By DALE KUGATH
Sportswriter
ST. PETER – The New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva girls’ basketball team breezed to the championship at the St. Peter Holiday Tournament Friday and Saturday.
The Panthers destroyed Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop in the opening round and romped past host St. Peter in the championship tilt.
A year ago, NRHEG defeated Hutchinson and Bemidji to win the same championship.
The top-ranked Panthers are 7-0 this season, including four road wins.
GFW
The Panthers hit their top point total of the season as they raced past GFW 97-39 in Friday afternoon’s opening round. The Thunderbirds slipped to 2-4 with the loss
NRHEG romped to a 60-28 lead at the intermission.The Panther defense cranked it up in the final half, outscoring the T-Birds 37 to 11.
Carlie Wagner had a double-double for NRHEG, scoring 37 points and dishing out 11 assists. The Panther senior surpassed the 3,000-point total for her career, just the eighth player in Minnesota history to achieve that mark.
Three other NRHEG players reached double figures. Jade Schultz scored 12 points, Maddie Wagner flipped in 11 points and Marnie Wagner tossed in 10 points. Paige Overgaard chipped in with nine points.
Schultz passed out eight assists for the Panthers.
The Thunderbirds had a pair of players reach double digits. Halley Busse topped GFW with 19 points and McKenzie Elder added 10.
NRHEG controlled the boards by an overwhelming 50 to 12 margin.
Jade Schultz, Marnie Wagner and Kayley Camerer paced the winners with seven boards apiece.
Hannah Lundberg sparked the ball-hawking Panther defense with seven steals, and Jade Schultz had four thefts.
“We shot better from behind the arc hitting 9-20 three-pointers,” said NRHEG coach John Schultz.
St. Peter
NRHEG, which blasted St. Peter 96-61 in last year’s section championship game, hammered the Saints by an 89-39 margin in Saturday’s championship game.
St. Peter dropped to 4-4 for the season.
The Panthers streaked to a 60-18 cushion at the break as the outcome was decided early.
NRHEG got off to a 34-7 lead behind the outside sharpshooting of Schultz and Carlie Wagner’s moves to the basket.
Carlie Wagner fired in 24 points in the opening half, one more than Schultz.
“Our trap worked well which led to a lot of fast break points,” said John Schultz. “We shot the ball better tonight than we have lately.”
NRHEG settled for a 29-21 scoring advantage in the final half.
Carlie Wagner pumped in 32 points and handed out 13 assists. She nailed a pair of three-pointers in the game.
Jade Schultz scored a season high 26 points, setting a new school record with eight three-pointers. She dished out six assists.
Marnie Wagner also reached double digits with 14 points. Paige Overgaard chipped in with seven points.
Junior Olivia Haas had a nice game for St. Peter with 16 points and eight rebounds.
Sophomore Emily Carpenter hit a pair of triples in scoring eight points.
NRHEG held a dominating 40-17 advantage on the boards.
Schultz and Marnie Wagner grabbed seven rebounds apiece, while Carlie Wagner and Overgaard snapped off five boards apiece.
Carlie Wagner sparked the NRHEG defense with seven steals, and Overgaard came up with five thefts.
St. Peter was guilty of 33 turnovers in the contest, compared to only nine for the Panthers.
NRHEG resumes Gopher Conference action at Medford Friday.
Hayfield comes to town for a non-conference clash Saturday
Kenyon-Wanamingo visits New Richland Monday evening.