Prep notes: Park Center star finally gets her tournament experience

A knee injury forced Park Center senior guard Hannah Schaub to miss the entire title run last season. Schaub, who coach Chris VanderHyde called "an emotional leader for us," accepted a different role Wednesday — she was taking advice from younger teammates who have postseason experience.

"Everyone told me, 'Keep calm,' and, 'Play how you usually play,' " said Schaub, who acknowledged being a bit overwhelmed before the game.

Schaub, committed to Valparaiso, settled down and contributed eight points, five rebounds and three assists.

"It's great to see her out there playing with us," teammate Ann Simonet said. "She deserves it."

DAVID LA VAQUE

Minnehaha Academy freshman Terra Rhodes has been providing a scoring punch of late for the sixth-ranked Redhawks. Rhodes, a 5-6 guard who averaged 6.3 points per game in the regular season, led Minnehaha in scoring in the Class 2A, Section 3 tournament at 16.3 points per game and had a team-high 13 points in the Redhawks' state quarterfinal victory over Annandale.

"She's been outstanding," said Minnehaha head coach Josh Thurow.

One year ago, Dover-Eyota senior Brandi Blattner was wondering whether she and her team would ever get the chance to show their stuff on a state tournament stage.

Blattner, the Eagles' floor leader and leading scorer, suffered a torn ACL in January 2014, then watched as the Eagles were upset by Hayfield in the Section 1, 2A semifinals.

"I remember sitting on the couch, thinking that I wanted to get to state so bad," said Blattner, who had 19 points and 12 rebounds in a 62-53 quarterfinal victory over Fairmont. "This is definitely one of the goals I was striving for. It feels great to finally get here."

Friday will be a busy day for the Peschel family of Sauk Centre. The top-seeded Mainstreeters will meet Minnehaha Academy in the Class 2A semifinals at Williams Arena at 6 p.m. Kelsey Peschel, a freshman guard, led the team in scoring with 17 points in a 67-45 victory over Norwood Young America.

Older sister Kali is a key player off the bench for the University of Iowa, which is the No. 3 seed in the Oklahoma City bracket of NCAA Women's Division I tournament. Iowa also plays Friday, hosting American University at 2:30 p.m.