Tri-City United High School girls basketball won 52-43 against Belle Plaine Thursday, Feb. 29 in New Prague at the Section 2AA Girls Basketball Quarterfinals.
They will play in the section semifinals against Glencoe-Silver Lake on Monday, March 4 at 6 p.m. in the Taylor Center at the Minnesota State University Mankato. Should the Titans win that game, they will play again in Mankato against either Waterville-Elysian-Morristown or New Richland on Friday, March 8 at 7:45 p.m.
See more details in the March 7 Messenger.
The second half of the season has been a very good one for the Tri-City United (TCU) girls basketball team.
The Titans are currently riding a three game winning streak and they have won 6 of the past seven games.
TCU picked up a 64-59 win over Lester Prairie Tuesday, Jan. 30. This improved their record to 3-4 in the Minnesota River conference.
Two nights later the Titans had an easy time against Minnesota Valley Lutheran (MVL), downing MVL 65-29 in nonconference action.
After an early-season setback to the defending state champion, the Trojans’ floor hockey team are continuing to improve their overall game. “Overall, I like where we are at and I feel confident this team can make a push down the stretch to compete for another state tournament berth and hopefully compete for another state title, said coach Jeremy Kalal.
At 5-1, the Trojans travel to East Ridge High School today, Thursday, Feb. 8, to face South Washington County. Tuesday, Feb. 13, the Trojans will host Stillwater at 4:30 p.m. in the New Prague Community Center gym.
After splitting its first two games, the New Prague floor hockey team has enjoyed surge, overwhelming opponents with plenty of offensive and solid defensive play as well.
The Trojans have scored 29 goals in three games. The most recent, a 13-goal effort against Owatonna, is a sign the Trojans’ offense is rounding into form. The win improved the Trojans’ record to 3-1.
New Prague played Chaska/Chanhassen/Shakopee/ Prior Lake co-operative team Tuesday, Jan. 30, after The New Prague Times went to press. Today,Thursday, Feb. 1, New Prague will host South Suburban at 4:30 p.m.
In a game between two teams fighting for second place in the Minnesota River Conference, Le Sueur-Henderson (LSH) got off to a fast start and held on for a 69-65 win over Tri-City United Friday, Jan. 26.
“We came out of the gate really cold from the field as shots were just not falling to our standard, and LSH got out to a quick lead as a consequence,” head coach John Rumpza said. “We did some good things in this game, but we fell short in some important categories which made the deficit too difficult to overcome as the game wore on.”
A busy week for the Tri City United (TCU) girls basketball team ended with the Titans winning three of four games.
The Titans defeated Medford, 68-19 Saturday, Jan. 13. They defeated Norwood Young America (NYA), 53-51, Tuesday, Jan. 16. They edged St. James Area 73-70, Thursday, Jan. 18. Mayer Lutheran ended TCU’s winning streak with a 73-66 win Friday, Jan. 19.
In the win over Medford, the Titans led 51-10 at halftime and were never threatened.
Ella Skluzacek scored 21 points in only 15 minutes of action and Ava Flintrop added 14 points and four rebounds.
New Prague’s floor hockey team built a big lead early and cruised to an easy 17-10 win over Mankato last Tuesday, Jan. 16.
After the loss to state champion Lakeville the previous week, the Trojans faced Owatonna Tuesday, Jan. 23, after The New Prague Times went to press. The Trojans will face Chanhassen/Chaska/Shakopee/Prior Lake Tuesday, Jan. 30, 4:30 p.m., in Shakopee.
“We rebounded nicely after our loss last week and set the tone going forward. We are hoping to rattle off a few wins in a row here and build some momentum,” NP coach Jeremy Kalal said.
Having taken on two tough teams, one the defending state champion and the other a state participant, the New Prague floor hockey team knows it will need to play a little better to return to the top of the mountain.
The Trojans opened the season Jan. 9 with a win over Dakota United, a team they topped at the state tournament a year ago. They fell in the second game, a rematch of the last two state championship games against Burnsville/Farmington/Lakeville. The Trojans won the 2022 game and the Blazing Cats enjoyed revenge in 2023.
The Tri-City United (TCU) boys basketball team improved to 3-2 in the Minnesota River Conference (MRC) with a split of two games last week.
The week started with TCU losing to Belle Plaine, 88-59 Tuesday, Jan. 9. Friday, Jan. 12 the Titans defeated Sibley East, 53-41.
In the loss to the Tigers, TCU only trailed by nine at half but were outscored 49-27 in the second half.
The Tri-City United (TCU) girls basketball team trailed for the first 26 minutes of their Thursday, Dec. 28 game with WEM.
But once they took the lead they never relinquished it, pulling out a 62-52 nonconference win over the Buccaneers.
WEM scored the first bucket of the game, a three-pointer by senior Kylie LaFrance. They led 30-25 at halftime and extended that lead to 39-30 on back-toback baskets by junior Tianna Pope and senior Claire Bohlen with 13:38 to play in the game.
The Tri-City United (TCU) boys basketball team outscored WEM 34- 16 over the final nine minutes of their game Thursday, Dec. 28 to pull out a 72-68 nonconference win in Waterville.
After leading 27-25 at halftime, the Bucs increased their lead to 52-38 on a rebound basket by senior Caleb Caron with 9:13 remaining.
The TCU defense held the Bucs to five field goals over the next nine minutes while their offense did much of their damage at the free throw line, scoring 14 from the charity stripe, including the final four of the game.
The first win of the season for the Tri-City United (TCU) boys basketball team was recorded Tuesday, Dec. 12 - an 81-61 win over Mayer Lutheran.
Reggie Vosejpka and Luke Holicky combined for 55 points in the victory.
Vosejpka scored 31 points, grabbed 19 rebounds and added two assists and two steals.
Holicky hit five three-pointers on his way to 24 points. He also added five rebounds.
Connor Flintrop scored 10 points and had five steals, three rebounds, and three assists. Eduardo Flores scored six and assisted on three baskets.
The Minnesota River boys hockey team put 92 shots on goal and scored 15 times in a pair of wins last week.
The Bulldogs earned a 4-1 win over Hutchinson Tuesday, Dec. 5, peppering the Tigers goal with 35 shots.
The shots kept coming Saturday, Dec. 9 when the Bulldogs sent 57 shots at goal in an 11-4 win over Worthington. Both contests were played at the Le Sueur Community Center.
In the win over Hutchinson, Drew Simonette scored a pair of goals. Riley Kamm and Logan Fahey also added goals.
State-rated Scott West won 10 of their 13 matches with TriCity United (TCU) Friday, Dec. 8 in defeating the Titans, 53- 12.
Scott West, rated No. 6 in Class AA, has a team which features six state-rated wrestlers.
In one of the best matches of the night, Tucker Skluzacek edged Ethan Strack, 4-3, at 114 pound. Strack came into the match ranked 7th at 107 pounds.
TCU picked up another 4-3 decision when Gavin Sherman defeated...
To see more on this story pick up the December 14, 2023 print edition of the Montgomery Messenger.
The Minnesota River girls hockey team improved to 3-2 this season with a 2-1 win over New Prague Tuesday, Nov. 21 in a game played at Le Sueur.
Sophomore Clare Hathaway scored the game-winning goal at the 12:05 mark in the third period. It was her first goal of the season. She received assists from freshman McKenna Andresen, her team-leading third of the season and freshman Noelle Simonette’s first assist.
Senior Makenna Mueller scored her team-leading third goal in the first period giving the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead.
Two Tri-City United juniors and one senior have been honored by the Minnesota River Conference coaches following the 2023 season.
Senior Lexi Factor and junior Audrey Vosejpka were named to the First Team and junior Emma Skluzacek was named to the Honorable Mention Team.
Factor was also named to the first team last year and Vosejpka was an Honorable Mention selection in 2022.