The last Class AAAA Quarterfinal game on this day would feature St. Michael - Albertville going up against Bloomington Kennedy. STMA would be an even bigger mystery for me as I did not get to catch this squad in action during the regular season but they got here sporting a solid 23-4 record and a Section 8AAAA title win against Elk River. Bloomington Kennedy; last year's runner-up was looking to make amends and get their first state title since 2005 when players such as Jenna Smith, Tasha Mrosak and Heather MacPhie were wearing the navy and gold.
Bloomington Kennedy would bolt out to an 8-2 lead by the 16:06 mark; fueled by a "3" from senior forward Tonoia Wade from the right wing before the Knights could shake off some early cobwebs. A lay-up at the 14:33 mark by sophomore guard Sydney Tracy helped bring STMA trailing 12-9 and a "3" from the right wing by junior guard Bobbi Brendefur helped keep things close for the Knights as kept Bloomington Kennedy's lead at only 16-12. STMA was managing to keep things close as they trailed 24-20 before Bloomington Kennedy's Wade was able to muscle in for a score to make it a 26-20 game.
While STMA's sparkling spirit was helping the Knights stay in the thick of things, you had to wonder when Bloomington Kennedy's size, speed and athleticism would begin to wear on the Knights. Bloomington Kennedy gradually increased their lead to a nine-point margin with 6:13 left on a shot by senior guard Keneisha Bell and two free throws with 5:21 left by sophomore reserve forward Lashayla Wright-Ponder increased the Eagles lead to 34-24. Despite some minor inroads by STMA; Bloomington Kennedy was able to maintain the cushion until a late score by the Knights whittled their lead down to 39-32 by the half. A quick check of the halftime stats showed Bloomington Kennedy holding a small advantage on the boards with a 14-12 margin but both squads shot the ball well in the first half with STMA shooting 13-52 from FG range for 52% while Bloomington Kennedy was 15-28 from FG range in the first half for 53.6%. At this point, fouls were not an issue for either side and now it would be up to STMA to see if they could cut further into the small Bloomington Kennedy cushion.
Bloomington Kennedy looked to set the tone early on in the second half as two steals for easy lay-ups by Bell - one at the 17:09 mark and again at the 16:10 mark - had the Eagles up 43-32. STMA was showing that they were not going to be the easiest team to put away as a Brendefur "3" from the right corner whittled the Bloomington Kennedy lead down to 43-36 at the 15:36 mark. The problem for STMA though was that they seemed to be trading baskets with their opponent and never could seem to get on that one run that could have got them closer. The Eagles simply had too much firepower and at times it seemed as if Bell might single-handedly lead her team to victory. Two Bell scores at the 7:19 and 6:47 mark had Bloomington Kennedy up 62-50 and they would gradually extend their lead even more once they got into the double-bonus late. Kennedy would go on and cruise to a 71-57 that sends them into the semifinals on Thursday night.
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