Feb. 17—ROCHESTER — The Minnesota West men’s and women’s basketball teams faced tough Rochester squads Saturday with both games ending in defeats.
The top-ranked Lady Jays (15-8) lost for the first time in Minnesota College Athletic Conference south division play this season in what was a comeback win for Rochester while the 13th-ranked Minnesota West men (19-8) were beaten handily by the Yellowjackets.
Women
Rochester 57, Minnesota West 52
The Yellowjackets avenged a loss earlier in the season to the Lady Jays and snapped a three-game losing streak to their rival.
The game again lived up to being a No. 1 vs No. 2 matchup as Rochester used an eight-point swing in the fourth quarter to hand the Lady Jays a five-point loss.
After initially trailing 8-2, the Lady Jays kept things close in the first quarter, trailing by just two after the first 10 minutes. They kept things close throughout a low-scoring second quarter as the Yellowjacket took just a 25-22 halftime lead.
Minnesota West quickly took the lead in the third quarter to start a 9-0 run over the next three and a half minutes. Rhea Tucker was responsible for seven of those nine points.
Rochester fought back to score six straight points to tie the game at 31 before a Tucker 3-pointer ended the run. The rest of the quarter was back and forth with the Jays taking a 38-35 lead into the fourth quarter.
The final 10 minutes of the game saw Minnesota West take a 45-39 lead with 6:19 to go, but the Yellowjackets responded with a 12-0 run to go ahead 51-45 with 3:19 left. The Lady Jays didn’t grab the lead back for the rest of the game as Rochester held off late rallies for the win.
Tucker finished with 15 points to lead the Jays in scoring to go with four steals and a block. Maddie Kamm added 10 points, Sadie Krahling eight and Katrina Schutz six with 11 rebounds. The Jays shot 38.3% from the field and were 13-of-16 from the free throw line.
Macaya Copeland led all scorers with 25 points for Rochester with Kara Goetzinger adding 15. The Yellowjackets shot 34.8% from the field and outrebounded the Jays 30-25.
The two teams have now split the regular season series with each other and each team has just one loss in MCAC south play. The Lady Jays are 7-1 and atop the division standings with one game remaining against Ridgewater Saturday in Worthington. Ridgewater is 3-18 overall and 2-7 in division play.
Rochester is right behind Minnesota West at 6-1 in the division standings with two games to go at M State Fergus Falls (0-6 MCAC South) and home for Anoka-Ramsey (5-3).
Men
Rochester 75, Minnesota West 39
It was a struggle from start to finish for the Bluejays as they dropped their sixth game in MCAC south play this season.
They were outscored by 20 points in the first half and then by 16 in the second half en route to their biggest defeat of the season. They have now lost two-straight games after their big win over Riverland on Feb. 8.
The Yellowjacket jumped out to a 16-0 lead in the first half as Minnesota West turned the ball over five times in that stretch. That set the tone for the rest of the half as Rochester took a 45-25 lead into halftime.
The Yellowjacets continued to extend their lead throughout the second half on the way to their largest margin of victory this season.
The Bluejays finished just 26.4% shooting from the field, were only 3-of-19 from behind the arc and shot just 50% from the charity stripe. They also committed 20 turnovers to just 12 for Rochester and were outrebounded 40-30.
Zackery Rygg led the team in scoring with 12 points, Deondre Wallace added nine and Karasharo Ojulo had seven Jiekgoy Wiel led in rebounds with six.
Four Yellowjacket players scored in double figures with Charlie Morning scoring 16 in 23 minutes, Landen Nerison and Jamison Lien 13 and Sam Jennings 12.
Three teams currently have five wins in MCAC south play between Rochester, Ridgewater and Minnesota West with M State Fergus Falls and Riverland sitting firmly atop the standings with nine wins each.
The Bluejays now could be in danger of missing the region playoffs with the top four teams from each division of the MCAC making it through. They currently sit fifth in the division standings at 5-6.
They have one last game left in the regular season against a 5-5 Ridgewater team that beat them earlier in the year. Rochester, also at 5-5 in the division, heads to M State Fergus Falls and then hosts Anoka-Ramsey to close out the regular season.
