White Bear Lake coach Jeremy Post knew his team would have an adjustment period as it came off a Class AAAA state runner-up finish last winter. After all, the Bears lost a few key pieces off that team. It took about a half for the returning veterans to take over, as the Bears rallied past Red Wing, 56-50, in the opener of the Breakdown Sports Tip Off Classic at Hopkins.
"We had a good year last year, but we're a different team," said Post. "It's going to take a while to get there."
Trailing 30-27 at halftime, White Bear Lake turned up its intensity after a fiery halftime speech from Post. Senior forward Rochelle Regnier scored 15 of her game-high 17 points after halftime and junior guard Alexis Foley added 12 points. Both were starters on last year's state runner-up.
"He said that someone needs to step up and we looked around the starting lineup and decided we all needed to," said Regnier.
Red Wing was paced by Tesha Buck and Macy Kelly, each of whom scored 11 points.
White Bear Lake's Rochelle Regnier
Rochelle Regnier, White Bear Lake
With her team trailing by a 30-27 margin at halftime, Regnier nearly outscored Red Wing after halftime, pouring in 15 of her game-high 17 points in a 56-50 victory. Regnier stepped up her intensity on both ends of the floor and showed that she is a team leader for Jeremy Post and the Bears.
Score by half: White Bear Lake 27-29--56, Red Wing 30-20--50
Red Wing: Kelly 11, Buck 11, Toivonen 7, D. Brooks 7, J. Ulveling 7, A. Brooks 5, LaFond 2
White Bear Lake: Regnier 17, Foley 12, S. Guenther 9, T. Hobbs 5, A. Guenther 4, Schoenthaler 3, Paulson 2, Renner 2