Prep basketball: Minnesota sweeps Border Battle for the first time
Duluth East's Jobe Juenemann and Pine City's Sophie Lahti were named the boys and girls MVPs.
Hermantown’s Blake Schmitz, right, gets a shot up over Northwestern’s Cole Lahti in the first half of the Duluth Amateur Youth Basketball Association’s Border Battle on Tuesday, March 28 at Romano Gym on the Minnesota Duluth campus.
DULUTH — For the first time, Minnesota teams ruled the day at the Duluth Area Youth Basketball Association’s 13th annual Border Battle Tuesday at Romano Gym.
The Minnesota boys team jumped out to a big lead and topped Wisconsin 115-86 and the Minnesota girls won 95-78.
Two Harbors’ Trent Gomez, right, slips past Northwestern’s Cole Lahti for a bucket in the first half of the Duluth Amateur Youth Basketball Association’s Border Battle on Tuesday, March 28 at Romano Gym on the Minnesota Duluth campus.
Jed Carlson / Superior Telegram
Despite the lopsided scores, both games featured plenty of excitement from a collection of the best players from both sides of the border.
The Minnesota boys jumped out to a 62-40 lead at halftime on the strength of 17 points in the first 20 minutes from Two Harbors’ Trent Gomez.
The kids from Wisconsin wouldn’t go away, however, chipping away at the lead in the second half and eventually cutting it to nine points with about 10 minutes to play, but Gomez and Duluth East’s Jobe Juenemann found some chemistry.
ADVERTISEMENT
Gomez found Juenemann on the perimeter twice late in the second half to begin to build the lead again and Cherry’s Isaac Asuma slammed the door with a thunderous dunk in the final minutes of play.
Cherry’s Isaac Asuma, right, soars past Northwestern’s Cole Lahti for a bucket in the first half of the Duluth Amateur Youth Basketball Association’s Border Battle on Tuesday, March 28 at Romano Gym on the Minnesota Duluth campus.
Jed Carlson / Superior Telegram
Juenemann scored a team-high 22 points and was named the game’s MVP. Cumberland’s Jax Effertz scored a game-high 29 points and Northwestern’s Cole Lahti was the highest local scorer for Wisconsin with five points.
Hamling, Raye duel in girls game
Grand Rapids' Taryn Hamling and Superior’s Emma Raye went back and forth in the girls game, with Hamling finishing with 22 points and Raye a game-high 25 points.
Hamling hit five 3-pointers and the Minnesota team hit 10, where Wisconsin hit just two the entire game.
Northwestern’s Tieryn Plasch finished with five points and Superior’s Savannah Leopold scored three, with the pair combining for Wisconsin’s only two makes from the perimeter.
Fresh off their run to the Class A state title, Mountain Iron-Buhl’s Sage Ganyo scored 11 points for Minnesota and the Rangers were honored for the triumph in Minneapolis in between the games.
Pine City’s Sophie Lahti scored 13 points and was named the game’s MVP.
Northwestern’s Tieryn Plasch, right, drives on Mountain Iron-Buhl's Sage Ganyo in the first quarter of the Duluth Amateur Youth Basketball Association’s Border Battle on Tuesday, March 28 at Romano Gym on the Minnesota Duluth campus.
Jed Carlson / Superior Telegram
Mountain Iron-Buhl's Sage Ganyo, right, drives to the hoop for Team Minnesota in the second quarter of the Duluth Amateur Youth Basketball Association’s Border Battle on Tuesday, March 28 at Romano Gym on the Minnesota Duluth campus.
Jed Carlson / Superior Telegram
Superior’s Emma Raye, right, drives past Pequot Lakes’ Maci Martini in the first quarter of the Duluth Amateur Youth Basketball Association’s Border Battle on Tuesday night, March 28 at Romano Gym on the Minnesota Duluth campus. Raye led all scorers in the game.
Jed Carlson / Superior Telegram
Superior’s Emma Raye, left, battles for a rebound with Cloquet’s Alexa Snesrud in the third quarter of the Duluth Amateur Youth Basketball Association’s Border Battle on Tuesday, March 28 at Romano Gym on the Minnesota Duluth campus.
Jed Carlson / Superior Telegram
Duluth East’s Rachel Hagen, right, gets a shot up over Hurley’s Melissa DiGiorgio in the second quarter of the Duluth Amateur Youth Basketball Association’s Border Battle on Tuesday, March 28 at Romano Gym on the Minnesota Duluth campus.
Jed Carlson / Superior Telegram
Superior’s Savannah Leopold, right, fires a shot up over Cromwell-Wright’s Sascha Korpela in the first quarter of the Duluth Amateur Youth Basketball Association’s Border Battle on Tuesday, March 28 at Romano Gym on the Minnesota Duluth campus.
Jed Carlson / Superior Telegram
South Shore’s Carter Lulich, right, gets up high as he swats a layup attempt by Mountain Iron-Buhl’s Asher Zubich in the first half of the Duluth Amateur Youth Basketball Association’s Border Battle on Tuesday, March 28 at Romano Gym on the Minnesota Duluth campus.
Jed Carlson / Superior Telegram
Esko’s Cuinn Berger drives to the hoop in the first half of the Duluth Amateur Youth Basketball Association’s Border Battle on Tuesday, March 28 at Romano Gym on the Minnesota Duluth campus.
Jamey Malcomb has a been high school sports reporter for the Duluth News Tribune since October 2021. He spent the previous six years covering news and sports for the Lake County News-Chronicle in Two Harbors and the Cloquet Pine Journal. He graduated from the George Washington University in 1999 with a bachelor's degree in history and literature and also holds a master's degree in secondary English education from George Mason University.
The Trust Project
