The Hopkins girls basketball team suffered their first defeat of the season on Jan 28. They took on Providence Academy at Saint Michael-Albertville High School and lost 87-80.

The loss in late January was their first time losing against an in-state opponent in over 100 games. They had not been beaten by a team from Minnesota since Paige Bueckers, now a star at the University of Connecticut, was a sophomore at HHS.

Providence Academy, a top ranked team in Class 2A, was expected to give Hopkins a challenge going into the matchup. Freshman Maddyn Greenway, daughter of former Minnesota Vikings linebacker Chad Greenway, is one of the top players in the class of 2026 and is the star on the Lions. She surpassed 1,000 career high school points last year as an 8th grader. 

The Hopkins girls are still as dominant as they have been the past decade, as they entered the matchup with a 17-0 record. They are led by Liv McGill, junior, a five star recruit on ESPN, Nunu Agara, senior, who committed to Stanford earlier this year, and Taylor Woodson, senior a University of Michigan commit.

The game did not disappoint, as it was a back and forth matchup throughout its entirety. Greenway went into halftime with 23 points and the score knotted up at 43 a piece. Agara led Hopkins in scoring with 37 points as the game wrapped up, and Greenway finished with 41 points on 50 percent shooting. She sealed the game with a steal and layup with 10 seconds left. 

Hopkins has not let this minor setback get in their way of a state championship run. They dominated their next two games following the loss to Providence, beating Buffalo by over 70 points and Edina by 40. On Tuesday, they beat Eden Prairie in a close matchup, 64-58.

With the regular season coming to an end and the section tournament beginning soon, the girls hope to close out the season strong. They take on Wayzata, who hold an 18-3 record, in a highly anticipated matchup, then have a rivalry game against Minnetonka. STMA, with a record of 18-2, will also come to the RAC in late February.