Basketball: North teams stay in first place

Rosemount’s Thompson reaches assists milestone

Lakeville North has had a string of one-sided victories on its way to the South Suburban Conference boys basketball lead, but challenges are ahead for the Panthers.

After routing Apple Valley 83-48 on Tuesday the Panthers, ranked sixth in Class 4A, have a fairly quick turnaround as they’ll play at seventh-ranked Shakopee at 7 p.m. Thursday. North is 8-1 in the conference (13-4 overall), with Shakopee and Farmington tied for second at 7-2.

Lakeville North defeated Farmington 83-78 in the teams’ first regular-season meeting Dec. 19.

The home-court victory over Apple Valley was Lakeville North’s seventh in a row. The last five were by at least 30 points.

Seniors Jack Robison and Matt Drake had 27 and 16 points for Lakeville North, which led 45-24 at halftime. Guards Trey Parker and Zach Nhial had 13 points each for Apple Valley, 9-7 overall and 4-5 in the conference.

Also in SSC boys basketball Tuesday:

• Shakopee defeated Farmington 86-79 on Tuesday, dropping the fifth-ranked Tigers one game out of first place in the league. The Sabers rallied in the second half, outscoring Farmington 44-33 after trailing by four points at halftime. Brandon Hrncir (20 points), Nik Domier (11), Tyler Beckwith (10) and Liam Roche (10) scored in double figures for Farmington, 13-4 overall.

• Lakeville South survived an upset bid by Eastview, winning 70-69 on the Cougars’ home court. It was the third consecutive South game decided by one or two points. The Cougars lost to Prior Lake 75-73 on Jan. 23 before defeating Shakopee 77-76 on Jan. 26, followed by the victory over Eastview.

Ryan Johnson led South with 21 points in Tuesday’s game, with Keaton Ressler scoring 18 and DaMarcus Burks adding 10. Nolan Segner had a game-high 27 points for Eastview (2-7 conference, 3-12 overall). Jonathan Mekonnen had 15 points, Jack Frigstad 12 and Benjamin Schmitz 10.

Lakeville South’s Lauson Schmidt scored 22 points in his team’s victory at Shakopee last week. The Cougars (6-3, 11-6) have a big conference game Friday when they play host to Farmington at 7 p.m.

• Eagan defeated Prior Lake 77-73 on Tuesday, thanks to a 51-point second half. Alex Schroepfer had a game-high 23 points for the Wildcats (3-6, 10-7), and Charlie Birk scored 14.

• Will Peroutka led 10 Rosemount players in the scorebook with 11 points as the Irish defeated Burnsville 65-40. Rosemount improved to 3-6 in the conference and 6-10 overall. Soren Leafblad had 15 points for Burnsville (0-9, 2-15).

Girls basketball

Lakeville North remained in first place in the South Suburban with an 83-28 victory at Apple Valley on Tuesday. It was the seventh consecutive victory for the Panthers (9-1 SSC, 14-4 overall), with all of them by at least 17 points. Apple Valley is 0-2 in the conference, 7-12 overall.

In other SSC girls games:

• Rosemount remained one game out of first place after defeating Burnsville 87-54 at home on Tuesday. Avery Moeller (14 points), Ashna Ramlall (14), Ayelishka Teko-Folly (12) and Ava Thompson (10) all scored in double figures for the Irish, 8-2 in the conference and 15-4 overall.

Senior guard Madison Malecha scored 23 points for Burnsville (2-8, 7-12).

Rosemount’s Thompson became the fourth player in school history with 300 career assists, reaching that mark Jan. 27 in the Irish’s 71-59 victory over East Ridge at the Community Clash at St. Michael-Albertville High School. Thompson had 11 assists in a Jan. 28 Rosemount victory over Eastview, followed by nine against East Ridge, putting the senior guard at 306 for her career.

The other Rosemount players with 300 or more career assists are Maddy Olson (2017 graduate), Helen Staley (2021) and Alexa Ratzlaff (2022).

• Eastview defeated Lakeville South 71-60 on Tuesday, improving to 7-3 in the conference while South dropped to 6-4. Clara Goodman had a game-high 24 points and Myah Maull scored 15 for the Lightning (14-5 overall). Finley Ohnstad and Danielle Coleman had 20 points each for South (11-8).

• Prior Lake broke open a close game in the second half and defeated Eagan 68-43. Macy Redetzke and Drew Buslee scored 12 points each for Eagan (3-7, 8-9).

• Shakopee defeated Farmington 60-43 on Tuesday, outscoring the Tigers 39-21 in the second half. Carly Olson had eight points and Ali Simonson seven for Farmington (0-10, 3-14).