Hutchinson vs. Watertown-Mayer
7 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 20

Hutchinson’s reign atop the Class 3A rankings likely came to a close after an 83-80 home loss to No. 2-3A Holy Angels on Dec. 15.  

The Tigers (4-1) led for all but the final 20 seconds of a game that saw a combined 47 fouls called. Three Hutchinson and two Holy Angels players fouled out with less than five minutes to play, including the Tigers' Morgan Kurth, who scored 18 points before being disqualified.

Hutchinson's Tori Wortz had 11 points, while MaKenzie Rensch contributed 17 points and Gabby Hahn added 15 before each fouled out.

The Tigers meet Wright County Conference foe Watertown-Mayer on Tuesday in a cross-division battle, one that proved to be a tense contest a year ago as the East Division Tigers emerged with a 78-68 victory over the West Division Royals.

Watertown-Mayer held the No. 1 ranking in Class 2A until losing to No. 8-3A Orono 65-35 on Dec. 10, but still boasts a resume with quality wins over Mayer Lutheran 66-54 and Holy Family Catholic 57-47 earlier this season.

The No. 9-2A Royals (4-1, 1-0) have to contend with another Class 3A power in Hutchinson and will do so armed with a trio of scorers.

Kirstin Klitzke (12.3 points per game), a Minnesota State Mankato recruit, had a season-high 29 points in the season-opening win over Mayer Lutheran. Claire Killian (11.2 ppg), a Nebraska-Omaha commit, had a team-high 13 points in the loss to the Spartans. Monika Czinano (10.2 ppg) had a season-high 17 points against Holy Family Catholic.