Made my first-ever trip over to the University of Minnesota's Mariucci Arena; one of the cathedrals for college hockey in the country, to take in the first game of Wednesday's session of the Minnesota Girls State Basketball Tournament that featured yet another Class AAA Quarterfinal game that featured Kasson-Mantorville going up against the #2 seed Fergus Falls. Both teams are something of a mystery to me as I have not seen them play this year but both sport fine records - the Komets out of Kasson-Mantorville got here winning the Section1AAA Championship Game with a 67-55 win over highly-regarded Winona and have a 25-5 record while the second-seeded Otters out of Fergus Falls got here by virtue of their win over Albany in the Section 8AAA Championship Game and sprt a sparkling 28-1 record. On paper anyway, Fergus Falls would be heavily favored but as we saw yesterday, you dare not better take ANYTHING for granted once you're on the big stage. You have to bring your "A" game and be ready to go.
Despite Kasson-Mantorville's junior guard Cori Kennedy snaring the opening tip and dashing for a lay-up and a 2-0 Komet lead at the 17:56 mark, Fergus Falls would recover and get out to an 8-4 lead by the 14:24 mark thanks to senior guard Bailey Strand and her "3" from the top at the 16:56 mark and a steal and lay-up the other way at that 14:24 mark. The Otters would extend the lead to 13-6 by the 12:13 mark when senior post Kristin Traiser scored in the paint and Kasson-Mantorville was having a devilish time trying to work the ball inside in the face of that tough Otter man-to-man defense. What to do? Well, try hitting some perimeter shots instead. The Komets junior guard Taylor Miller took that advice to heart when she unleashed a "3" from the left corner with 9:58 left that drew Kasson-Mantorville to within two trailing 13-11. Could the Komets keep dong that?
That "3" by Miller seemed to give the Komets new life as they got close - and stayed neck and neck with Fergus Falls for the next several minutes. One thing that Kasson-Mantorville did have going for it was their "big" on the inside; lanky 6'2" freshman post Kristin Scott who spent a good deal of the first half swatting away Otter shots like one might try to shoo a fly or mosquito. Fergus Falls senior 6'0" guard Brianna Rasmusson came up with a couple of big plays late in the first half that seemed to have the Otters establishing a little bit of breathing room - a "3" from the left top with 2:14 left and a lay-up in transition with 1:14 left for a 31-25 Fergus Falls lead. Kasson-Mantorville's Scott, however, was able to snare an offensive rebound for a putback that helped draw the Komets close again trailing 31-29 at the halftime buzzer. Scott led the Komets with 10 points while Strand's 17 points paced Fergus Falls. Surprisingly, Kasson-Mantorville owned the boards in the first half by a 26-15 count and that's something the Otters would have to change once the second half got underway.
Fergus Falls looked to make a statement once the second half got underway and a quick 4-0 burst expanded the Otter lead to 35-29 and Kasson-Mantorville Head Coach Ryan Haraldson; not wanting to take any chances, called a timeout at the 15:58 mark to get his squad calmed down. But Fergus Falls soon expanded their lead to 38-30 at the 13:16 mark on a score in the paint by Kaiser and a "3" from Rasmusson at the 12:16 mark that bounced around the rim before falling down maintained that eight-point advantage at 41-33. Senior forward Anna Monke; relatively quiet from a scoring standpoint up to this point, started making her presence felt down low as she was able to draw a foul and get to the line to knock down one freebie shortly afterward to make it a 42-33 game. Kasson-Mantorville tried to respond behind treys from both Miller and sophomore reserve guard Maddie Worden that reduced the Fergus Falls advantage down to 43-37 with 8:45 left but now the Komets couldn't seem to get that one sustained run that might get them neck-and-neck again with the Otters.
Fergus Falls soon unleashed another blitzkrieg of sorts; a rebound and putback by Strand with 7:04 left and a lay-up in transition by Rasmusson with 6:13 left made it a 51-39 Otter lead and Kasson-Mantorville's Haraldson; seeing this one slowly slipping away, called a timeout. But the Komets were simply not able to make serious inroads again. With under five minutes left, the Otters slowed things down on offense and soon got into the bonus. Monke and fellow senior Devonie Smith both got the front ends of 1-and-1 situations that made it a 53-42 Fergus Falls lead with 3:46 left. The Otter game of keep-away continued late and Fergus Falls punched their ticket to the semifinals with a
61-52 victory. Not the easiest of sorts but at this level you take what you can get.
Afterward, Fergus Falls Head Coach Brad Strand admitted that "getting Monke back into the game at the beginning of the second half was huge for us" as Monke played only sparingly in the first half and that may very well be one of the reasons why Kasson-Mantorville had such a huge edge on the boards at the half. Strand also thought the Otters shooting may have been down a little in this one simply because of nerves. Additionally, Strand talked about the strong trust level and bond that his team has as one of the big reasons for the success that it has had so far. Bailey Strand's 23 points paced the Otters in their win with 23 points and Traiser pulled down 12 rebounds. Kasson-Mantorville had a very balanced scoring effort with Miller leading the way with 13 points while Scott had 12 points and both Kennedy and Hodgman had ten points a piece.
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