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Minnetonka refuses to settle

By Brian Stensaas, Star Tribune staff writer, 01/17/11, 12:02PM CST

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A 12-2 start is impressive, but far from the ultimate goal


Katy Winge

Hopkins has the history with five trips to the state tournament since 2002 and three berths in the championship game. Eden Prairie has the name-recognition with former NBA player Chris Carr in his first year roaming the sideline.

Minnetonka has neither of those distinctions of its Lake Conference cohorts, but don’t sleep on the Skippers, who have rather quietly risen to 12-2 on the season. Their losses are to the Eagles and in double-overtime to Class 3A contender DeLaSalle.

“You’re never satisfied with where you’re at,” coach Bart Inniger said. “That said, I’m sure there’s a lot of teams that would like to be in our situation.”

Since losing to Eden Prairie by 21 points on Dec. 28, Minnetonka has won its last six games relying on speed and ball control over physicality because of the Skippers’ lack of size. It’s worked, but again it’s not enough for Inniger.

“We need to do things better to be competitive in our conference and our section,” he said. “We’ve been pretty happy, but we want to ultimately compete for that section championship and we want to make sure everything we do leads up to that. We need to be playing as hard as we can, and winning six in a row can sometimes lead players and coaches to relax a little bit. We don’t want to take that mindset.”

This sense of caution is twofold.

Minnetonka had a similar start last season, going 11-3 by Jan. 12 but then fizzled to an 18-10 final record with Illinois State recruit Katy Winge on the bench for the final five games with a torn ACL.

It also has a coach who was taught from an early age that you never settle.

Inniger’s father Erv coached men’s basketball at North Dakota State for 24 years.

“He showed me that you have to keep kids on their toes,” Bart Inniger said. “You’re trying to get kids to reach their full potential, and get as good as they possibly can. It’s a constant give and take. You want kids to do something they’ve never been able to do, but at the same time you realize that you need to take breaks here and there.”

Once first semester finals are over with next week, Inniger plans to drop the hammer. It just so happens to coincide with the Skippers playing eight of their final nine games against fellow Lake Conference teams.

It’s shaping up to be some of the most entertaining girls’ basketball around featuring the biggest – and the best – schools out there.

“If you’re a fan, go to any Lake Conference game at the end of January and into February for an outstanding battle,” Inniger said. “If you want to be the best you have to compete with and beat the best, and that’s our conference.”

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