By Jake Schroer
Crow River News Sports
The STMA Lady Knights basketball team defeated Monticello 57-30 and Buffalo 62-54 to pick up wins 11 and 12 on the season.
Rae Johnson’s 19 points and a strong defensive performance led to a 57-30 win over the Monticello Magic Tuesday night.
The Knights got outrebounded by 12, but they managed to take a 28-20 lead into halftime. The second half saw the Magic limited to just ten points by a staunch STMA defense.
Makenzie Kramer scored 10 points Jadyn Hanson and Vanessa Alexander both had eight points and Whitney Dold scored six points and grabbed five rebounds.
BUFFALO
STMA got 27 points from Rae Johnson in a big win over the Buffalo Bison, but the game took a backseat to something bigger on Friday night.
The Knights honored Sydney Scott, Kent Hamre’s niece who is battling cancer, during and after the game.
The game itself featured the two rivals in a close contest throughout; the score read STMA 28, Buffalo 27 at the intermission.
The Bison did their part to stick around until the end of the game, getting 21 points from Hailey Sorenson. Jordan Zrust added 13.
Jadyn Hanson hit some big baskets for the Knights on the way to a 13-point performance and Makenzie Kramer added seven points of her own.
“I was super proud of the kids and how they handled things with this whole night and how they made Sydney feel special,” Hamre said.
“At halftime, we had a little talk and decided to work as a team,” Johnson said, citing a rough start for the team.
STMA played another game without one of its leaders; Lizzy Heil, bothered by an undetermined injury, sat on Friday.
The Lady Knights played at Rogers on Tuesday night. They will return home this Friday to take on the Princeton Tigers.