Panthers return to state finals
NRHEG senior guard Carlie Wagner further established herself in the state girls’ basketball record book.
Her 41 points in Friday night's state semifinal 87-58 victory solidified her mark as the top scoring player in state tournament history. She has scored 335 points so far in this tournament and that surpasses the 329 points that Janet Karvonen of New York Mills scored in four consecutive tournaments from 1977 through 1980. Wagner began her tournament scoring spree in the 2012 state tournament.
The defending champion Panthers advanced to a second consecutive title game with Wagner and her twin ninth-grade sisters Maddie (13 points) and Marnie (12 points) accounting for 66 of NRHEG’s 87 points. It was the second straight state tournament game in which the Wagner sisters outscored the opposing team.Everyone played and contributed for the Panthers. Paige Overgaard had eight points and 15 rebounds, Gretchen Ramaker six points, Kelli Harrington four, Kayley Camerer two and Ryann Hagen one.
The game featured 48 fouls and 60 free-throw attempts nearly equally distributed between the Panthers and the Lakers of Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted. Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted, which will play for third place, was led by junior forward Abby Miller with 27 points, senior Gabby Gruenhagen with 11 and sophomore Cozy Eastman with 10.
Carlie Wagner now also officially owns the state career scoring record of 3,921 points, surpassing the 3,888 points scored by Tayler Hill of Minneapolis South who graduated in 2009. Some sources have Braham’s Rebekah Dahlman with more than 5,000 career points, however, required documentation has never been submitted to the Minnesota State High School League for verification.
Information provided by Howard Voigt, MSHSL