It’s tournament season for winter sports as Prior Lake teams look to bring home some hardware. Here’s a look at how teams are positioned for the final stretch of competition:
Boys wrestling
The Prior Lake wrestling team is looking forward to the weekend as they will be competing in the state team and individual championships.
The team tournament will be held Thursday, Feb. 27, at Xcel Energy Center. The Lakers open the quarterfinals against No. 3 Stillwater at 9 a.m. The winner of that dual will face the winner of No. 2 Shakopee/Elk River at 1 p.m. The tournament’s top team is undefeated No. 1 St. Michael-Albertville.
The team championship dual will be at 5 p.m.
Meanwhile, the individual tournament will run through Saturday, March 1. Sectionals were held this past weekend at Farmington.
Several Lakers had strong showings at sections, including tournament wins by Liam Collins at 114 pounds, John Graham at 152 pounds and Brock Zurn at 285 pounds.
Girls basketball
Prior Lake’s Toni Fisher bounced in a layup at the buzzer ending the first half to push the Lakers ahead by 31 points.
Much about the play was indicative of No. 2 seed Prior Lake’s 74-23 win over the Sabers on Wednesday night: the score was preceded by a Shakopee turnover, and there wasn’t much the seventh-seeded visitors could do to stop it.
Haven Fisher led the Lakers with 15 points, and Toni Fisher added 13 points.
Bree Bowman largely played the part of facilitator, but the senior committed to Colorado State did score her 1,000th career point in the second half during running time.
“It’s just nice to get it put away, honestly,” Bowman said. “I was a little stressed out about it.”
The Lakers will play No. 3 Minnetonka on Saturday, March 1, at noon at Prior Lake High School. The winner will play in the section 2AAAA championship with a spot in the state tournament on the line. The state tournament will be held at Williams Arena at the University of Minnesota on March 12-15.
Boys basketball
The Lakers boys hoopers are looking to finish their regular season on a strong note this week.
Last Friday, Feb. 21, Prior Lake set their high mark for points scored in a game with a 94-45 throttling of Eagan.
Farmington put up a tougher fight on Tuesday, just a week after Prior Lake beat the Tigers by 23 points. Farmington played tough defense when it was needed and shot well from the field to take the game, 80-75.
Prior Lake will face Eastview at home on Friday, Feb. 28, to end the regular season. The Lakers will find out their section playoff schedule over the weekend. The Lakers are currently 19-6 and tied for second place in the South Suburban Conference with Apple Valley, behind leader Shakopee.
