No. 1-1A Minneota at No. 6-1A Maranatha Christian
11:30 a.m., Saturday, Feb. 1
MN Girls' Basketball Hub Spotlight Game

A preview of the Class 1A state championship game? It’s certainly possible when the defending champions (Minneota) visit the team that won the previous two titles (Maranatha Christian) in Class 1A. That’s plenty of hardware on display. New Maranatha coach Chris Buerman inherited a veteran team that returned plenty of players who saw time in those two state championship seasons, including sisters Lexi Lee (18.6 ppg) and Madison Lee (16.8 ppg), Mikayla Payne (11.9 ppg) and Alaina Jarnot (13.7 ppg). That’s more talent than most Class 1A teams can match, but Minneota might be the exception. The Vikings return all five starters from last year’s championship team, including powerful forward Taylor Reiss (24.0 ppg) who can dominate the paint. She’s surrounded by a great supporting cast of Emily Steinessen (9.7 ppg), Shelby Corbin (8.0 ppg), Payton Boerboom (6.5 ppg), Megan Larson (5.3 ppg) and Molly Hennen (5.7 ppg).