The Shakopee girls basketball team snapped its eight-game losing streak, but the tough stretch continues.
The Sabers earned a 53-49 win at Lakeville South Feb. 17, but followed that with a 45-41 home loss to Burnsville Feb. 21 in a pair of South Suburban Conference games.
Shakopee also lost 56-51 at home to Prior Lake Feb. 14 in SSC action. The Lakers are also a Section 2AAAA foe.
Section seeds come out Feb. 25, a day after Shakopee’s final regular season game, which is home versus Farmington in league play. Shakopee (10-15), the defending Section 2AAAA champion, will likely get the No. 6 seed.
Top-ranked Chaska (24-1) is a lock for the No. 1 seed, followed likely by Eden Prairie (16-9), Minnetonka (16-9), Prior Lake (14-9) and Chanhassen (10-13). Edina (7-18) and Waconia (6-19) round out the field.
The Sabers are 2-4 against section teams with wins over Chaska and Waconia, along with two losses to Prior Lake and one loss to both Chanhassen and Edina.
Section quarterfinal play starts March 1. The semifinals are March 4 and the title game is set for March 10. The higher seed is at home for all three rounds.
Shakopee upset Eden Prairie in last year’s title game on the road when then-senior Katie Cordes made a half-court shot at the buzzer for a 50-47 victory.
Meanwhile, in the win over Lakeville South, the Sabers dominated the second half outscoring the Cougars 34-23. Junior Olivia Pawlicki finished with a game-high 22 points, while junior Nicole Maenke had 19 points.
Senior Cassandra Ross chipped in five points for Shakopee, while senior Shyla Moore scored four points and ninth grader Sadie Hall had three.
In the loss to Burnsville, the Sabers went cold in the second half and managed just 14 points, getting outscored 11 points.
Maenke led Shakopee with 17 points, while Moore, Pawlicki and Ross each scored six. Hall and sophomore Rae Skattum both finished with three points.
Against Prior Lake, a tough second half also cost the Sabers. Prior Lake outscored Shakopee by 13 points in the final 18 minutes of play (36-23).
Pawlicki led the team with 19 points, while Moore and Maenke were also in double figures with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Hall chipped in four points, while senior Yesenia Mendoza scored three.
This year’s Class 4A state tournament will be March 15-18 at Williams Area on the University of Minnesota campus. Hopkins beat St. Michael-Albertville for the title last winter.
Shakopee went 1-2 at state last year and took sixth. It was the program’s third appearance as a Class 4A program. The team was also there in 2015 and 2019.
The Sabers’ other state appearances came in 1979, 1981 an 1996 in Class 2A and in 1997 in Class 3A.
Four-class basketball started across the state in the 1996-1997 school year. Shakopee joined the top class in 2005.
