There was little doubt that Dover-Eyota girls basketball star Madison Nelson would reach 1,000 career points before she was done. Tuesday's 40-point game just brought the milestone a week sooner.
Nelson needs three points to hit 1,000 when D-E plays a home game against Kingsland on Friday night.
Nelson, a 6-foot-1 senior guard, is averaging 22 points per game and is coming off a 40-point, 13-rebound, 7-steal performance in D-E's 88-61 win over Chatfield on Tuesday.
Nelson is currently ninth on the program's all-time scoring list, and she will soon overtake 2009 grad Brittni Mayer at 1,027.
The top spots are now held by Jodi Batzel (2010) at 1,562, followed closely by Teresa Meiners (2004) with 1,561.
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D-E senior center Megan Hintz went over 1,000 points last season as a junior and is now No. 5 on the list at 1,251.
Nelson and Hintz will both play college basketball, Hintz at Division II Moorhead State, and Nelson at the University of Denver.
D-E, the defending Class AA state champion, is currently 4-2 and ranked No. 8 in Class AA. The Eagles' losses were to No. 7 ranked Minnehaha Academy and No. 2 Sauk Centre.
— Donny Henn
BOYS HOCKEY
Red Wing's DeFore off to hot start
Tyler DeFore looks like he didn't have an offseason.
The Red Wing junior forward is picking up right where he left off at the end of his sophomore season for the 4-3-0 Wingers' boys hockey team.
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DeFore led the Wingers in goals (21) and points (34) a year ago — producing 19 of his points in the team's final 11 games — and is providing more of the same this season. Through six games, DeFore leads the team in goals (11) and points (12). His 11 goals not only lead the Big Nine Conference, they're tied for fifth in the state.
DeFore has collected at least one point in every game this season, highlighted by his four-goal performance in a 5-4 overtime victory against Albert Lea. The only goal he didn't score that night? The winner in OT. That was scored by Joe Renshaw.
After losing nine games by one goal last season — the Wingers were 2-7-1 in overtime games — Red Wing is looking to make some noise this season in a balanced Big Nine Conference. It is off to a 4-1 start in conference play, its only loss a 4-2 setback at Rochester Mayo, a game in which the Spartans scored three times in the third period to win.
— Jason Feldman
HOLIDAY TOURNAMENTS
Here are dates for Rochester meets
Planning your activities for later this month? Here are the dates for the major high school invitational tournaments in the week following Christmas:
ˆ Kiwanis/Cambria Hockey Festival: Dec. 28-30.
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• Rotary/US Bank Holiday Classic basketball (boys and girls): Dec. 29-30.
• The Clash wrestling: Jan. 1-2.
The Rotary has 16 boys teams and 16 girls teams entered, in the second year of its new multi-bracket format.
The Kiwanis hockey meet has 12 teams in two varsity divisions.
The Clash has 32 teams signed up, 11 from Minnesota, two of them (Kenyon-Wanamingo and Zumbrota-Mazeppa) from southeastern Minnesota.
— Craig Swalboski
