For the second year, Minneapolis traveled to the Hoisington Invitational Tournament.  It is a well-run tournament in a beautiful facility that allows the Lions to play against different competition than they normally see.  “I like to use the tournament to try different combinations of kids and also work on some of the offenses and defenses that we may or may not use later on in the season,”  stated Coach Darrow.

The Lady Lions were seeded third going into the tournament and Ellinwood was their first round opponent.  After a slow first quarter, the defense kicked in for Minneapolis and allowed them to bolt to a 20 point third quarter lead.  The Lady Lions coasted through the fourth quarter to a 53-34 win.

This pitted Minneapolis against the host school, Hoisington, on Friday.  “Defensively for three quarters we did well.  The only time that the Lady Cardinals got an open shot is when we did not cover correctly,”  commented Coach Darrow.  At the end of three quarters, the Lady Lions were down 21-22.  Hoisington made a run in the fourth that pulled the Lady Lions out of their normal defense.  The Lady Cardinals were great at the foul line in the fourth quarter, making 14 of 17 attempts.  Minneapolis could not counter and fell 34-45.

After a hard-fought semi-final game, the Lady Lions had to rebound and play at 3:00 on Saturday versus Otis-Bison.  Minneapolis came out and took control of the game early.  The Lady Lions led by seven in the first quarter and then let Otis-Bison pull to within three at 23-20 by half-time.  The second half belonged to Minneapolis, leading to a 47-36 win and giving the Lady Lions a third place win.

“Our goal is always to play in the Championship game of any tournament that we play in.  It didn’t happen this time, but I thought the girls bounded backed and did some good things.  One part of our game that we are continuing to improve on is rebounding.  The girls fought hard during the tournament and I am very proud of their performance,”  stated Coach Darrow.