Hornets, Cardinals defeat Panthers

     Frazee and Staples-Motley relied on scoring duos to defeat the Park Rapids girls basketball team.

     Kennady Barlund and Whitney Janu combined for 43 points in leading Frazee to a 63-57 victory last Saturday at Frazee while Grace Wolhowe and Quinn Uhlman combined for 51 points to spark Staples-Motley to an 85-74 Mid-State Conference win Tuesday night at Staples.

     Park Rapids fell to 4-5 in the conference and 11-8 overall.

Frazee defeats Panthers

     Frazee prevailed in a battle of spurts in this battle of Section 8AA teams.

     Frazee jumped out to a 13-0 lead before seeing the Panthers go on a 17-4 run to tie the game at 17-17. The game was tied at 28-28 at the half as Katie Klein hit a pair of 3-pointers while Megan Grimes, Jaiden McCollum and Gabie Johnson had three field goals apiece.

     Park Rapids opened the second half with a 5-0 run before the Hornets responded with a 7-0 run to take a 35-33 lead. Klein hit a 3-pointer to give the Panthers a 46-45 advantage before Barlund and Janu scored 13 straight points to give Frazee a 58-46 lead.

     Klein hit five 3-pointers and finished with 23 points while Johnson scored 13 points to lead the Panthers.

     Barlund’s 25 points and Janu’s 18 points led the Hornets, who improved to 13-7 on the season.

PARK RAPIDS: H. Johnson 0 0-0 0, Grimes 4 0-0 8, Klein 7 4-6 23, Wolff 1 1-1 3, G. Johnson 6 0-0 13, Wagner 1 0-0 2, McCollum 4 0-0 8. Totals: 23 (FG), 5 for 7 (FT).

FRAZEE: Barlund 25, Janu 18, Tappe 9, Oswald 7, Smith 4.

Halftime: Park Rapids 28, Frazee 28. Three-pointers: Klein 5, G. Johnson 1, Janu 3, Tappe 1. Team fouls: Park Rapids 21, Frazee 9. Fouled out: Grimes.

Cardinals sweep season series

     The Cardinals had four players reach double figures to sweep the season series from Park Rapids.

     Wolhowe scored 16 points and Uhlman scored 11 points in the first half as the Cardinals led 44-33. Klein scored 15 points to lead the Panthers.

     Wolhowe scored 15 points in the second half and the Cardinals hit 11 free throws down the stretch for the win. Wolhowe finished with 31 points and nine rebounds, Uhlman chipped in 20 points while Kaitlin Spar (11) and Kelsie Weite (10) also hit double figures for Staples-Motley, which improved to 3-2 in the conference and 14-3 overall.

     Klein scored 24 points, Johnson scored 21 points and McCollum scored 16 points to lead the Panthers, who went 7 of 22 at the free-throw line.

     The 85 points allowed and the 74 points scored were season highs for Park Rapids, which lost to the Cardinals 55-52 earlier in the season.

PARK RAPIDS: H. Johnson 2 0-4 5, Grimes 0 0-0 0, Klein 8 5-9 24, Wolff 3 0-6 6, G. Johnson 9 2-3 21, Wagner 1 0-0 2, McCollum 8 0-0 16. Totals: 31 (FG), 7 for 22 (FT).

STAPLES-MOTLEY: Weite 4 0-0 10, Spar 4 3-6 11, Dumpprope 1 0-0 2, Uhlman 7 5-7 20, G. Wolhowe 11 7-7 31, Koopman 2 0-0 4, C. Wolhowe 1 0-0 2, Robben 1 3-4 5. Totals: 30 (FG), 18 for 24 (FT).

Halftime: Staples-Motley 44, Park Rapids 33. Three-pointers: H. Johnson 1, Klein 3, G. Johnson 1, Weite 2, Uhlman 1, G. Wolhowe 2. Team fouls: Park Rapids 18, Staples-Motley 15. Fouled out: H. Johnson, C. Wolhowe.