Feb. 9—WORTHINGTON — Multiple team records fell in one of the most dominant performances in Minnesota West Lady Jay history on Saturday.
The No. 1 Lady Jays are continuing to play like the best team in the nation after scoring a team record 128 points against Riverland in a whopping 102-point victory. They also finished with a likely team record 37 assists in a dazzling display of team basketball.
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“We just have depth like I’ve never had before. We have four kids on the bench that could probably start, you know, they could probably play a lot of minutes on a lot of teams in our conference,” said head coach Rosalie Hayenga-Hostikka. “We’ve kind of tried to just talk about how important that is… if you give it, eventually it will come back around. That, to me, is probably one of the things I’m most proud of when I have a team that buys into that concept. I mean, right now, we’re number one in the nation in team assists in the NJCAA and to me, I think that just kind of says why we’ve been pretty successful.”
All nine players scored in double figures as the team shot 66.2% from the field, including over 70% in the first half, made 11 3-pointers, outrebounded the Blue Devils 47-13 and forced 33 turnovers on defense.
After Riverland scored 11 points in the first quarter, the Minnesota West defense nearly posted shutouts over the next two quarters.
The Jays went on a 33-2 run in the second quarter to lead 65-13 at halftime and then on a 35-3 run in the third quarter to go ahead 100-16. The team scoring record was within reach.
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By the final few minutes of the fourth quarter, the Lady Jays were closing in on the record. A Katrina Schutz layup late secured it, setting a new standard and beating the previous record of 123 points against Rainy River back in 2023.
With around four minutes to go, Hayenga-Hostikka subbed her starting lineup back in to go for the record.
“The sophomores have been on my case for two years that they wanted to get it,” said the coach. “…I put those sophomores back in so that they could actually get that as a record that’s been there for a few years, and a pretty good team had it so it’s kind of fun. Like, I said that for two years they wanted it that’s been one of their goals.”
3-pointers from Maddie Kamm and Izzy Klumper in the first quarter set the early tone for a clinical offensive performance. Two more ensuing triples from Ayla Texley off the bench opened a 24-4 lead.
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In the second quarter, the Jays went on two runs of 10 or more points. They started the quarter on a 18-0 run, gave up one jump shot and then ended on a 15-0 run.
The second run was started by a personal 6-0 streak from the game’s leading scorer Jayda Hellewell. Three consecutive steals and fast break layups from Payton Reimers ended the run. A similar performance in the third quarter followed from Minnesota West before Hellewell scored another six consecutive points early in the fourth quarter as the Lady Jays approached history.
Hellewell finished with 17 points on 6-of-6 from the field. Sadie Krahling and Katrina Schutz each added 16 and Klumper and Texley each scored 15, Reimers and Katelyn Frodermann had 14 each, Kamm totaled 11 and Anistasia Smith had 10.
Frodermann led the way in rebounds with nine and Reimers led in assists with six. Every player finished with at least four assists.
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“I really thought we played three and a half on Wednesday (against Anoka-Ramsey), of the best quarters that we played all year,” Hayenga-Hostikka said. “And then this was just from tip, kind of domination, I guess, but I really think we played extremely well. I thought some of our passing was just outstanding.”
The Lady Jays (19-5, 8-0) have two games left in the regular season with the next opponent being St. Cloud Technical on the road Wednesday.
The Cyclones are 12-9 overall and 2-4 in the Minnesota College Athletic Conference south division.
Minnesota West appears to be peaking at the right time with the most crucial stretch of the season approaching quickly. All year, Hayenga-Hostikka had wanted to see her team put together four great quarters and Saturday’s outing makes a great case.
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“We kind of just said, ‘Let’s not have a big letdown,’ and we didn’t,” Hayenga-Hostikka said. “This is when we want to be, it’s cliche, but this is when we want to be playing our best basketball right now and I think we are so that’s exciting.”
