Minnesota high school basketball top games of the week (Feb. 14-19)

Lakeville North boys, Minnehaha girls have a chance to avenge early loses

Steve Jacobson | Feb 14, 2023

Minnesota high school basketball top performers of the week (Feb. 6 - 12)

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SBLive's Minnesota boys basketball Power 25 (Feb. 13)

Boys basketball

Lakeville North (17-2) at Eastview (14-5), 2/14 at 7 p.m.

Lakeville North travels to Eastview in a huge South Suburban matchup that could possibly flip the conference. This is the SBLive Minnesota boys game of the week.

Lakeville North lost at home to Eastview back on Jan. 10 79-77. The Panthers have not lost a game since. The Panthers are on a ten game winning streak and sit atop the South Suburban Conference with a conference record of 10-1. The Panthers will need more from their supporting cast to win against a tough Eastview team.

Eastview sits at 9-2 in the South Suburban Conference with a chance to tie Lakeville North atop the standings with a victory. The Lightning have struggled in their past three games, losing two out of three. They are coming off their worst loss of the season to a 9-10 Burnsville team on Jan. 10. The Lightning have been relatively inconsistent this year and have a gigantic opportunity to sweep the Panthers and tie them atop the conference.

Edina (12-8) at Wayzata (16-3), 2/14 at 7 p.m.

Edina has won five of its last six games and now face Wayzata again. The Hornets lost to the Trojans 68-57 on Jan. 19 but have found a way to keep winning games. The Hornets feature an extremely balanced lineup with no player scoring over 13.4 points per game. Their deep bench will be tested against a hot Wayzata team.

Wayzata is on a sixteen game winning streak and are on the way to a deep playoff run come March. The Trojans have some impressive victories in the last month over Minnetonka, East Ridge, Buffalo and Hopkins. Each of those games, against top level competition, was not relatively close. The Trojans could finish the season without another loss.

Minnetonka (16-4) at Hopkins (14-7), 2/15 at 7 p.m.

Minnetonka looks to continue its hot streak against a fading Hopkins team on Wednesday. Minnetonka has won six out of its past seven games and has only two losses since mid December. Nearly all the Skippers starters are scoring double digits and their bench is ultra productive. Minnetonka and Hopkins are on completely different trajectories.

Hopkins is 3-6 in the last month and have struggled immensely since starting the season at 11-1. The Royals, to their credit, have had an absolutely insane schedule the past month, but are trending in the wrong direction as we creep closer to the tournament.

Buffalo (17-3) at Brainerd (15-3), 2/18 at 2:30 p.m.

Buffalo finished last season at 16-12 and lost to Brainerd in the Class 4A, Section 8 final nearly a year ago. The Bison sit at 18-3 this year and are one of the more surprising teams in the state. The Bison play in one of the toughest conferences in the state and are one of the more battle tested teams going into their playoff run. A revenge game against Brainerd is a game to watch for this week.

Brainerd has quietly gone 15-3 on the season. Its losses on the season were against a fully loaded Eden Prairie team, a hot Minnetonka team and a streaking Duluth East team. The Warriors need to keep pace to stay ahead of Alexandria, and this game should be a big indicator of their potential in March.

Lakeville South (13-7) at Shakopee (11-7), 2/16 at 7 p.m.

Lakeville South is 3-3 in its last six games and now travels to Shakopee, a team it defeated 80-64 roughly a month ago. The Cougars have struggled the last month and need to go on a win streak down the stretch of the season to gain solid postseason seeding.

Shakopee is 2-4 in its last six games and they have an incredibly difficult schedule leading up to the tournament. The Sabers are currently tied with the Cougars in the conference standings and will need this one to keep pace.

Girls basketball

Stillwater (19-3) at East Ridge (18-4), 2/17 at 7 p.m.

Stillwater and East Ridge is the SBLive Minnesota girls basketball game of the week.

Stillwater is 9-1 in its last ten games and are one of the hotter teams in the entire state. The Ponies have regularly blown out opponents this season and have nearly four starters scoring in double digits each game. East Ridge defeated Stillwater on Jan. 11 by a score of 57-54, and the Ponies need to win this one to keep pace in the Suburban East Conference. The Ponies currently sit a game behind the Raptors for the conference lead.

East Ridge is 9-1 in its last ten games, but it is coming off its worst loss of the season against White Bear Lake 63-49. Both East Ridge and Stillwater could easily win the rest of its games on its schedule and this one could possibly turn the tide in the conference.

Hopkins (19-2) at Minnetonka (14-8), 2/15 at 7 p.m.

Hopkins is coming off a tough loss against Wayzata on Friday 55-53. The end of that game had some questionable no calls that led to the Royals losing. The Royals are still one of the top, if not the top team in the state, and have three starters that can fill up the scoreboard every game. Minnetonka could pose some problems to Hopkins in this one.

Minnetonka lost to Hopkins 86-60 nearly a month ago, but it played Wayzata extremely close a few weeks ago. The Skippers have Hopkins, St. Michael-Albertville and Wayzata remaining on their schedule and could easily find themselves in poor playoff seeding unless they can win at least one of those games.

Wayzata (19-3) at Eden Prairie (15-8), 2/16 at 7 p.m.

Wayzata has won seven of its last eight games and defeated Eden Prairie 54-52 on Jan. 24. Wayzata is also coming off a close victory against an elite Hopkins team 55-53 a few days ago. The Trojans have their eyes on the conference title and the Eagles have a chance to play spoiler in this one.

Eden Prairie is 3-3 in its last six games and are coming off a tough 67-61 loss to St. Michael-Albertville yesterday. The Eagles have two extremely difficult matchups out of its next three games against Wayzata and Maple Grove. The Eagles need to win one of those two games to keep their footing come playoff time.

Providence Academy (19-2) at Minnehaha Academy (16-5), 2/17 at 7 p.m.

Providence Academy has not lost a game since December 3 and defeated Minnehaha Academy 71-60 roughly a month ago. The Lions feature a star freshman in Maddyn Greenway, who is averaging 29.6 points per game.

Minnehaha Academy is 8-2 in its last ten games and are coming off a close loss 91-89 to Becker, a team that defeated Providence Academy earlier this year. The Redhawks will need to slow down Greenway to have any chance to win this one. The Redhawks are only a game behind in the conference as well.

Glencoe-Silver Lake (17-5) at New London-Spicer (22-0), 2/17 at 5:30 p.m.

Glencoe-Silver Lake only has two losses since mid December and now travels to face an undefeated powerhouse New London-Spicer team. The Panthers lost to the Wildcats 73-49 last month, and this will undoubtedly be the toughest matchup they have the rest of the season.

New London-Spicer sits at a perfect 22-0, and its closest game was a two point victory over Delano early in the season. Senior guard Avery Rich leads the Wildcats in scoring with 21 points per game. The Wildcats sit three games ahead of the Panthers in the conference, and they likely will continue impressive pace into the tournament.

Published Feb 14, 2023

STEVE JACOBSON