard at Gustavus Adolphus College) has been a major reason that Ryan Queensland has found such joy in the gymnasium this season.

He knows that coaching your kids doesn't work out for everyone. But it's worked for him.

"It has been priceless for me to be able to do that," Ryan said. "As their dad, it has been amazing for me. I love it. They are going to have priceless memories that they will cherish forever. And I am just thankful that my daughters allow me to do it."

Pat Bowlin didn't know what to expect from intriguing sophomore Clarissa Sauer.

The longtime Winona Cotter coach knew what he was hoping for, that the 5-foot-8 forward would turn into a more prolific scorer. What he knew he had in her was an elite rebounder. Sauer had shown an uncanny ability there as a freshman.

"She was our second kid off the bench last season (on a 21-5 team)," Bowlin said. "We had a bunch of kids who were three- to four-year starters, so she took a back seat on offense. But as a rebounder, she just had a knack for finding the ball. A lot of kids don't know where the ball is going, but she has this instinct of finding the ball. Before this season, that was her role, to rebound."

Until the fourth game of this season, Sauer continued to make rebounding her overriding focus. But after graduating almost all of his top scorers from a year ago, Bowlin needed more than that from Sauer, who he knew was a good though reluctant shooter.

So, he kind of let her have it. With his team trailing by 10 points at intermission against Belle Plaine and Sauer having scored zero points, he put forth a pointed request.

"I basically pleaded with her, telling her we had zero chance to win the game unless she looked to score," Bowlin said. "I wasn't sure how she'd respond. I had a hard time getting mad at her, because she is soft-spoken and as nice a kid as you'll ever meet."

Well, now Bowlin knows about her ability to respond. Sauer finished with 18 points in that game, all of them in the second half. Cotter won the game 55-52.

"I'm happy to report that she responded really well," Bowlin said.

She's never stopped responding. Over her last three games, Sauer has had games of 20, 24 and 20 points. On the season, she's averaging 14.6 points per game and shooting a tidy 37% on 3-pointers. Sauer has not stopped rebounding, either. She's grabbing 9.2 rebounds per game, with 110 total boards, a whopping 46 of them on the offensive end.

All of it has led Cotter to a 9-3 record and eight wins in its last nine games.

Miller has been on a tear of late and didn't let up against Austin. The 6-foot-2, strong and mobile center had 26 points and grabbed nine rebounds in a 55-44 win over sturdy Austin. Miller, who was double-teamed most of the night, made 10 of 18 field-goal attempts and 6 of 8 free throws.

The 5-foot-10 Torgerson scored 32 points on Jan. 13 in a 66-48 win over Schaeffer Academy. The senior was an incredibly efficient 10-for-14 from the field and 12-for-12 from the free-throw line. She also had eight rebounds and four steals. Torgerson is also in line to secure her 1,000th career rebound this week.

The junior guard hit 5 of 9 3-pointers and finished with 25 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists and 4 steals in just 21 minutes in Goodhue's Jan. 9 blitzing of Lake City.

Miller, a senior forward, had a double-double on Jan. 7 in an impressive 61-58 win over No. 2-ranked Minnehaha Academy. Miller, who last week scored her 1,000th career point, had 21 points and 10 rebounds against Minnehaha Academy.

Harvey, a 5-foot-9 sophomore guard, got Byron back on track in a 66-55 win over solid team Kasson-Mantorville on Jan. 12. Harvey scored 23 points and had 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals. She hit 7 of 8 free throws and 8 of 19 field-goal attempts.

Hanson filled the stat sheet on Jan. 6 as she so often does in a 69-39 thumping over Owatonna. The senior guard finished with 26 points, 6 rebounds and 5 steals.

(Editor's note: These rankings are considered "pound-for-pound" rankings, similar to many rankings systems in boxing and mixed martial arts. They represent the best teams in southeastern Minnesota, relative to the class they play in.

It's been a while since the Tigers have lost. And Stewartville is a decidedly better team than it was on Dec. 6, when Byron beat it 68-60. Stewartville has rattled off 10 straight wins since then. The Tigers are incredibly deep and with a collection of young and veteran talent that seems unmatched. Stewartville has three big wins on its ledger, having beaten ranked teams Marshall, Goodhue and Lourdes.

This is another team that's been on a roll, with a couple of eye-popping wins the last three weeks. There was the 57-54 win over Caledonia on Dec. 29 and the even more impressive 61-58 win on Jan. 7 over No. 2-ranked Minnehaha Academy (Class AA). Goodhue is ranked seventh in Class AA. The Wildcats have two stars in senior forward Tori Miller and guard Elisabeth Gadient. Miller went over 1,000 points for her career last week when she scored 20 points against Blooming Prairie.

Tough to find a team any hotter than Mayo. The Spartans have won 10 straight games. Ava Miller, the team's 6-2 powerful and agile center, has been impossible to contain recently. She's had 26, 24 and 18 points in Mayo's last three games.

Hayfield's defense and depth aren't where Vikings coach Kasey Krekling hopes they'll be by late February. And there was that 82-57 loss to Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart on Jan. 7. Still, this is a fine team and led by one of the best guards around, junior Kristen Watson (21 points, 3.1 steals, 3.8 assists per game).

Senior guard/forward Vivica Bretton has taken her game up a sizable notch this season and does serious damage at both ends of the court. Emily Bowron has heated up from the outside and 6-foot-3 Ella Hopkins draws lots of attention inside. The Eagles' only two losses have been to fellow Hiawatha Valley League powers Stewartville and Goodhue.

Also just two losses for Caledonia. Goodhue beat the Warriors and so did Lourdes. Caledonia has won seven of its last eight games. Mixed in was an impressive 70-41 smackdown on Jan. 5 of a solid Chatfield team. Ava Privet had 25 points in that one, with six 3-pointers.

Yes, Grand Meadow did lose to Kingsland last week, 43-38. But the Superlarks haven't done much losing this season, the only other setback just barely to No. 4-ranked Hayfield. This is a remarkably balanced team, with shooters, athletes and length.

The Knights are upping their game. There have been five straight wins, including that eye-catching 43-38 triumph over Grand Meadow. The Knights have excellent quickness and speed throughout their lineup and have used it to limit teams to 40.9 points per game.

Cotter got off to a rough start, with losses in two of its first three games. That included getting punished by Caledonia 62-24. But things have gone quite well since. The Ramblers have won eight of their last nine games. Sophomore forward Clarissa Sauer put together games of 20, 24 and 20 points in her last three outings.

The Panthers have one of the better guard combinations around, with Taylor Clarey, Audrey Whitney and Madison Ohm. And Ryan Speer is a feisty forward and Ella Zmolek a bouncy and strong rebounder. Better yet for Century is that not one of them is a senior. Century is good now, with just four losses, but is likely a year away from hitting its peak.