St. Michael-Albertville Girls Look for One More Win

The list of accomplishments last year was impressive: more than 20 wins, a couple of winning streaks–one nearly a dozen games long, and a slew of all-conference selections.

In the end, however, the girls basketball team came up about 13 minutes short of its ultimate goal, which was a return trip to the Class 4A State Tournament.

Instead, rival and conference foe Buffalo took the Section 8-4A crown with a comeback for the ages, and the Knights said farewell to a handful of seniors.

“I think we have to build on that,” said senior captain Rachel Valley. “Those of us that played that night, we don’t wan to feel that way again.

Valley, a center, is one of just four seniors on this year’s team, which coach Kent Hamre called “deep, and talented.” Though the Knights are young, relatively speaking, the new faces and reserves are mostly juniors, which has STMA positioned to be a strong team at the end of the season.

What will also help, according to co-captain Courtney Rotenberger, is a tough schedule in the early going, which will include Class 4A No. 2 ranked Bloomington Jefferson and top ranked and defending state champion Hopkins.

“We can see how hard they work in practice and on the floor, and we can learn from that,” Rotenberger, a two or three spot player, said.

And, after all, if a team like UNLV can knock off North Carolina in the men’s game, there’s no reason a Knights team couldn’t pull off an upset or two, right?

“Not at all,” Valley said.

Win or lose, Hamre said he likes putting together a “pre-season” schedule, or pre-conference schedule, that tests his team, which is ranked in the Top 10 in Class 4A in many pre-season polls.

This year, not much is different, except for the fact the Knights will play host to some of that top talent with a Holiday Tournament, set to run Dec. 29 and 30. Invited teams include Edina, Bismarck (N.D.) Century, and Totino-Grace.

“I think this team wants to have its own identity,” Hamre said. “In the past, we’ve been comfortable playing other team’s styles. This team can force the issue. I think we can stretch the game 90 feet, and these girls want to do that. We’re deep enough we can play some pressure defense, and we can get out and run.”

That means as the Knights go, so will go guards like Rotenberger and top returnee Christine Thorn.

Thorn will move to the “two guard,” giving her a good chance to score even more from the outside. Joining her in the backcourt will be Natalie Van Wyhe, who steps in for graduated sister Jessica.

“She’s comfortable back there and she likes to have the ball in her hands,” Hamre said of Van Wyhe, one of those talented juniors. “I think one of the things that has brought is here has been good guard play, and we’ll have that again this year.”

The Knights, who were 25-4 last season, can’t help but have a couple of games circled on the calendar, particularly a Jan. 19 matchup with the Bison in St. Michael.

“For a couple, there’s definitely that bitter taste, especially Rachel and Christine, who have been all the way to the state championship and want to make that kind of run again,” Hamre said. “We’re going to find out what we have and who we are very quickly. Then, we’ll handle [any revenge].”

The Knights open the 2011-2012 season tonight in Sartell vs. Sartell-St. Stephen. Their first home game is Tuesday, Dec. 6, when top-ranked Hopkins comes to STMA for the first time. Tip off for that contest is 7:30 p.m.