Lady Knights fight the good fight, but come up short against Lakers, 55-52

Shawna Thomsen puts up a shot over Lakeview defenders on Saturday.

By Jim Kopel
Tribute Sports

The Lady Knights of RTR and the Lakeview Lak­ers met for the third time this season and the game was as close as it could be. The Lady Knights missed a chance for the tie and over­time as a 3-point attempt at the buzzer just missed going in.
Coach Krause had his thoughts on the final game for the RTR girls. “We bat­tled the whole way. We were ahead at times in the first and second half. Their post player was just too tough for us. We didn’t help ourselves, especially in the first half, as we had some easy chances for points. We fought back from an 11-point deficit late in the game to almost get the tie at the end.”

For the full story, read this week’s Tyler Tribute.

Knights run into tough Laker squad as Lakers win 71-54

Photo by RTR Yearbook staff
RTR Head Coach Ted Kern (right) receives a plaque honoring him for 300 wins by Board Chair Jeff Hansen last week.

By Jim Kopel
Tribute Sports

The RTR boys played their last conference game of the year at home last Tuesday. It was also Parents Night and Senior Night for the team. The op­ponents were the Lakev­iew Lakers, the winners this year of the south part of the Camden Conference. The Lakers are a senior team with some size, so the difficulty for the young Knights was once again there.
The first four minutes of the game saw no scoring from either team. Logan Lamote finally put some points on the board as he would give the team their only lead of the evening. The Lakers were hot from long distance the first half as they would nail eight bombs during this period of play. Aiden Wichmann and Payton Hess scored seven and six points, re­spectively, in the first half, but the visiting team from Cottonwood had the lead at the break by a score of 35 to 24…

For the full story and more photos, read this week’s Tyler Tribute.

Knight girls fought hard, but lose the battle to the Lakers

By Jim Kopel
Tribute Sports

The RTR girls traveled to Cottonwood last Monday in a make-up game against the Lakers. Knowing they would play the Lakers again in a much more im­portant game, the Lady Knights fought hard, but lost the battle. The final score was 64 to 50.
The first part of the game moved basketball back about 35 years as at least six jump balls were called in the first four minutes of the game. Turnovers were also a problem for both teams early.

For the full story, read this week’s Tyler Tribute.

TMB Panthers drill Knights, 75-54

By Jim Kopel
Tribute Sports

The RTR boys played a make-up game in Tracy last Friday. It would be the final conference game of the year for the Knights, and also their last game before the postseason. It was not a thing of beauty for the Knights, coaches and their fans. The Pan­thers would race out to a quick 14 to 0 advantage before Payton Hess would answer with five points. The Panthers then added eight more points before Hayden Gravley answered with a bomb. Another Gravley bomb made the score 23 to 11 at the half­way mark of the first half.

For the full story, read this week’s Tyler Tribute.

First place!

RTR’s fifth grade girls took first place at the Edgerton basketball tournament on Feb. 15. RTR had wins over Adrian, Edgerton and Edgerton Christian. The Knights improve to 11-1 on the year and wrapped up their season last Saturday. Players from left to right in front are Kynsi Vanderplaats, Stephanie Thooft, Izzy Thomas, Ellie Dybdahl and Makayla Hesse; in back are Coach Jared Baartman, Dru Ellefson, Brynn Borresen, Laken Baartman, Sara Thooft, Paisley Thooft and Coach Brian Baartman.

Coach Krause honored for 50 years

The RTR girls’ basketball players honored Head Coach Steve Krause (far right) for 50 years of coaching before Thursday’s game against Pipestone.

Lady Knights fall in non-conference tilt to Pipestone Area, 58-34

Skylar Borresen drives around a Pipestone defender during Thursday’s game against the Arrows.

By Jim Kopel
Tribute Sports

It was Parents Night and also the night to thank the seniors for the hard work they put in over their years in the basketball program. Everyone did an outstand­ing job of putting this pro­gram together. However, when the serious busi­ness of playing basketball against the Pipestone Area Arrows, the RTR girls were a little short of perfection.
The Arrows would jump to a fast 7-0 start before the Lady Knights would find the bottom of the net with a bucket from Kal­leigh Carr. Haley Muen­chow would connect for two baskets to keep her team in the game as the halfway score of the first half was 6-13.

For the full story, read this week’s Tyler Tribute.

Thursday was Senior Night for the RTR girls’ basketball team. Pictured are 2020 seniors and parents, from left— Tianna Beaulieu with parents Lenika and George, Shawna Thomsen with parents John and Tanya, Ashley Owen with parents Erin and Kevin, and manager Cody Gifford with Kristy and Brandon.

RTR teams split two games with Heron Lake-Okabena-Fulda

By Jim Kopel
Tribute Sports

The RTR girls and boys played a doubleheader at SMSU against the Coyotes from HLOF. The RTR girls played some excellent bas­ketball to defeat the Coy­otes 63-29. The boys from Coyote land departed the Knight boys by a score of 75 to 67.
Ashley Owen scored six points in the first quarter of play as the Lady Knights owned a 15 to 6 lead. Allie Christianson added four points…
The RTR boys had trou­ble all night finding the range from long distance as the team could manage only five bombs. Two of them were of the despera­tion variety. The Coyotes canned 10 3-pointers…

For the full story, read this week’s Tyler Tribute.

Knights survive in Edgerton, 46-42

By Jim Kopel
Tribute Sports

The boys of RTR scored just enough points in Edg­erton last Monday to win their seventh game of the year. It was not a thing of beauty. Both teams were cold from the field the whole game as both teams played a zone defense most of the time. The Fly­ing Dutchmen also had some big players on their team, which made it very difficult for Knight players to score from the inside.
Darrick Baartman had the hot hand for the Knights in the first quarter of play, as his nine points led a 13 to 10 advantage. However, at the five-minute mark of the first half the Dutch­men had the advantage as the score was now 18 to 17 in their favor…

For the full story, read this week’s Tyler Tribute.

Lady Knights down TMB, 69-63

Shawna Thomsen scores in the lane against Tracy-Milroy-Balaton last Tuesday.

By Jim Kopel
Tribute Sports

The RTR girls continued to play some impressive basketball as they would host the TMB Panthers last Tuesday. The ladies from RTR and the Panther ladies kept things interest­ing throughout the game, but in the end, the Knight ladies prevailed. However, the biggest roar of the game came when Princi­pal Bettin announced that there would be no school on Wednesday and a late start on Thursday.
The RTR girls had six dif­ferent players score points as they would hold a 19 to 13 score halfway through the first half. Faith Thoms­en started the scoring with a basket off the jump ball to start the game and had a rebound basket to end the scoring after nine minutes of play.

For the full story, read this week’s Tyler Tribute.