Both the Minnesota West Lady Jays and Bluejays basketball teams have made the playoffs and will be in action this weekend.

The Minnesota West Lady Jays wrapped up the regular season with an 86-60 win over Riverland on Sunday.  The win put Minnesota West at 19-6 overall and 10-2 in Southern Division play in the Minnesota College Athletic Conference.  That put them in a tie with Anoka-Ramsey for the best record of the teams that qualified for the Region 13A tournament.  The two teams split their two regular season matchups, so a tiebreaker was needed to determine which team would be the #1 seed and the Lady Jays won the tiebreaker and received the #1 seed at this weekend's tournament.

Minnesota West will open up against 4th seeded MSCTC-Fergus Falls Spartans on Saturday at 8:00pm at Anoka-Ramsey Community College in Coon Rapids.  If the Lady Jays win, they would play the winner of the other semifinal between #2 Anoka-Ramsey and #3 Western Technical College.  The Region 13A championship will be held Sunday at 5:00pm at Anoka-Ramsey Community College in Coon Rapids.

Minnesota West split their regular season series with the Fergus Falls Spartans, with Fergus Falls winning the early matchup in Fergus Falls by a score of 64-59 back on January 9th.  The Lady Jays cruised to a win over the Spartans on February 2nd at Worthington High School, 71-44.  For the season, Minnesota West is averaging 64.2 points per game while giving up 55.3 points per game.  Fergus Falls is averaging 64.6 points per game while giving up 63.5 points per game.

Minnesota West has 3 of the top 5 scorers in the entire conference.  Tiffany Gehl leads the MCAC, scoring 20.7 PPG.  Brittany Hulstein is 2nd in the conference at 17.5 PPG and Lindsey Drooger is 5th in the conference at 16 PPG.  The Spartans combo of Rhoda Christenson and Alyssa Blair led the Spartans in scoring at 15.2 PPG and 14.2 PPG respectivley, putting them at 5th and 6th in PPG in the Southern Division.

The Minnesota West Bluejay Men's Basketball team knew they needed to win on Sunday to earn their spot at the MCAC State Tournament.  The Bluejays left little doubt as Minnesota West picked up a crucial 90-74 win over Riverland on Sunday.  Orie Brown led the Bluejays with 27 points.  With the victory, Minnesota West improved to 13-13 on the season and 6-8 in Southern Division, which left the Bluejays in a 3-way tie with Anoka-Ramsey and Ridgewater for the 3rd and 4th spots from the division to the MCAC State Tournament.  Anoka-Ramsey took the 3rd seed, as they picked up both wins against the Bluejays this season and Minnesota West got the #4 seed as they had defeated Ridgewater twice this season.

The Bluejays will open up the MCAC State Tournament this Friday against the #1 seed from the north, Vermilion, in the opening round.  The two teams have played once this season, with Vermilion winning 66-65 at the Central Lakes Classic in Brainerd.  The game was tied at 35-all, but a free throw from Vermilion with 5 seconds left was the difference.

For the season, the Bluejays are averaging 77.3 PPG, while allowing 77.0 PPG.  Vermilion is averaging 85.2 PPG and allowing 62 PPG.  Minnesota West has 4 players averaging double figures this season, led by Tyler Aquallo's 16.6 PPG.  Orie Brown is averaging 14.2 PPG, Luke Roddy at 10.6 PPG and Mitch Hopkins is averaging 10.4 PPG this season.  For Vermilion, Shawn Bear is their leading scorer at 13.8 PPG.

Minnesota West Bluejays will face Vermilion at 3:00pm on Friday in the opening round of the MCAC State/Region 13 Tournament.  Both the Men's and Women's tournament will be at Anoka-Ramsey Community College in Coon Rapids.