In the end, the results won’t matter – a convincing St. Michael-Albertville girls’ basketball win over Big Lake. Nor will the six points scored by Maddie Briggs – though they probably received the largest cheers of the season for the Lady Knights. Neither will the starting line-up announcement, nor the television crews or the letterman’s jacket Maddie received from her family and friends after the game.
Maddie Briggs with her new letterman’s jacket – Courtesy STMA Girls BB
What will matter is Maddie’s heart. Both literally, and figuratively, after she undergoes an operation to save her young life in one short week. And the memories she stores within that heart created Tuesday night on a very cold evening in St. Michael.
“To say thank you doesn’t seem to suffice,” said head coach Kent Hamre of the Knights basketball team, who in the past few years has taken pains to honor a local “hero,” including Luke Letellier, Aly Juntunen, Tyler Purohit and others.
What made Tuesday even more special was Maddie was one of the team’s own – a basketball player and fan from top to bottom, headband to high-tops.
For more on the memorable event, you can watch one of these broadcast pieces by the Twin Cities trifecta of stations:
And here’s the KARE 11 clip: