Anoka Girls Basketball

[DTro]

Amazing story!

Cinderella won't be accompanying the Anoka girls basketball team to this week's state tournament.

"We are done with that kind of stuff, those kinds of analogies," Tornadoes first-year coach James Fassett said. "It's time to play basketball."

The Tornadoes have been doing just that of late.

At a high level.

To the shock of everyone.

Anoka, which won just two games in the regular season, has gone on an inexplicable, magical four-game postseason run that has the Tornadoes in the state tournament for the first time. Anoka (6-24) plays Lakeville North (27-2) in the Class AAAA quarterfinals at 4 p.m. today at Target Center.

"We're going to try our best to continue shocking the world," Fassett said with a laugh.

No team has had a poorer record to open the state tournament than Anoka.

The only other team that comes close is the 1991-92 Rosemount boys hockey team. The Irish had one victory in the regular season before piecing together three victories in the postseason to qualify for the Tier II state tournament with a 4-19 record. Rosemount went on to finish runner-up to Greenway (Coleraine).

Anoka, which had a 12-game losing streak to end the regular season and a nine-game skid earlier, opened the Section 7AAAA playoffs as the No. 9 seed. They traveled to Duluth to play No. 8 Duluth Central in a play-in game on March 1.

The Tornadoes defeated Duluth Central 63-40 for their first playoff victory in 10 years, earning another trip to Duluth to play top-seeded Duluth East, which had defeated Anoka 83-64 on Feb. 10.

"We had a pep fest after their first section victory,'' Anoka activities director John Baufield said. "You could see something in the kids' eyes that maybe something special was happening. The school is just thrilled for them."

The Tornadoes beat Duluth East 62-49.

"I really saw the confidence start to soar after that win," Fassett said. "It was exciting stuff. Word started spreading about what we were doing. I told them, 'Let's not stop here.' "

Crosstown rival Andover, the No. 4 seed, was next in the semifinals. Andover had beaten Anoka twice during the Northwest Suburban Conference schedule, including a 60-38 thumping on Feb. 18. Andover couldn't make it three straight, falling to Anoka 67-57.

"We wanted to show them that Anoka is the real 'A' town," Fassett said. "These girls made it known to one another that they weren't going to lose to Andover a third time."

Claire Lundberg, one of seven freshmen on the team, has been instrumental in the playoff run. She scored 15 points against Duluth Central, 18 against Duluth East, 22 against Andover and 21 in the 77-66 victory in overtime over Cambridge-Isanti in the section championship game.

Lakeville North coach Andy Berkvam scouted the Section 7AAAA semifinals and came away impressed with Anoka. He predicted after that game that Anoka would emerge as the champion.

"They remind me a lot of our 2007 team when Rachel Banham was an eighth-grader," he said. "That team played with no fear, too.

"You have to give that Anoka team credit for the great turnaround. At this point, you can't take anyone lightly. We certainly aren't going to take them lightly. I will never look beyond anyone, especially a team that is on a roll."

Fassett isn't sure how to explain the Tornadoes' turnaround.

Baufield suggests it was Fassett's decision to play the freshmen without upsetting the upperclassmen. Fassett thinks it must have been lessons learned during the second round through the conference schedule. Even though his team was still losing, the margins of defeat shrunk.

Fassett, an assistant women's basketball coach at Anoka-Ramsey Community College before taking the Anoka job, isn't interested in overanalyzing things.

He said he wasn't thrilled when the quarterfinal pairings were released last weekend and the Tornadoes were matched against Lakeville North, the No. 3 seed in the big-school field.

"I knew we had to draw somebody," he said. "They're the defending state champion, and they have a huge size advantage over us. We hope to compete at a high level.

"For this run to continue, it will take a fantastic game by us. It will also take some hiccups from Lakeville North. Our style is dribble-drive and attack the basket. We could get some people from Lakeville North in foul trouble that way. It will take a phenomenal game from us, and some luck."

Fassett is preparing his pregame speech, and said he would listen to Herb Brooks' monumental speech in "Miracle'' for ideas. One theme he will stress to his team:

"The record doesn't matter," he said. "The whole state is watching you, and most are pulling for you. Embrace that. You're in a special place."

[PierBridge]

I'll take Lakeville Nort minus the 11 1/2.....

Congrats to the Toranado's...

[DTro]

Yeah....one and done for the gals.

Still a great story.

[Coach1310]

What HS sports are all about... great story and accomplishment for them. I'm not against education, but those girls probably learned more about themselves and what it takes to be successful in those couple of weeks they made their run than they had the entire school year before that.