Hancock Owls girls' basketball has another banner year on the hardwood

The Hancock Owls girls' basketball team finished another highly successful season under head coach Jodi Holleman. The Owls played in their third straight sub-section championship game on March 6 in Morris, where they lost 63-39 to Parkers Prairie. Hancock finished 21-5 overall after winning their sixth straight Pheasant Conference championship. Coach Holleman retired following the season after guiding one of central Minnesota's most successful basketball programs since 1997.

Hancock Owls are the 2011 sub-section champions!

Final score from Morris on March 8th: Hancock 40, Parkers Prairie 37.

The Owls advance to the Section 6A championship game, which is on Friday, March 11, at Concordia College in Moorhead.

Hancock girls knock off Parkers Prairie!

Final score out of Parkers Prairie tonight: Hancock 62, Parkers Prairie 40.

The Owls (22-2) took a 19-5 lead in the first half and never looked back on their way to a huge 42-26 halftime lead. The Panthers, who scored only 14 points in the second half, fall to 21-3 overall. Here's a light game report that I got tonight, regarding the Panthers' boxscore: Michaela Noga did not play (still sick apparently) Madison Dorn did not score in the first half and finished with 7 points. Her sister Kaylee didn't score in the second half and finished with 11 points. Only one other Panther player scored.

For Hancock, they were led by a monster game from junior Kendra Schmidgall, who totaled 25 points and 10 rebounds. to lead all scorers. Senior Aria Walstad had a game-high 15 assists while scoring seven points and snaring three steals.

Hancock shot 22-of-44 from the field and 10-of-14 from the line. Their boxscore read as follows: Scoring: Kendra Schmidgall 25 (10 reb), Courtney Greiner 14 (8 reb), Illissa Koehl 13, Aria Walstad 7 (15 assists, 3 steals), Shae Brown 3. 3-point shots: Brown 1, Walstad 1, Schmidgall 1, Koehl 3.

The Owls are the #1 seed in Sub-Section 6A-South, and they open up the playoffs at home next Thursday, March 3, against the winner of the Wheaton/Herman-Norcross vs. Henning pigtail game. Tip-off for Hancock's game is at 7pm. WHN plays Henning in Wheaton on Monday night at 7pm.

Hancock Owls girls basketball survives a good test from Hillcrest Lutheran Academy

The Owls girls basketball team defeated visiting Hillcrest Lutheran Academy on Friday night, February 11, by a final score of 61-47.

Ninth-ranked Owls hammer visiting Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 70-42

For the record...the score was incorrectly reported at various websites last night. It was just changed as of 8:00am this morning.

Wrapping up their fifth straight Pheasant Conference title last night on their home floor, the #9-ranked Hancock Owls girls basketball team drubbed Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 70-42.

Illissa Koehl drilled five 3-pointers on the way to a 25-point game to lead the Owls to their 16th win of the season against one loss.

The Owls came out on fire in the first half, building a 41-14 lead at the break. They erased bad memories of a 17-12 halftime deficit in Wheaton on January 11, when they were able to come back to win 37-29.

Hancock's next game is on Friday night, when they host a very good Hillcrest Lutheran Academy team that is 9-8 overall.

Updated Pheasant Conference girls basketball standings as of February 8:
Hancock (5-0)
Ortonville (3-2)
Wheaton/Herman-Norcross (2-3)
Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley (0-5)

#9-ranked Hancock Owls throttle Benson 67-35 in non-conference action

The Hancock Owls girls basketball team improved to 15-1 overall on the season with a 67-35 win at Benson on Thursday night. The Owls shot 27-of-43 from the floor and were led by Kendra Schmidgdall's 18 points.

Also for Hancock, Aria Walstad and Courtney Greiner each scored 14 and Shae Brown and Illissa Koehl 10 apiece. Greiner nabbed nine rebounds.

The Braves held a 13-2 overall record coming into the game, while sitting in first place at 8-1 in the West Central South Conference.

The Owls' next action is on Saturday at 11:00am, when they travel to Jim Gremmels Court at the University of Minnesota-Morris P.E. Center for a non-conference border battle against Minnewaska Area.

The Lakers are 1-15 overall.

Owls remain unbeaten in the Pheasant Conference, burying Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 67-34

The Hancock Owls girls basketball team rebounded from their first loss of the season (to Minneota on Saturday) by defeating Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 67-34 at Graceville. C-G-B falls to 3-9 overall and 0-4 in the Pheasant Conference, while the Owls improve to 14-1 overall and 4-0 in the league.

Up next, a home game next Tuesday, February 1, against Ortonville. The Trojans, who have lost four in a row, fell to Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 62-58 tonight.