KCUE Bluff Country 1250 AM - America's Greatest Country

Girls Basketball:

Red Wing 84 Faribault 57-The Wingers put on an incredible first half showin defeating the Falcons Saturday night in the Section 1AAA semi-finals at the Larry Sonju Gymnasium.

Red Wing hit 7 three point baskets and converted nearly every Faribault blunder into baskets enroute to a 59-30 haftime lead.  The second half was merely a formality.  Freshman Tesha Buck poured in 27 points-20 in the first half-to pace the Wingers.  Megan Fleming added 16 points and Danielle Brooks 15.  Michaela Smith led Faribault with 15 points while Jenna Henry had 13.

The Wingers take a school record best 21-6 record into the Section 1AAA championship game Friday against long time nemesis New Prague at the Rochester Mayo Civic Center.  "Action" Jack Colwell has the broadcast with the pre-game show at 7:55pm and the tip off at 8:15pm on Bluff Country 1250 KCUE and on the web at www.1250kcue.com.

Goodhue faces Rushford-Peterson Thursday night for the Section 1A title at the Rochester Mayo Civic Center on KWNG 106.  "Action" Jack Colwell has the pre-game show at 5:40pm with the game starting at 6pm.

Boys Basketball:

Goodhue faces Glenville-Emmons in the Section 1A West semi-finals tonight at the Rochester Mayo Civic Auditorium.  The pre-game show is at 6:15pm with the tip off at 6:30pm on KWNG 106 with "Action" Jack Colwell.

#4 seed Lake City faces #1 seed Byron in the Section 1AA West semi-finals tongiht at the Rochester Mayo Civic Center Arena on Lake Hits 95.  Mark O'Connor calls the game with the pre-game show at 6:15pm and the tip off at 6:30pm.

The Red Wing Wingers are the #6 seed for the upcoming Section 1AAA playoffs.  The 6-19 Wingers play at #3 seed Austin Wednesday night at 7pm on Bluff Country 1250 KCUE and on the web at www.1250kcue.com.   The Wingers beat the Packers 64-59 in Austin back on December 30th in a holiday break thriller.  The other first round matchups have #5 Simley at #4 Faribault, #7 Waseca at #2 New Prague and #8 Albert Lea at #1 seed Winona.

Wrestling:

Ellsworth's bid for a second straight WIAA State Division 2 wrestling title fell short with a 33-26 loss to Oconto Falls Saturday afternoon in the semi-final round at the UW Fieldhouse in Madison.

The three Lexvolds went 1-2 in the MSHSL State wrestling tournament championship round Saturday night at the Xcel Energy Center.    Mitchel Lexvold lost his 112 pound title match 14-2 to Hayden Zillmer of Crosby-Ironton.  Bronson Steuber of Jackson County Central won an 18-5 major decision over Chad Lexvold in the 125 pound title match.  Drew Lexvold won the 130 pound title with a 9-1 win over Alex Anderson of Martin County West.

Boys Swimming and Diving:

The Red Wing Wingers placed eighth at the Boys State Swimming and Diving Tournament Saturday at the U of M Aquatic Center with 111 points.  Breck/Blake was first with 275.

The Wingers did take home the gold in two events.  Senior Turner Eckstrom won his third straight diving title with 532.70 points, tying the all time record set by Dan Croaston of Champlin Park in 1997.  Fellow senior Kyle Engen won the 100 yard butterfly with an All American consideration time of 51.52 seconds.  Engen also placed fourth on the 100 backstroke with a time of 53.64 seconds.  8th grader Tanner Alms was sixth in the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:59.69 and the Wingers 200 medley relay team of Kyle Engen, Sam Tittle, Travis Carlson and Turner Eckstrom tied for sixth.  In the consolation heat races, Turner Eckstrom was first (ninth overall) in the 50 freestyle while Ben Dulak was third (11th overall) in the 100 backstroke.

Boys Hockey: Wingers fall in Section Final

Rochester Lourdes 3 Red Wing 0-The Wingers magical run in the playoffs ended Thursday night in the Section 1A final before a packed house at the Rochester Rec Center.  Brian Wasz scored at 6:35 of the first period just after an Eagles powerplay expired.  Brandyn Chezick slipped a loose ouck by Wingers goalie Sam Amendolar at 1:07 of the second period and Wasz added another goal at 5:08 of the period to put the Eagles up 3-0.  The Wingers regrouped and were awarded a penalty shot when Mike Stegora was hauled down on a breakaway later in the period.  Stegora was stopped by Eagles goalie Nick Heimer but the Wingers continued to press to no avail.  Rochester Lourdes pesky forecheck kept the Wingers from mounting any serious pressure in the third period.

Nick Heimer had 16 saves for the Eagles while Sam Amendolar had 18 saves.  the Eagles take a 17-8-3 record into the state tournament next week.  The Wingers playoff run ends with a 15-14 overall record.  The Wingers have lost five section finals in the past seven years, falling to South St. Paul in 2004, St. Thomas Academy in 2006 and 2007 and Lourdes in 2009 and 2010.  It was the final game in purple and white for Wingers seniors Patrick Noesen, Josh Mensing, Jared Nelson, Henry Jaeger, Dan D'Aquisto, Kas Mapel and Abe Rohan.

Boys Basketball: Wildcats, Tigers, Bombers, Blue Devils win

Goodhue 71 Randolph 36-Ashton Erie had 20 points and Blayne Erie 19 as Goodhue rolled to a Section 1A quarterfinal win over the Rockets in Goodhue.  The #1 seeded Wildcats face #5 seed Glenville-Emmons Monday at 6:30pm at the Rochester Mayo Civic Auditorium in the Section 1A West semi-finals on KWNG 106 with "Action" Jack Colwell handling the play-by-play.

Lake City 46 Zumbrota-Mazeppa 41-Nick Bobb had 11 points and Joe Beck 10 to help the Tigers snare a win over a tough Cougars team in the Section 1AA West quarters in Lake City.  Cody Lodermeier had 16 for ZM.  Lake City faces #1 seed Byron Monday at 6:30pm at the Rochester Mayo Civic Center at 6:30pm on Lake Hits 95 with Mark O'Connor courtside.

Cannon Falls 70 Stewartville 53-Isaac Peterson scored 22 points and became Cannon Falls all time boys scoring leader, surpassing Tim Banks and leading the Bombers to the win in the Section 1AA West matchup.  Cannon Falls faces #2 seed Rochester Lourdes in the 1AA West semi finals Monday at 8pm.

Plum City 50 Eleva-Strum 47-Chase Luebker's 17 points led Plum City to another upset win in the WIAA Division 4 regionals Thursday night.  Plum City takes an 8-14 record against #1 seed Mc Donnell Central in the regional championship game Saturday at 7pm in Arcadia.

Tonight: Farmington at Red Wing Missota Conference boys basketball.  7:10pm pre-gane show 7:30pm tip off on Bluff Country 1250 KCUE and on the web at www.1250kcue.com with "Action" Jack Colwell.

Game preview: It's senior night tonight and the Wingers start their four seniors: Colin Quinn, Mitch Earney, Evan Malquist and Zach Tubbs along with junior sharpshooter Pat Kelly.  Red Wing lost 64-63 at Farmington on a last second basket earlier this season.  The Wingers are riding a three game winning streak into the game and are playing their best basketball of the year even though they are just 6-18 on the year.  I like the Wingers in this one.

Girls basketball: Wingers prep for Falcons

The Wingers host the Faribault Falcons in the Section 1AAA semi-finals Saturday night on Bluff Country 1250 KCUE and on the web at www.1250kcue.com with the pre-game show at 6:40pm and the tip off at 7pm.  "Action" Jack Colwell has the play-by-play.  The wingers are 20-6 and the #2 seed.  The third seeded Falcons are 14-11 and lost at Red Wing 66-53 way back on December 3rd.

Boys Swimming and Diving:

The Class A swimming prelims are today for the Wingers at the U of M Aquatics Center.  The 200 medley relay team leads it off.  The other state qualifiers for Red Wing are: Turner Eckstrom in the 50 free (Eckstrom has a huge lead after the diving prelims Thursday with the final three dives saturday), Tanner Alms in the 200 free and 500 free, Andrew Berg in the 200 IM, Ben Dulak in the 200IM and 100 backstroke, travis Carlson in the 100 butterfly and Kyle Engen in the 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke. 

Swimmers finishing in the top 8 are in Saturday's championship heat while swimmers in the 9-16 spots today are in the consolation heat.  the finals are at noon tomorrow.