Women's basketball: Warriors win but lose

FERGUS FALLS - It’s not often a basketball team comes off a 20-point victory feeling depressed. But that was the mood around the Ridgewater women’s basketball team on Wednesday.
The Warriors blitzed M State 72-52 in their penultimate regular season game, then found out that St. Cloud Technical had upset Rochester, eliminating Ridgewater from the MCAC playoffs.
Had the Yellowjackets won, Ridgewater’s and St. Cloud Technical’s game this Saturday would have carried playoff implications. SCT’s win doused that possibility in what will be Warrior head coach Carrie Ogdahl’s final game.
“It’s kind of a bummer,” said Ogdahl, who is retiring after 20 years on the Warriors’ bench. “This Saturday would have been a lot more fun if it was for something.”
The Warriors improved to 7-6 in the MCAC Southern Division and 16-10 overall. They’ll play SCT at 1 p.m. Saturday.
On Wednesday, Sami Doering led the Warriors with 20 points and she collected eight rebounds, and Brooke Wuertz hit four 3-point shots and finished with 18 points. She also had a team-high six assists and seven steals.
Datri Jensen scored five points and led Ridgewater with 12 rebounds, and Maddi Strandberg had 13 points and five steals. Erica Melbie had a tough shooting night but still scored seven points and had eight boards.
Ogdahl said the team will play its final game of the 20-14-15 season as if big things still hung in the balance.
“We’ll go in like this is our championship game,” Ogdahl said. “This is our playoff game and we’ll go out and take it to them.”
Ridgewater 72, M State 52
Ridgewater (7-6, 16-10) 34 38 - 72
Fergus Falls 23 29 - 52
Ridgewater
28-85 FG; 8-13 FT; 19 fouls … Scoring: Maddi Strandberg 13, Datri Jensen 5, Erica Melbie 7, Sami Doering 20, Brooke Wuertz 18, Rachel Ampe 2, Allie Seth 3, Sarah Anderson 4 … 3-point shots: Strandberg 1, Melbie 1, Doering 2, Wuertz 4 … Rebound leaders: Jensen 12, Melbie 8, Doering 8 … Assist leader: Wuertz 6 … Steal leader: Wuertz 7, Strandberg 5
Fergus Falls
17-51 FG; 11-23 FT; 15 fouls … Scoring: Ashley Maack 16, Danielle Pratt 21, Chole Evenson 2, Heidi Eggen 6, J. Imsade 7 … 3-point shots: Maack 3, Pratt 4 … Rebound leaders: Pratt 11, Eggen 10, Imsande 10 … Assist leader: Maack 5 … Steal leader: Three with one