Merseth about to

enter record books

NEW ULM - Sometime soon, perhaps tonight at home against Springfield or Friday at home against BL-H, Minnesota Valley Lutheran's Jessica Merseth will enter the Charger basketball record books as the ninth player to enter the 1,000 career point club.

The 5-foot 11 junior, who needs 16 points, is very quet about the accomplishment.

"It is a nice honor because I will be only the ninth player to do that at MVL," she said. "There have been a lot of great players that have played here."

Merseth started here basketball career at Mount Olive Lutheran Grade School in Mankato where she was a post player - a spot that she has played ever since.

"I was the tallest girl so I was put in the post spot,." she said.

And she learned how to play that position from a person that she calls her role model; he brother Tim.

"He taught me how to play basketball. When I was in grade school, he was in high school and I always went to his games and watched him play."

And she had a good teacher in her brother Tim who ended his career with the Chargers scoring 1,640 career points; a mark that the younger sister may well surpass with this year and all of next year to go.

Now, the younger sister will join her older brother in that exclusive class of 1,000 point career scorers. "I think that that is pretty cool. I did not realize how close I was to that mark. My team or my coach has not talked about that."

The junior said that she has not really looked at any colleges just yet.

"When this season is over, myself and my parents will sit down and go over everything," she said.

And the possibility of going to Martin Luther College? "There is a lot going through my mind right now but I have not said no or yes to anything."

If she does go to MLC she would be reunited with Beth Bauer who she played with while at MVL before Bauer moved with her family to Lakeside Lutheran in Lake Mills, Wisconsin.

She would also join two other MVL teammates in Sarah Gronholz and Erin Czer who both have transferred from Mankato State and the University of Wisconsin- Stout respectively to MLC.

"That would be fun, actually," said Merserth about the possibly of joining those high school teammates again. "I miss playing with those girls."

CZER BEGINS PRACTICE: Czer, who is also a 1,000 point scorer at MVL scoring 1,079 points, began practicing with the ML:C basketball team Monday night as did Sarah Gronholz. Gronholz is still recovering from major knee surgery and is red-shirting.

"I can start practicing and playing right away and Sarah has been given the OK to start scrimmaging," said Czer.

EAGLE SKATERS REBOUND: The New Ulm High School hockey team rebounded well from a 7-0 loss to top-ranked Rochester Lourdes with a 4-0 blanking of Litchfield on Saturday.

"The loss to Lourdes was a combination of them playing very well and us playing very poor,: said coach Tom Hacho about his squad that has a 10-2 season mark. "We certainly lost our focus in that game. I think that after playing the second-rated team (Totino Grace) that all we had to do was show up and make a game of it. But we did not show up. We made one mistake for one goal and another mistake for another goal. We then changed our gameplan and all of a sudden it just snowballed to a point where we could not even stop them."

Macho said that he felt that the 7-0 loss to Lourdes was easier psychologically to take than a 2-1 or 1-0 loss would have been.

"I think that it ie easier to take the big loss than a close game," he said. "We know that are better than that and they (Lourdes) may look at when they play us again (Saturday, February 16 in New Ulm) and feel that it will be easy. Our kids are looking at it and will be refocused for that game. There has already been talk about when we played them again. The handled us pretty well but we did not do a lot of things well in that game."

Macho was happy with the way that the Eagles rebounded in the win over LDC. "We got some goals from players who have been kind of quiet for a while.. Brandon Rolloff has been kind of quiet for a while."

MACHO CHANGES LINES: Macho said that the coaches reshuffled their lines for the game with LDC. "We moved Brett Burgau along with Jay Geisthardt and Brandon Rolloff to the third line and they responded with three goals. That was nice to see."

Macho said that the tandem of Brent Clyne and Jamie Hoffmann, who were on the first line, we split up for the game. "We wanted to see if we could get something back. And we saw that Brett (Burgau) is up there in assists so we put him on the third line and he had three more assists. He helps out no matter where he is."

Macho said that the line change "is not permanent. Some of the kids felt that the team could not win without Clyne and Hoffmann together. But they found out that they can."

The Eagles will play at Fairmont tonight before hosting LeSueur-Henderson/St. Peter and Waseca next week on Tuesday and Thursday respectively.

"The kids were disappointed in the loss to Lourdes but our JV won," said Macho. "We traditionally do not play well at Rochester. They (Lourdes) has played at home for 10 games so the are comfortable at home."

MATHIOWETZ LEADS KNIGHTS: Sleepy Eye St. Mary's Ashley Mathiowetz is also closing in on the 1,000 career point mark with 811.

"She is a four-year player for us - she played as a freshman and started at the end of the year due to an injury," said coach Bruce Woitas. "She is our floor leader; she has that experience. She is an offensive player for us. Through her four years, she has averaged double digits; she brings a lot of positive things to our team."

Another player who has done well is junior Emily Schwartz. "She went out with a severe knee injury last year late in the season and had major surgery," said Woitas. "The thought was that she would not be back for nine months and would not be back so early. But she worked hard on her rehab and was there for the first day of practice. She is our best defensive player and is a hard worker."

Woitas added that the Knights have a balanced scoring team this year. "We have four players who are near double figures. Emily, Casie Schumacher, who is our point guard is averaging seven points; Jonalyn Cook is getting her first varsity experience and is averaging 6.5 points. Julia Fischer and Becky Pelzel are also playing well. That is nice."

CATHEDRAL GIRLS PLAY HARD: If you have seen a New Ulm Cathedral girl's game this season, you know that they might get outscored but they will not get outhustled.

That was evident Friday night in their win over Cedar Mountain when they shutdown the Cougars and forced 24 second half turnovers. Most turnovers happen because of solid defensive pressure and they did just that.

The are a scrappy bunch. Sophmore guard Nikki Fisxher, who was back for her first game after an ankle injury, was accidently elbowed in the Cedar Mountain game and was cut over her left eye. But she returned and played just as hard. This is a young team with only two seniors (very good ones in Kristin Beranek and Jessica Lews) so the future is bright for them.'

CHARGERS ALSO YOUNG; If you want to pick out one player who made a big difference in the MVL win over SESM Saturday night in girl's basketball, you need to look no further than junior Angie Unke. When Jessica Merseth was sent to the bench with foul trouble, Unke really took over.Her three-point play on a rebound and made free throw gave the Chargers a 40-37 lead and they never trailed again.

She did a very good job and is improving each game.