[Taken somewhere north of Itasca State Park by son-in-law Danny just a couple days ago.  Granted, it has nothing to do with the subject matter, but it’s a good representation of winter in God’s country!  😉  ]

[It wasn’t a fair fight Tuesday night.  We didn’t think it would be.  We beat Little Falls 64 – 38 in the first game of the regular season.]

A little pre-game dialectic with Basketball Dan, the internationally-renowned expert on all things spheroid:

To paraphrase Dorothy, I bet you’re glad . . . you’re not in Kansas anymore!  [He’s originally from Wichita.] Girls’ high school basketball tourney starts today – I bet you’re beside yourself with excitement? ~  Me

I emailed Andy to suggest that when they consider retiring, should pick a place that gets less snow…like Buffalo or Syracuse.  I strongly considered the girls bb tourney, but it lost a close call to a more compelling event: there are some interesting icicles hanging from my roof, and I’m going to monitor their melting this week.  And to assure my gender-equality perspective, I plan to give identical level of attention to the boys tourney!  ~  Dan

[Well, the poor guy is from a different generation.]

[“He” just doesn’t know how much fun it is to watch one such as Karly!  😉 ]

[I think here she’s signaling “touchdown”!]

[Team intros, beginning with Amanda C.  As usual, the fun part of this is keeping an eye on the changing facial expressions of Ms. Kohler, the 2nd from the right on the far lane.  😉 ]

[I think I’ll go for player-of-the-game tonight.]

[Dani.  Kendall gives a full gape.]

[Karly.  Kendall sticks her tongue out.]

[Jess.  Kendall relatively well-behaved.]

[Kalli.  Kendall needs a nap (my sentiments exactly!).]

[Amanda C on the tip.  I have no idea what Kendall is doing.]

[Dani goes airborne while Karly closes in, thus beginning a long and exasperating night for the Flyers.]

[Help me!  For Pete’s sake, will someone please help me?]

[Two-on-one.  Karly’s got them right where she wants them.]

[Karly has laser-light focus on the basketball.]

[Touchdown!  Or a made free throw?]

[Dani gets more air time, thus making her eligible for flight pay.]

[Grounded now, but ready to leap at a moment’s notice!]

[I’ll just run you into Jess’s sector!]

[The automatic double-team is impressive in action.]

[OK, somebody did something against the rules!]

[Amanda C gives it the ole one – . . . ]

[Two.]

[The band (or a reasonable likeness thereof).]

It was around this time, about 7 minutes into the 1st half, that I took a 5-minute video to show the complete dominance of the Cardinal defense:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hiz0cti5M24

[The 8th-graders make an early appearance.]

[Ahhhh, moms – we know the play!]

[Did they signal run ‘Indiana’?]

[Dani’s still on point.  Senior Jamie Jenks (33) for the Flyers was a player, the kind you can’t stand in the opposition – she’s left-handed, strong, can shoot the 3, and can put the ball on the floor.]

[Call 9-1-1!!!]

[We’ve got trouble, my friends!]

[Kalli takes the line.]

[Karly and Jess pinch.]

[The staff photographers arrived – and were accompanied by . . . hockey parents?  😉 ]

[And here we are going the other direction.  Using my superior deductive reasoning, I believe that means we’re in the 2nd half.  And Dani tickles the twine.]

[And on her 2nd shot, she makes the ball totally disappear?]

[Karly walks it up – an opportunity to catch her breath.]

[Amanda C with nothing but net.]

[Emily and Kalli stretch sideline to sideline.]

[Amanda C and Karly introduce themselves to the ball handler.]

[Karly’s leap almost reaches the peach sweater in the 2nd row.]

[Emily inbounds and heads upcourt while Karly remembers an Ole & Lena joke she heard earlier in the day.]

[Macy waves, indicating a Kim Kardashian sighting.  Kendall blurrily enters the fray.]

[Was that really Kim Kardashian?  We had so many faux sightings last year.]

[Here Kendall gives the best demonstration as to what it means to play defense inside your opponent’s jersey!]

[Thankfully, she successfully extricated herself from No. 21’s attire to pursue No. 35.]

[A Flyer has an uncontested road to the hoop?]

[Sarah (15) dashes in to defend the post.]

[Several times took the court as a complete five-some.  Kinda like watching a hockey game.]

[Kendall and Jaylen discuss the finer points of whatever they were talking about.]

[Jaylen adopts the tried and true defensive ploy of pretending to not know where the ball is.]

[Again, the teams appear to be playing sans ball?]

[Alyssa (31), Gretchen (54), and Samantha (41) with PT.]

[Anna (33) gets playing time.]

[Halley’s (53) in the game.  In fact, all 18 players who suited played in the game.  Of those, only 3 are seniors – and the JV team had a 23 – 1 record this year.  That would tend to bode well for the future!  🙂  Kalli will be hard to replace, as most post players are, because she is the interior offense.  One of the “kids” will have to step up.]

[Clap, clap, clap – clap, clap, clap – clap, clap, clap.]

[In case you’re wondering, that’s what the team does in the last 10 seconds or so of a game to indicate – IT’S OVER!]

[Amanda C was named player-of-the-game with 27 points, though she only played about half the game.  Here she waits with great excitement for her post-game radio interview.]

[She asked if I was taking her picture.]

[I said, “Of course . . .]

[“I’m the cub reporter, you’re the player-of-the-game, it’s in my contract!”]

[The staff photographer, who usually covers player-of-the-game, was obviously having too much fun in the stands.]

[Bring on Thief River . . .!]

[The staff photographer gets caught up in another stop-and-chat.]

[The Echo Press interviews Kalli.]

[The staff photographer hits the floor just in time to cover the action.]

[Silly me.  Just as in hockey, I totally forgot that this was the last game the seniors -Dani, Kalli, and Jess – would ever play on their home floor.  Kohler didn’t forget.]

[The seniors posed for more photos.]

[On the way out, we caught El and his son David in some secret JHS room watching the end of the Minnesota-Indiana basketball game.  Then announced the Gophers had just won.  We can’t watch in our household of one Hoosier and one Gopher.  😉 ]

Now the Cards play Thief River Falls in the section semifinals on Saturday, March 2, @ 7:30, at Moorhead State.  We plan on being there.  Anyone else?

And since our Hoosier son-in-law is in-state, here are some of his action photos taken up by Itasca State Park:

[The drive into their property was impassable.]

[They were stationed over a deer carcass.]

GOOD NIGHT!