Lady Owls' Welcome Back Celebration Brings Packed House at the Hancock High School

While the spelling may not be perfect, the message is, in this sign on Main Street Hancock.


A touching moment as one of the players hugs "super fan" Art Durkee, a long-time Hancock area resident who watched numerous UM-Morris Cougar teams over the years as their bus driver, while also being a steady and faithful Hancock Owls fan. Art suffered a stroke about one year ago, and he is in our prayers and will always be in our hearts. The girls were truly blessed to have him following them all season long, culminating with his courtside "pep talk" he gave the team prior to their State Quarterfinal matchup. (See photo below in the update on the Chisolm game.)




During a cool and windy Sunday afternoon today, a rousing welcome-back celebration was held at the Hancock High School for the Lady Owls basketball team. Complete with a police and fire truck escort around town, horns blaring, the team was greeted by a host of friends and family in the school parking lot as they entered the gym.

Once inside, chairs were gathered at the stage end of the gym for the girls, tied with school-colored balloons, and they gathered there for various speeches by coaches and players for the crowd.

The highlight of the day most likely was the complete "overhaul" of assistant coach Chad Christianson's hairdo, as the team met a challenge he gave them earlier in the week by beating Chisolm in the state quarterfinals.

In this week's Hancock Record, a special section will be printed including numerous photos by myself and Gregg Cunningham, as we both covered the three state tournament games (myself on Wednesday, Gregg on Friday, and both of us on Saturday). Also, CD's are available that include almost 900 of my photos from the regular season, playoffs, and "State", as well as a few Sound Clips of my play-by-play from a couple playoff games. E-mail me at littleguy56289@hotmail.com if you want to learn more about that.

Also, be sure to take time to click through the links on the right, where you can go back to games from December of this season for photos from the Ortonville and Minneota games. This website will run all through the off-season, allowing friends and family from anywhere in the world with internet access to re-live this exciting but finished basketball season. Posts began on December 19, so information on games before that is not included. Be patient if you are on dial-up internet, as it will take many minutes for all the photos to load up each time you view pages on this site.

Lady Owls, Hancock is Proud of You -- Team Finishes Second in Class A State Tournament -- Hard-Fought 42-34 Loss in Title Game

After playing excellent defense in the first half of the Class A State Tournament Championship game, the Lady Owls went into halftime leading 21-17. In the first few minutes of the second half, an invisible lid of sorts was covering their basket as they fell behind 26-21 before Stacie Cunningham's free throw broke the jinx to make it a four-point game. They valiantly fought back to tie the game at 28-28 before fading in the final minutes to the intense pressure and size of the Fulda Raiders, who won their second straight state championship.

The Lady Owls finish the season with a outstanding record of 26-3, three championships (Pheasant Conference, Sub-Section 5A-South, Section 5A), and a Class A State Runners-up trophy. They represented their community and Section 5A with an incredible level of class, distinction, and hard play throughout the entire tournament.

More will be added soon, including details of their Ada-Borup win, and a large number of state tournament photos.

The Lady Owls took the court at Target Center for the championship game against Fulda with a certain amount of confidence, knowing they could step up to the challenge of facing the highly-touted defending state champions.

After winning the tip-off, the Lady Owls went up 3-0 on their first possession with a baseline three by Tara Thielke. After Fulda missed their first shot, Chelsea Voorhees snared the defensive rebound. They capitalized when Bree Holleman drained her first shot with another trey to put the Lady Owls ahead 6-0 with 16:43 on the clock.

Fulda quickly answered, hitting two treys of their own in the next 90 seconds of play. The Raiders' use of a 2-3 zone defense, a surprise for the hometown coaches, was then scrapped in exchange for an intense man defense to add more pressure on the arc.

Holleman answered that by breaking the tie on the Lady Owls' next possession with a
layup off an offensive rebound on the right wing.

Six minutes into the game, Voorhees had picked up her second foul, sending Hannah Newhouse into the action. She did an excellent job filling in at center, a tall order against the superior size of the Raiders' front line.

The Lady Owls continued their scoring barrage from the arc as Jenny Noordmans ripped the cords for her first bucket of the game, followed by another trey by Holleman with 7:37 left to put her team up 14-8.

After Fulda made it 14-12, Newhouse answered at 5:00 with a short baseline shot. The Raiders hit a three on their next possession, but Noordmans then hit a baseline shot of her own at 3:55 to keep the Lady Owls on top 18-15. With 1:47 left, Lindsie Cunningham came in to replace a foul-saddled Newhouse, and the Raiders closed to within one point with two free throws, down 18-17.

A mere 17 seconds later, Holleman answered with yet another three-pointer, the final bucket of the first half which ended with the Lady Owls on top 21-17.

The team was confident about the second half, owning the lead even though they never went to the free throw line in the first 18 minutes of play. They had held a team with almost a 70-point offensive average to 17 first half points.

The Raiders came out with a vengeance, scoring nine unanswered points in the first 3:30 of play out of the locker room. None of the Lady Owls' shots were falling until Stacie Cunningham's free throw broke the jinx with 13:06 left, making it a 26-22 deficit.

The play became very physical, as both teams clamped down with man-to-man defense, denying easy shots anywhere on the floor.

After facing a 28-22 deficit, Noordmans fired an open three-pointer with 9:19 left, followed only 19 seconds later by a trey from Thielke that knotted the score at 28-28 halfway through the second period. The Hancock fans roared as the comeback they had hoped for seemed to be unfolding.

The Raiders ratcheted the pressure even higher, and the Lady Owls could not get to the free throw line while attempting to penetrate the lane.

After falling behind 30-28, their only hope was to slow the Raiders' offense with their press. That is exactly what they did with 5:30 left, as their press forced them out of bounds. They could not capitalize, however, and the Raiders made them pay by scoring a layup on a steal with 3:11 left, making it 32-28.

Tara Thielke grabbed a steal of her own and flew downcourt for a layup, only to be hammered to the floor while going up. It was a foul the referee crew could not ignore, and with ice in her vains Thielke drained both free throws with 2:24 left, making it a one-possession game.

What was the biggest dagger in the final minutes came next, a three pointer by the Raiders on the baseline with 2:08 left, making it 35-30.

After possession changed hands twice, the Raiders hit a bonus free throwo to make it 36-30 with 1:12 left. Ten seconds later, Holleman hit a floater on the left wing to make it 36-32, sending Hancock fans into a frenzy.

In the final minute, the game would not go the Lady Owls' way. Fulda hit one field goal, and three free throws to get to 42 points. The Lady Owls got a bucket from Lindsie Cunningham down low on the baseline to get to 34 points.

Once the final buzzer sounded, the Lady Owls walked off the court with a small degree of sadness tempered with a great sense of accomplishment, knowing they had given 110% through seven challenging playoff games to give Hancock a team that will never be forgotten.

The welcome-home celebration for the Lady Owls will be at 2:00pm on Sunday at the Hancock High School.

What a Game! Lady Owls Shred the Ada-Borup Defense in 66-50 Class A State Semi-Final Win

The Lady Owls basketball team overcame top-ranked Ada-Borup in a big 66-52 win in the Class A state semi-finals Friday afternoon at the Target Center. After leading 37-26 at halftime, they expanded to lead to as many as 17 points before the Cougars (29-2) cut it down to a nine-point game. The Lady Owls ran their flawless motion offense nearly the entire second half and stretched the final margin out at the free throw line.

They now face defending Class A champion Fulda (29-3), who won their semi-final game 65-31 over Badger-Greenbush-Middle River (27-5). B-G-MR lost in their regular season finale' 68-44 to Ada-Borup, a small comparison of how Fulda and Hancock could match up.

The Class A state championship game will be held at 12:00 Noon on Saturday, March 17, at the Target Center in Minneapolis.

Tara Thielke's three-pointer gave the Lady Owls their first lead of the game at 4-3 early on. For the next three minutes, the Ada-Borup Cougars went on a scoring spree with a 12-0 run while showing their state tournament experience from 2006.

Shortly after a Hancock timeout, with 12:57 on the clock, Jenny Noordmans hit a three-pointer after great ball movement by the Lady Owls. They were in business.

On the very next sequence, Noordmans snared a defensive board. Moments after that, on an inbounds pass, Bree Holleman hit a wide open paint shot, taking advantage of the defense sagging to the left side.

Only 45 seconds later, a fearless Stacie Cunningham drove the lane against much taller defenders and was sent to the free throw line, where she cashed two buckets.

Holleman hit two free throws 40 seconds later, followed a minute and a half after that by a rebound shot in the paint by Thielke.

Thielke was on her way to hitting five buckets in a row for the Lady Owls. The senior wing was unstoppable with a pullup jumper, a turnaround shot down low, a drive of the left wing, and a drive that split the paint defense that made it a 24-23 game with 6:22 on the clock.

One minute later, Holleman would drain a three-pointer on a decoy play to put the Lady Owls back on top 26-24.

In the next minute, there was no let up as the Lady Owls' pressure defense earned them a couple two-on-one breaks, leading to a nice paint shot from Chelsea Voorhees and then a layup from Holleman to give them a two-possession lead, 30-24 with 4:45 left before halftime. Their defense had just fueled a 13-2 run.

In the final minutes of the first period, the Cougars seemed to wilt under the pressure. Noordmans was having a monster game on the defensive boards, while their guards were flowing to the basket with two more driving layups from Thielke and Holleman. Noordmans added to the effort with two midcourt interceptions, as the former junior high football running back had an eye for the ball on their press.

Halftime score: Hancock 37, Ada-Borup 26. The Lady Owls ended the first period on an incredible 20-4 run in the last eight minutes.

While being interviewed before going into the locker room, Coach Holleman cited the 110% effort of the team, while they were also having a great deal of fun running plays and dishing out pressure with their press. She also mentioned their kneepads, with all players diving at various times for loose balls.

Lady Owls Advance to Class A Final Four --Convincing 58-34 Quarterfinal Win Over Chisolm

Prior to tip-off, the team spent time getting words of wisdom and encouragement from Art Durkee, a long-time UM-Morris Cougars and Hancock Owls fan who brought some kind of magic to the evening. Throughout the game, he regularly chanted "offense, offense" whenever the Chisolm fans would chant "defense, defense." I couldn't have done it better myself.



For the first time since 1997, the Lady Owls basketball team is Final-Four bound, winning their state quarterfinal game in a convincing manner over the 6th-ranked Chisolm Bluestreaks tonight at the University of Minnesota Sports Pavilion.

In 2002, during their first "State" trip under Coach Jodi Holleman, the Lady Owls fell to Kittson County Central in a state quarterfinal match held at Concordia College in Moorhead.

The Lady Owls jumped in front 7-0 in the first three minutes of play. Chelsea Voorhees hit a paint shot, Bree Holleman drained a three pointer, and Jenny Noordmans hit a mid-range shot for their first buckets of the game.

Noordmans continued her strong play with a drive in the lane with two defenders on her, making it 9-3 with 12:55 on the clock. She hit her third field goal of the game, this time in the paint, with a couple two-for-two performances at the charity strip by Holleman wrapped around that. Holleman penetrated the lane with a shot off the glass to make it 17-10, and Tara Thielke hit two of three free throws and a paint shot to put the Lady Owls up 21-10 with 6:25 left before halftime.

After leading 21-13, they then went on an 11-2 run to blow the game open at halftime with a 32-15 lead going into the locker room. The Lady Owls used excellent patience and shot selection the entire first half.

At halftime, Coach Holleman stressed to the team not to play "not to lose" basketball, and to make sure they won the second half of play as well.

Everything continued going the Lady Owls' way in the second half, as they wore down the stellar guards from Chisolm with a suffocating man-to-man defense.

No let-down was in sight as they stole the Bluestreaks' first possession on their way to a 9-0 scoring spurt to begin the second half, with Thielke and Holleman both draining three pointers to push their lead to 39-15.

After Lindsie Cunningham's two-for-two performance at the free throw line made it 44-24 with under eight minutes to go, Hannah Newhouse and Kelsey Olson checked in over the next two minutes to begin relieving other starters on the floor.

The Bluestreaks would get no closer than a 20-point disadvantage as the game wound down. Coach Holleman subbed in numerous players off her bench as the state tournament experience was shared down the lineup.

The Lady Owls now face number-one ranked Ada Borup (29-1) in the Class A semi-finals on Friday at 2:00pm at the Target Center. The Cougars, out of Section 6A, knocked Springfield (21-8, Section 2A) out of the tournament with a 61-44 quarterfinal win. They will have their hands full attempting to slow the Lady Owls' offense while putting up points of their own against a swarming fullcourt press.

Lady Owls Make the Final Eight! State-Bound After 55-45 Win Over the 20-6 Battle Lake Battlers

Tonight at the Minnewaska Area High School, the Hancock Lady Owls won their 24th game of the season with a hard-earned 55-45 win over the Battle Lake Battlers for the Section 5A championship. It is the Lady Owls second trip to "State" under Coach Jodi Holleman, as they went to state in 2002.

They will now face Chisolm (23-5) in the Class A state quarterfinals on Wednesday (March 14) at 8:00pm at Williams Arena on the University of Minnesota Campus. Chisolm has had a solid playoff run. One of their five losses was to Barnum by 30 points (71-41) on January 5th. Barnum was knocked out of the playoffs by Bigfork, who was beaten tonight 57-49 by Chisolm for the Section 7A Championship.

Chisolm plays in a very tough Iron Range Conference that includes 3A power Hibbing (25-4), as well as 2A schools Virginia, International Falls, Greenway, and Eveleth-Gilbert. Hibbing throttled Chisolm on February 22nd 73-32 in the regular season finale for both teams. Chisolm beat the other teams in that conference to end with a league record of 6-1 this season. The 2A schools in that conference are not particularly impressive, except for Eveleth-Gilbert, who finished the season 20-9 and Sub-Section 7AA-2 Runners-up.

Last season, Chisolm finished 19-6, but most noticeable was there 0-1 record in the Section 7A playoffs. They were upset by a 14-10 Ely team in the sub-section quarterfinals. (Ouch!) Ely then lost in the next round to Tower-Soudan. Tower-Soudan then lost in the sub-section final to Wrenshall. Wrenshall was then soundly defeated by Barnum 53-25 in the Section 7A Final. Barnum went on to place 3rd in the Class A state tournament, beating Ada-Borup 55-50 in the third-place game.

Interestingly, Chisolm lost 69-47 to Parkers Prairie in a Holiday Tournament (at Hibbing) on December 30, 2005. The Lady Owls defeated Parkers Prairie 67-59 on December 8, 2005. So had the Lady Owls played Chisolm last season, they most likely would have soundly beaten them. Year-to-year, everything changes, and the way Chisolm has played in their Section 7A playoffs, they will be a formidable opponent for the Lady Owls.

This season, Chisolm met Parkers Prairie once again in a Holiday tournament (at Hibbing) on December 27, 2006. Parkers Prairie lost that game 51-26. The Lady Owls played Parkers on January 22, 2007, and won 72-42 in one of their best-played games of the season. On paper, they appear about even, with Chisolm perhaps having a more solid defensive game, and the Lady Owls having a better ability to light up the scoreboard. Chisolm averages 54 points on offense, while giving up an average of 43 points per game. The Lady Owls average 63 points per game on offense while giving up an average of 46 points per game. Statistics aside, the Lady Owls play a very solid game on both ends of the floor. Their trapping press can wreak havoc on guards of any talent level. They will take a great amount of momentum into the state playoffs and give Section 5A teams much to cheer for next week.

Ponder this one: in their section opener last week, a sub-section quarterfinal game, Chisolm barely won 53-52 over Cherry, who finished 10-14.

In the preceding game next Wednesday night, the Springfield Tigers (21-7) will take on a very good, highly-ranked Ada-Borup (28-1) team, with tip-off at 6:00 at Williams Arena. After they beat Chisolm, the Lady Owls would take on the winner of the Springfield/Ada-Borup game on Friday at 2:00 in the semi-finals.

In the section final game against Battle Lake, the Lady Owls had an answer for everything the Battlers threw their way. The first four minutes of the game were very tense, with the Battlers holding the lead until the 15:20 mark when Bree Holleman grabbed an offensive rebound in the paint and dropped it in for a 6-5 lead.

At the 12:44 mark, Jenny Noordmans got in on the action when she took a great assist from Tara Thielke and layed it in for her first bucket of the game. She followed that a minute later with a spin move around the lane against the Battlers defense to give the Lady Owls a 12-8 lead.

After Holleman came in along the baseline with a backdoor layup to make it 14-10, Tara Thielke snapped the cords from downtown for a three that made it a three possession game, 17-10, with 10:00 left before halftime.

The Lady Owls stretched the lead out with two free throws from Holleman and another trey by Thielke.

With 3:32 left before the first buzzer, Thielke drove the lane, slicing the Battler defense, and made it a 29-13 lead.

The Battlers broke a 10-0 Lady Owls' run with two buckets before halftime, trailing 29-17.

The second half brought another terrific display of offense and defense by the Lady Owls. Stacie Cunningham, Holleman, and Thielke all hit tough shots with driving layups to keep the Battler defense from clamping down hard on the arc.

The Lady Owls lead stretched out as much as 46-31 with 7:45 left. The Battlers did not go away, but nine points was the closest they would get.

Lady Owls Win! 59-52 Victory Over Conference Rival Ortonville in Sub-Section 5A-South Championship

In a roller-coaster type game that included numerous peaks and valleys for the team, the Lady Owls displayed incredible heart during their 59-52 win against Ortonville for the sub-section championship. It is the program's third sub-section championship appearance under Coach Jodi Holleman (since 1998), and second win in such games. Their last sub-section championship in 2002 propelled them into the Class A State tournament.

Ortonville finishes their season 15-10 and Sub-Section 5A-South runners-up for the second straight season. In 2006 they fell in a very heart-breaking game to Osakis 60-58 by blowing a seven-point lead late in the game. That season they finished 21-4. This season, they started 2-5 with a tough December before winning 13 out of their final 17 games. Hats off to the Trojans for another fine season of girls basketball.

The Lady Owls now face the Battle Lake Battlers in the Section 5A Championship game on Friday, March 9 at the Minnewaska Area High School. Tip-off is at 7:00pm. The Battlers are 20-6 after their 61-57 win over Bertha-Hewitt in the 5A-North championship game that preceded the Lady Owls' game tonight. The section championship will be a game between the number-one seeds out of both sub-sections. This has not happened in numerous seasons in Section 5A in girls basketball.

In 2006, the Battlers were nipped in the sub-section semi-final game (meaning, no trophy) by eventual Section Champ Browerville 64-62 to finish 19-5 overall. In 2005, they were also defeated by the eventual Section Champ (Underwood) 51-46 in the sub-section semi-final game and finished 16-8. In 2004, they lost their section opener and finished 14-8. In 2003, they were the number one seed in the 5A-North bracket, finishing 21-2 in the regular season. They lost 39-36 in a huge upset to eventual Section runner-up Underwood, who lost to State Entrant Kimball 68-50 in the championship game. Kimball had defeated the Lady Owls 44-41 in the Sub-Section 5A-South championship. That was Hancock's last appearance in a playoff championship game.

Lady Owls Advance to Sub-Section 5A-South Championship For the First Time Since 2003 With 64-53 Win Over Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg

How sweet it is!

Tonight at the Minnewaska Area High School, the Hancock Lady Owls defeated the K-M-S Fighting Saints 64-53 to advance to the sub-section championship game, which will be tomorrow night (Tuesday, March 6) at the same location with an 8:00 tip-off.

It is the Lady Owls' second win over K-M-S this season.

Tomorrow will be the Lady Owls' third appearance in a sub-section championship game this decade. They won the 5A-South title in 2002 and finished as runners-up in 2003.

Bree Holleman had 21 points, Tara Thielke 20 and Jenny Noordmans 13 for Hancock, which shot 50 percent from the field. Entering the game, Thielke (18 ppg), Holleman (15.5 ppg) and Noordmans (12.8 ppg) were among the area’s top 15 scorers.

As a team, the Lady Owls shot 50% from the floor (20-of-40) and 7-of-12 from behind the arc. They were also 17-of-24 from the free throw line. They out-rebounded a taller Fighting Saints team 27-22.

Bring on their next opponent!

Playoffs Have Begun -- Section 5A-South Quarterfinals, 62-43 Lady Owls' Win Over Wheaton-Herman-Norcross

Saturday night at the Morris Area Elementary gym, the Lady Owls faced the Warriors of Wheaton-Herman-Norcross for the third time this season, and they came out with a big win while leaving no doubt they are the number-one ranked team in the sub-section. A 43-15 halftime lead, built after going nine deep off their bench, silenced any thought of a first-round upset by the 8th-seeded Warriors.

The JV squad received a great deal of playing time in the second half, and for the game the Lady Owls shot 44% from the floor. They were a poor 18-for-37 from the free-throw line, however, and must improve on that if they hope to advance to the championship game by beating Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg (15-10) on Monday night in the sub-semi finals. Tip-off is at 6:00pm at the Minnewaska Area High School. The second game of that night will feature Ortonville and Osakis.

Bree Holleman led Hancock with a 20 point performance and Jenny Noordmans scored 14 points while grabbing eight rebounds. Tara Thielke added 12 points, 8 rebounds, 6 steals and 8 assists.