The nightcap at Mariucci Arena featured another Class AA Quarterfinal matching up Esko; the Section 7AA champ going up against the #3 seed New London-Spicer which had to survive an overtime scare against Sauk Centre to capture the Section 6AA crown. Both teams featured nearly identical records and once again not knowing much about either squad it would be difficult to guess as to how this one might play out.
New London-Spicer was in a 2-3 zone early on and this made Esko go into a delay game but when they found the shot they wanted from behind the arc they took it - and cashed in on it for an 8-2 lead by the 12:50 mark and doing a lot of the damage for the Eskomos was junior forward Ashley Bergerson who had a sharp eye early on and ignored the various chants from the New London-Spicer student section. Freshman reserve guard Judy Wagemaker connected with a jumper in the lane with 9:34 left and another Bergerson "3" from the right corner with 8:50 left got the Eskomo lead to 16-4 and New London-Spicer Head Coach Mike Dreier knew he had a problem on his hand and called a timeout to try and solve it.
The Wildcats finally found some scoring and cut the Eskomo lead down to 16-9 thanks to a huge "3" from senior guard Taylor Thunstedt with 6:55 left and Dreier had adjusted the Wildcats defensive schemes in hopes of cooling off a hot Bergerson. Another Thunstedt "3" with 2:18 left whittled the Esko lead down to 18-14 and still another Thunstedt "3" with :47 left narrowed the Esko lead down to 19-17. Esko righted the ship somewhat right before the halftime buzzer when diminutive freshman guard Ava Gonsorowski made a hard drive along the right baseline and got a finish for a 21-17 Eskomo lead but New London-Spicer; which could have been a heap of trouble early on, had been able to close the gap nicely thanks to those Thunstedt treys. As you would expect, Thundstedt's 11 points paced the Wildcats in the first half while Esko was a bit more balanced in their scoring attack with Bergerson's nine points leading the way. New London-Spicer did lead the way on the rebounding front 15-12 so from a Wildcat perspective you had to be encouraged anyway.
A Thunstedt jumper from the free throw line at the 17:31 mark of the second half got the Wildcats to within two again trailing 21-19 but Esko refused to budge from its patiently offensive gameplane that Head Coach Scott Antonutti had designed for this contest; especially in light of the fact that New London-Spicer seemed content to stay in that 2-3 zone. A pretty lay-up by Gonsorowski at the 10:00 mark put the Eskos up 25-21 and you began to wonder if this slowdown game was beginning to take its toll on the Wildcats.
A lay-up by Esko junior guard Bailey Mudek with 8:10 left upped the Eskomo lead to 27-22 but a 4-0 burst by the Wildcats cut the Esko lead down to a scant 27-26 count with 7:15 left. Then the Eskomos made the mistake of fouling Thunstedt behind the arc and she promptly knocked down three free throws to tie things up at 29-all and a short while later the Wildcats took the lead at 31-29 and now you had to wonder if Esko might be looking for that proverbial panic button. Esko's Antonutti did call a timeout anyway with 5:13 left to stem this setback. Another Thunstedt jumper with just under 5:00 left upped the Wildcat lead to 33-29 and suddenly things appeared bleak for the Eskomos. Bergerson, who had been quiet since her hot streak, hit a "3" from the right top area with 3:11 left and then senior guard Erika Shady drilled a "3" from the top of the key with 2:13 left and just like that Esko was back out in front 35-33 and now it was nail-biting time for the third-seeded Wildcats. With 1:11 left, Esko got into the bonus and Gonsorowski was sent to the line where she knocked down one freebie for a 36-33 lead. Still enough time for the Wildcats but on their ensuing possession they could not convert on an attempted score in the paint and junior reserve guard Kailee Kiminski was fouled but could not convert on the freebie. Still another chance for New London-Spicer. A quick score by the Wildcats got the Esko lead down to a scant point but they fouled right away and sent the Eskomos Wagemaker to the line with :34.9 left. She calmly knocked down two free throws that had Esko back up 38-35. The Wildcats committed a turnover on their ensuing possession and Gonsorowski was sent to the line again where this time she got one freebie for a 39-35 lead. On the ensuing Wildcat possession, Thundstedt hurriedly tried to get into position for a three-point attempt but committed a turnover in doing so and now with just :09.9 left the Eskomos thwarted a last-ditch attempt by New London-Spicer and pulled off the upset of the night with a 39-35 victory.
A very happy Antonutti afterward spoke of how unselfish his players are and how it doesn't matter to them who's getting the points; it's all about the team and working together as a unit. I asked Antonutti specifically about that situation late in the game when New London-Spicer assumed that 33-29 lead with just under 5:00 remaining. Antonutti: "I called a timeout and I just told the girls to flush those mistakes and turnovers out of their minds....They're so resilient". And sure enough, those back-to-back three-pointers by Bergerson and Shady proved to be the game-changer when everything could have gone kablooey Esko. Gonsorowski surprisingly led the Esko scoring attack with 14 points while Bergerson was right behind with 12 points. Thunstedt easily led the New London-Spicer attack with her 24 points.
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