Basketball conference races are going down to the wire

Several basketball conference races are going right down to the wire, making some of the upcoming games that much more entertaining for the fans.

In the Camden North Conference girls' basketball race, Lakeview, MACCRAY and Dawson-Boyd have been taking turns taking the lead in the race this season.

MACCRAY bumped Dawson-Boyd out of a share of the lead and a chance at the title with a 53-51 victory Tuesday night in Clara City. The Wolverines rallied from a 28-23 halftime deficit.

As expected, the standout senior posts on each team had solid nights. MACCRAY's Hilary Groothuis finished with 21 points and 14 rebounds, while Dawson-Boyd's Chelsie Kurtenbach had 20 points and 18 rebounds.

MACCRAY hosts Lakeview Friday in Clara City with the winner capturing the title outright.

In the Camden North boys' race, four teams have been beating on each other all season; MACCRAY, Central Minnesota Christian, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg and Lakeview.

KMS currently leads with a 7-3 record, while CMCS, MACCRAY and Lakeview all stand 6-4. KMS plays CMCS in Prinsburg tonight, MACCRAY is at Dawson-Boyd and Lakeview plays Renville County West in Renville.

MACCRAY finishes the conference season next Tuesday against Lakeview in Cottonwood. Also next Tuesday, KMS concludes the loop at Dawson-Boyd, while CMCS plays at Canby.

In the West Central South Conference races, Yellow Medicine East and Benson are tied for the girls' lead and Montevideo holds a one-game edge on Benson in the boys' race.

The YME girls pulled even with Benson Tuesday night with a 43-33 victory in in Benson. Each now stands 8-3 in the conference with one game remaining.

Benson finished at Montevideo Friday, while YME concludes at Montevideo next Thursday.

The Benson boys (6-2 in the WCS), who have won six straight games, moved within a game of Montevideo (7-1) when the Thunder Hawks were upset by Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City in Grove City.

Both teams have four games left in the conference schedule.

The Albany girls hold a two-game edge on New London-Spicer with two games remaining. NLS hosts Albany Friday with a chance to close within a game. Albany would then finish at home against Minnewaska next Thursday, while NLS will host Melrose on the same day.

The NLS boys are unbeaten at 10-0 in conference play and lead Melrose by two games with four games remaining. Melrose plays at NLS on Feb. 21.

See all conference standings on Page B-4.

State football games to be played on neutral sites

All state quarterfinal football games will be played on neutral sites with artificial turf in 2007 the Minnesota State High School League announced recently.

Currently, nearly all state quarterfinal games in all six classes are played on one of the team's home field.

Also, the quarterfinal games will likely be spread over three days, beginning on Thursday, instead of all playing on Friday in early November.

"I think it's a great move," said Redwood Valley coach Matt Lundeen, who guided the Cardinals to the Class AAA state tournament in 2003 and 04. "It provides the best possible conditions for our state at that time of year. If the field if frozen, it's almost like playing on ice. Players are slipping all over the place and, for some teams, you can't do th things that got you to the state tournament. And in my mind, that isn't right."

BOLD coach Steve Solem, who has taken teams to numerous state tournaments and won two state titles, is not in favor of changing the current system.

"I don't like the idea," Solem said. "You lose the excitement of home field. To a small town, the state game is a big deal."

The MSHSL is exploring the possibility of moving as many of the game into the Metrodome as it can. Currently, only the semifinals and championships are played in the Metrodome.

Several area teams have competed in the Fargodome in recent years.

The league wants all teams to play on artificial turf because it doesn't freeze and snow can be removed easily.

Raymond gets 100th coaching win

Redwood Valley boys basketball coach Kelly Raymond won the 100th game of his coaching career last Saturday against Mankato East.

Raymond, who is in his first year as coach at Redwood Valley, previously coached at Buffalo Lake-Hector for two seasons and at Valley High School in Colorado for four years.

Redwood Valley is currently 10-10.