Howie's Prep Notebook, Thursday

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TONIGHT

Section 7AAA Girls Basketball Championship

No. 1 Rock Ridge vs. No. 2 Hermantown, 7 p.m. Duluth Denfeld Gym

Howie

QUOTE ME

Hermantown boy's basketball coach Andy Fenske on his team's stunning, 74-64 victory over Cloquet in a Section 7AAA quarterfinal on Wednesday night – "The boys played their most complete game of the season last night. From the scoring standpoint, only getting down four points early on and being able to continually withstand the runs that they were putting together was huge for our confidence. We played eight guys last night, and all eight scored and five were in double figures. We executed our game plan as best as we could, adapted to the flow of the game, and had a total team win last night. Going on the road, to play a senior-heavy team, is challenging no matter what the situation is but the boys rallied around each other and got the job done. I hope we saved some of the madness for tomorrow night (7AAA semifinal at Hibbing, 6 p.m.). We can worry about a 7AAA final if we're able to handle our business tomorrow night. Heading up to Hibbing is always a tough environment to play in. They are a team that's a bit older than us and they had a tight one with North Branch until the very end. So both of us are battle-tested with a playoff win under the belt. We have a few key guys we need to hone in on to try and disrupt them as much as possible. They got the early season game against us and only seeing them one time this year (an 86-56 Hawks' loss in Hermantown on Dec. 6) we're not entirely sure what to expect out of them. As the underdog team in the section right now, and the fact that we're 'playing with House money,' I like where we're at and how the game could shake out tomorrow night. The most beautiful part of this game is that all we need to do is go 1-0 one more time for the chance at another week of basketball together."