The annual Hastings Holiday Tournament returned December 28 and 29 at Hastings High School and expanded this year to include all teams from both boys and girls hoops. The action got started early in the day, when Prescott’s Girls C Squad dominated Hill-Murray 43-21 to advance to the championship game. Prescott’s JV team followed suit with a dominant victory over Maranatha Christian Academy, and Prescott’s Girls Varsity team pulled away from Maranatha en route to the 68-58 win. The Cardinals were led by 19 points from Lila Posthuma, including 14 in the second half, and a strong rebounding day from Katrina Budworth. The Cardinals were more dominant than the score indicated as they led by as many as 22 with 90 seconds left in the contest and had their reserve players in the game while Maranatha left their starters in. Then, the Prescott boys took care of business against Saint Louis Park, with Dallas Wallin and Jordan Malmlov both scoring an insane 40 points (Wallin) and 30 points (Malmlov) while also getting 11 from Brady Block. The Cardinal girls played Hastings in the championship game, as the Raiders took care of Irondale, pulling away in the 2nd half after trailing 20-17 at the half. The Raiders won despite shooting just 16-56 from the floor and 12-30 from the free throw line, and Keagan McVicker led the way with 15 points, while Hailey Strain added 8 points and Emma Bakker added 7 to lead the team in scoring. On the Boys’ Side, the Raiders went down early to Irondale, and turnovers doomed Hastings as they were not able to recover. This set up Irondale vs. Prescott for the championship, and Hastings vs. St. Louis Park for the third place game. The Raider boys were led by 15 points from Payton Lee-Dean, 12 from Kelvin Maher and 10 from Owen Bernatz and only three other Raiders scored as their record slipped to 2-5 on the season. Hastings turned the ball over 24 times and went 16-48 from the floor in the loss, as Irondale scored 7 points in the games first few seconds, and the Raiders were not able to get back into it.
Day 2
The Hastings Raiders boys basketball team was relegated to the third place game of the Holiday tournament, where they were nipped by the Saint Louis Park Orioles. Hastings trailed at the half but brought it a little closer in the second half, before SLP ultimately held on. Hastings was led by Owen Bernatz with 26 points, while Kyan Esterby and Kellen Nuytten added 9 points, Payton Lee-Dean added 8, and Kelvin Maher had 6 to lead the team’s scoring output.
The Hastings girls basketball team and Prescott’s girls basketball team met in the title game of the tournament, and the tightly contested game ended with the Cardinals raising the trophy. Prescott got a 55-50 win thanks to 22 points from post presence Lila Posthuma, while Katrina Budworth scored 9 points in the win. Hastings had three in double figures, with Hailey Strain leading the way with 17, followed by Keagan McVicker with 15 and Emma Bakker with 14.
The Hastings and Prescott crowds were then treated to an absolute thriller for the boys title game, as Prescott, a school of less than 500, took on Irondale, a school of more than 1700. The school size didn’t stop Prescott though, as the Cardinals took a halftime lead 36-32. But they found themselves down 64-62 in the final seconds, that’s when Heir Jordan reigned supreme in Hastings, as the Senior ace buried a three to give Prescott a 65-64 lead. The Cardinals would hold on for the final shot and get a huge win that would surely be a statement to the rest of Wisconsin. Malmlov led the way with 34 points while Dallas Wallin and Brandon Stuart combined for the other 31.
Hastings hockey tore apart South Saint Paul in the first game of the Premier Tournament to advance to the semifinals with a 7-0 win. Three Raiders Charlie Williams, Matt Sherry and Johnny Teigland, each scored their first varsity goals, and Carter Simpson, Sawyer Tjomsland, Ryder Regenscheid and Ryan Clemens all got reps at the varsity level. Clemens and Kody Niederkorn combined for the shutout. The Raiders went 2 for 4 on the power play, which was a point of emphasis for improvementfor the team. In addition to the goals by Sherry, Teigland and Williams, Austin Shanks, Mark DeNoyer, Connor Zgoda and Blake Vandehoef found the back of the net.
Hastings took on Farmington in the semifinals, stay tuned for a coverage recap from that game. The winner of that game played either Woodbury or Highland Park for the championship.
