The Warrior men hosted UW-Stout this last night and beat the Blue-Devils 83-66.  The Warriors were only up at 3 points at halftime but extended that lead in the second half as they did played a lot better and got rolling on nearly all cylinders.

David Johnson had an outstanding performance as he had 21 points and shot 5 of 9 from beyond the 3 point arc.  CJ Erickson added 19 points and had a solid defensive effort as he collected a team high 7 rebounds.  Jon Walburg came off the bench and added 15 points in only 17 minutes.

The Warrior men as a team shot 50 percent from the field and 39 percent from the 3-point-line.  An important factor for Winona State this season will be rebounding the basketball and a point to take away from this game against Stout, was the fact that the Warriors out-rebounded the Warriors 35-32.

The Warrior men look ahead to this weekend as they will take on Clarke, IA at 7 PM on Friday as they play host to the Merchants Bank Tip-Off Classic.  The Warrior men will also play at McCown gymnasium Saturday night at 7 PM and will play either Cardinal Stritch and Palm Beach Atlantic.

Both of those games can be heard on your official voice for Warrior Basketball, 89.5 KQAL.  Myself and Travis Whipple will be on the call.

Go Warriors!

The Warrior women’s basketball team had an impressive performance in the first official game of the ‘09-’10 season.  Hosting cross-town rival, St. Mary’s University, the Warriors put the pedal to the metal early and never let up the entire game.

Senior Ana Wurtz led the way with 21 points and shot an astounding 80 percent from the field but did not miss from beyond the arc making all 5 attempts.  The team shot 49% from the floor and 46% from the 3-point-line.  Shooting the ball like this could make the Warrior women a very tough team to beat this season.

The story of the year so far is the fact that the fresh new faces on the team have been able to make an immediate impact for the Warriors.  Marieanna Dulas, as a true freshman, has been terrific and she added 13 points for the Warriors against St. Mary’s.

Bonnie Bjorke did not take a shot in this game but had an outstanding defensive performance recording 8 rebound, 4 blocks and 4 steals.  Bjorke is a shut down defender and will be instrumental in the Warrior’s success this season.

The Warrior women travel to St. Paul this weekend as they play in a tournament hosted by Concordia University.  Steve Carley and Matt Prink will be on the call at 12 noon on Friday and at 2 PM on Saturday.  I will be here calling the men’s games as they host the Merchants Bank Tip-Off Classic this weekend here at McCown Gymnasium.

Go Warriors!

The Warrior Women’s basketball team has high expectations after going 2-1 against 3 division 1 opponents in exhibition play.  Not only did they beat two division 1 teams, they do so on the road!  Beating the University of South Dakota is one thing, but going in to Williams Arena in the twin cities and beating the University of Minnesota is a very impressive feat.

All of this having been said, the NSIC conference is very good one for women’s basketball.  This conference is home to the defending division 2 national champion Mankato Mavericks.  The Mavericks will be a true test for the Warriors early in the season when they play each other on a neutral location for NSIC hoops fest in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Ana Wurtz and Michelle McDonald have been impressive for the Warriors early but really opening eyes have been the freshman for Winona State.  Dulas and Barber have been great players off the bench for Winona State in this exhibition season.

Great things are to come for Winona State basketball this year!

Go Warriors!

With Clayton Vette now out until January with an MCL tear, the Warrior Men’s big guys have to step up in the paint.  Winona State men struggled in the paint last year and the biggest problem was not being able to pull down boards.  This is going to be tough to improve on without Vette but it has to be done to compete in maybe the best division 2 conference in the nation.

CJ Erickson will have to step up big with Vette out and I think he is capable of putting up big-time numbers.  Erickson has already proved that he is the most versatile player on the team with his quick feet on defense, his long wing-span to block shots, and his determination on offense.

This will also put the focus back on Joel Armstrong, who, as a freshman had a pretty good season.  But with high expectations for Vette this year, Armstrong will now have to be a go-to-guy for Winona State in the paint for the first half of the season.

The Warriors tend to rely too much on their 3 point shooting and if they want to win a conference title this year, they will have to shoot the ball better and not live and die by that 3 point shot.

The Warriors play tonight in their last exhibition game against St. Thomas right here in Winona at McCown Gymnasium.  Tune in to your official voice for Warrior basketball, 89.5 KQAL at 7 PM for tipoff!

Go Warriors!

The Winona State Warrior football team had a great season.  In a very tough NSIC conference the Warriors still managed to make the last week of the season mean something against Duluth because of Winona State’s impressive win in Sioux Falls the week before.

With an incredible nucleus coming back next season, the Warriors should be a contender for a conference title run.  The conference will again be very good and Duluth will without question be at the top along with Mankato.  But with Dewberry and Simmons coming back, a solid defense, Winona State football should have a great season.

Greg Preston is graduating and he has tough shoes to fill.  The front-runner has to be Alex Nelson.  When he came into the games in mop-up duty, he did tremendous things.  I think Nelson can be a difference maker next year.  He may not be as mobile as Preston was, but Nelson surely is an accurate passer.

It was a pleasure covering Winona State football this year.  I really enjoyed the opportunity and had fun traveling with the team on the road.  The future is bright for Winona State football!

I had the pleasure to go to Williams Arena and call the first exhibition game for the Winona State women’s basketball team.  Exhibition games don’t seem like much, but when two teams from different divisions meet up and the underdog can win, it is always exciting.  That is exactly what the Warriors did, they won 64-62 as Natalie Gigler hit a baseline jumper with 1 second remaining.

The lady Warriors made the trip up to The Barn, home of the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers.  A division 1, Big Ten Conference basketball team.  This Gopher team was no slouch either.  In fact, they advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament last season and are picked to finish 3rd in the Big Ten this season as far as pre-season voting is concerned.

In front a very nice home crowd for the Gophers for an exhibition game, Winona State put on quite a show.  Led in scoring by Ana Wurtz who had a 14 point first half for a total of 20 points.  She shot an astounding 7 of 17 from the field and 6-12 from the 3 point line.

It may only be an exhibition game, but what a confidence booster for the Lady Warriors.

The game doesn’t count, but to the basketball team of tiny LeMoyne college (2,800 students) it is very very real and very very special. Christopher Johnson scored 22 points, 17 of which came in the 2nd half, including a three pointer with just 8 seconds left to give LeMoyne a huge upset. The school, which is in Syracuse, competes in the Division 2 Northeast 10 Conference. The school’s athletes also maintained an overall GPA of 3.09 last year.

LeMoyne shot 48.4% from the field, and 7-20 from three to pull the upset. They scored less points off turnovers than the Orange, but their bench outscored Syracuse’s 36-10.

The ESPN.com article says that LeMoyne took advantage of Syracuse’s man-to-man defense, which is either a typo, or Jim Boeheim took this game as a chance to experiment a little. Still, it is a great win for a tiny school, and one that the players will be able to talk about for the rest of their lives. Go Dolphins.

After getting a brief look at the Winona State men’s basketball team in an exhibition game against UW- La Crosse, it might be easy to say “What is going on?”.  The Warrior men lost 82-77 in a foul plagued affair and it was by no means pretty.

The things fans often times forget, is how much a team can grow during a season.  Remember the simple fact that a lot of these players have not played on the same court with one another.  Remember the fact that the team lost a key difference maker in Travis Whipple.  Remember the fact that this is only an exhibition game.

Last year Winona State beat this very similar UW-La Crosse team by only 3 points in an exhibition game.  Was the season over after barely beating them and UW-Superior?  Absolutely not.  Any team is hard to beat when they shoot 40-44 from the free-throw line.  In fact most teams that do that are almost impossible to beat.  That is exactly what UW-La Crosse did.

No doubt the Warrior men have a lot to improve on before the regular season starts.  But don’t buy into this being bigger than an exhibition game.  In the big picture, that’s all it was going in, and that is all it was coming out.

Tomorrow night the Warrior women play up at Williams Arena for an exhibition game against the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers!  Be sure to tune in!

Go Warriors!

Coming back from Sioux Falls, South Dakota was a treat.  Don’t confuse that with a trick or treat just because it was Halloween either.  The Warrior football team made the trip worthwhile with an upset over the Vikings of Augustana, edging them out 23-21.

The play of the game was no doubt the second field goal block of the game courtesy of defensive lineman Matt Ulrich to seal the victory.

The play that was my personal favorite was the wildcat formation trick-or-treat special that the Warriors pulled out of their bag of tricks.  Curtis Dewberry lined up in the shotgun and Rayon Simmons was the lone wide-receiver on the near side of the field.  Greg Preston was in a bunch formation lined up in the slot as a wide-out on the far side.  Dewberry got the snap as Simmons was in motion who then got the hand off and quickly pitched the ball to quarterback Greg Preston.  By this time, Flash Derrick Engel was wide open down the middle of the field and scored an easy touchdown.

Preston had an outstanding game going 20 of 33 for 325 yards and a pair of touchdown passes.  He managed the game very well and took what the defense gave him.  That sounds very cliche but it is exactly what Preston did, and these types of things are often overlooked when seeing how successful a quarterback really is.

As the Warriors have more than likely spoiled Augustana’s chance to make the post-season tournament.  The Vikings can still possibly get the Mineral Water Bowl.  Auggie plays Northern State in the last regular season week as the Warriors have a much tougher task, the U of M Duluth Bulldogs.  It looks as though if Winona State wins, they will at least get the Mineral Water Bowl but it wouldn’t hurt to get some help from some other teams in the NSIC.

A very impressive win took place in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and it was a lot of fun to call.  The facility that Augustana opened up this season was an amazing place to broadcast a game as well.

One more week of the regular season lies ahead for Winona State football, hopefully, more football is yet to come this season!