Owatonna Basketball Splits with Winona; Medford Stays Unbeaten

The Owatonna High School girls' basketball team used an early 18-0 run Friday night to build a big lead over Winona and went on to a 59-45 win at the OHS gym. Sara Anderson paced the team with 16 points in the first half and 21 for the night. Lexi Mendenhall added 16 points, eight in each half.

Owatonna (4-9, 4-6 Big Nine) won its second straight game and travels to conference-leading Rochester John Marshall Saturday night at 7:30 pm on Kat Kountry 105FM and the Kat Kountry 105 app. The game was originally scheduled for January 15 but got moved up due to Rochester schools holding their finals next week.

The Owatonna boys were held to 20 points per half in a 50-40 loss at Winona. Evan Dushek scored 14 points and had eight rebounds. Steven Eckard scored nine on three three-pointers. The Huskies (4-7, 3-4 Big Nine) host John Marshall Saturday at 7:30 pm with OwatonnaLive.com offering a video stream of the game at no charge.

The Medford girls' basketball team completed a challenging week with another double-digit victory with their 73-45 victory over Blooming Prairie. The Tigers are 12-0. Medford's Twitter account @MedfordGirlsBB stated, "Good intensity on the defensive end. Extra energy brought from our future Lady Tigers at kids night! Thanks to all that came out to support!"

Earlier this week Medford defeated Section 2AA opponents Tri-City United and Maple River. The Tigers go to Schaeffer Academy Monday and to NRHEG Friday.

The Blooming Prairie boys' hoops' team played a solid defensive game in downing Medford 68-39. BP Coach Nate Piller said, "The boys played with confidence tonight and got after it on defense...we're starting to learn the team component to playing well defensively."

"Isaac Ille had a nice night shooting the ball and we had great balance scoring with three guys in double digits and two more with eight points." Ille scored 12. Kaden Thomas had 15. Zach Weber added 12. Zach Archer and Gabe Hagen put in eight apiece.

Blooming Prairie (9-2, 4-2 Gopher Conference) goes to Houston Monday and hosts United South Central Friday, January 18.