Wednesday night brought Class AA into action with two games over at Williams Arena (Washburn vs Sauk Centre and New Richland-H-E-G vs Pelican Rapids) and the other two quarterfinals here at Target Center - the first one featuring perennial powerhouse (and defending state champion) Providence Academy sporting a shining 24-4 record going up against Pine Island with a record of 26-5. The Pine Island community and student section were in full force for this one so you knew they would be raucous with their vocal support. Providence Academy made up for the heartbreak of 2011 by taking the whole ball of wax last year and now had to guard against complacency.
It would be Pine Island that would get off to a good start in this one thanks to treys from both sophomore Noelle Langworthy and junior Sam Hereen as the Panthers streaked to a 10-4 lead with 8:34 left and had Providence Head Coach Ray Finley calling for a timeout to get his team regrouped. But this is a disciplined and patient Providence Academy team that waits for the right moment to strike and, when they do, it can feel like you've been bitten by a King Cobra. Senior guard Leah Szabla nailed a "3" at the 5:58 mark that got her fouled in the process that tied things at 10-all and another "3" by Szabla a bit later put the Lions up 13-10. Then it was fellow senior Taylor Finley knocking down a "3" that suddenly had Providence up 16-10 with 3:00 left. A late score by senior Cede Finstuen brought Pine Island to within four but a controversial foul called on Finstuen as she made contact with Szabla as she was attempting a long heave right before the buzzer sent Szabla to the charity stripe where she knocked down to freebies to extend the Providence lead to 18-12 at the break.
The scoring would continue to come at a premium once the second half got underway as well as Providence Academy continued to be incredibly patient on offense to the chants of "BORING! BORING!" by the Pine Island student section. Senior guard Allison Newton did hit a "3" at the 14:50 mark to cut into the deficit but again, Pine Island's opportunities with the ball were limited in the early stages of the second half as the Lions maintained a slim advantage. The frustration continued to mount for the Panthers as they trailed 23-15 with apparent "no-calls" but the officials did nail Hereen with a flagrant foul (inadvertent?) with the elbow; much to the chagrin of Pine Island Head Coach Rick Canton. Facing the prospect of having few opportunities to make a significant dent in the Providence Academy advantage, Canton knew he had to roll the dice some; particularly when shots simply wouldn't fall. They began utilizing pressure defense and trapping on the Lions but with only limited success. A "3" by Finstuen with 1:20 left cut the Providence Academy lead down to 28-22 but they would also have to foul to get more chances to score. And, with Providence Academy already being in the double bonus, it spelled certain doom. The Lions hit the free throws down the stretch to claim an excruciating 33-22 victory to move on to the semifinals on Friday night against the winner of the Braham - BOLD, Olivia contest. Szabla led all scorers with 19 of her team's 33 points while balance scoring was the rule for Pine Island. Mattie Shelton led the Panthers with 6 points while senior point guard Alison Newton netted 5 points.
Afterward, a disappointed Rick Canton lamented that the physical aspect of play was clearly the difference in this one. "They're just more physical than we are". Moreover, he felt that they had to compromise somewhat on defense as he stated that "if you extend on defense they'll get easy lay-ups and you can't play zone either because you'll lose their shooters." "We also had trouble making interior passes to our post players" he said. He did feel that his young squad has a very good chance of getting back to the State Tournament.
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