There's something to be said for experience. When No. 9-1A Waterville-Elysian-Morristown and No. 3-1A Sleepy Eye St. Mary's get together Friday night in Sleepy Eye, there may not be another game in the state featuring more veteran players. A scan of the rosters reveals that the two Class 1A powerhouses return nine of 10 starters combined from last season, when both won at least 25 games and Waterville-Elysian-Morristown advanced to its first state tournament.
This could very well be a preview of the Class 1A, Section 2 championship game later this month. These teams met in last year's section final, with the second-seeded Buccaneers defeating top-seeded Sleepy Eye St. Mary's 79-68, overcoming 42 points from Knights' star Madison Mathiowetz. Brielle Bartelt countered with 29 points for the Buccaneers, who made 14-of-24 shots from three-point range.
Both players are back this winter, along with most of their teammates. The Knights (13-0) returned all 13 letter winners, while the Buccaneers (10-2) graduated just two of 14 letter winners.
Just a junior, Mathiowetz is already a two-time Tomahawk Conference Player of the Year selection and she looks on track to win again. She passed the 2,000 career points milestone earlier this season and is averaging 32.8 points per game on 69.5 percent shooting from the field.
Sleepy Eye St. Mary's also gets scoring help from Sydney Windschitl (19.5 ppg) and Reagan Severson (10.0 ppg).
The defending section champion Buccaneers are paced by multi-sport stars Toryn Richards (16.7 ppg), Bartelt (13.2 ppg), Lindsay Condon (8.7 ppg), and Kylie Pittmann (8.2 ppg). All four also star on their school's volleyball court, softball diamond, or both.