Unbeaten Fergus Falls returns to Class 3A tournament with a new look

One year after the best season in team history, Fergus Falls has a new coach, a new star player and a change in philosophy.

And the Otters are even better.

Fergus Falls comes into the Class 3A girls' basketball tournament, which starts Wednesday with quarterfinals at Williams Arena, with a gaudy 29-0 record. The success is not a surprise, but the path has been far different from last year.

In 2012, the Otters gave DeLaSalle all it could handle in the semifinals before losing to the eventual state champions and taking third place. Three talented seniors from that team graduated and head coach Josh Mohagen left to pursue a college coaching opportunity.

Mohagen was replaced by Brad Strand, a longtime boys' basketball coach who had guided Pelican Rapids to the Class 2A boys' championship in 2009.

Strand had coached many of the girls in the offseason for the Lakes Area AAU basketball club. Strand's daughter Bailey, a talented junior, played for the Lakes Area team, so her transition to Fergus Falls went smoothly. And the roster was still stocked with good players, particularly junior guard Brianna Rasmussen and frontcourt players Anna Monke and Hanna Swenson.

"This team is completely different than last year," Strand said. "They had to play better defense, so we put a greater emphasis on that. "

With Rasmussen, the school record-holder in assists, running the show, and Bailey Strand setting a school record for points (562) in a season and impoved defense, Fergus Falls has outscored foes by 26 points per game.

"We clicked right away," said Rasmussen, second in team scoring at 14.4 points per game behind Strand's 19.4. "It helped last year that we went to state. It got all of us really excited for this year. And Bailey has become a big part of the team."

Despite their record and being ranked No. 1 in the final Class 3A state rankings, the Otters received the third seed in the tournament. Rather than feel slighted, Brad Strand said that is a good thing.

"If anything, It takes a lot of the pressure off of us," he said.