The opener on this Friday afternoon on Day 4 of the Minnesota Girls State Tournament featured a Class A semifinal showdown between #1 seed Minneota and #4 seed Goodhue. The Vikings sport a fabulous 30-1 record and got to the big stage by beating Wabasso in the Section 3A Championship game while the Wildcats of Goodhue were able to bound up the Mighty Mississippi and the CP Rail River Sub mainline to the Twin Cities by virtue of their win over Rushford-Peterson in the Class 1A Championship Game. This one would be another case of not knowing either team well but definitely intriguing enough to want to find out for sure. The one thing that stood out for me immediately in this one was that Minneota sports Royal Blue, Gold and White while Goodhue was clad in Purple so this one would kind of take me back to the days when my Los Angeles Rams had to battle the Minnesota Vikings. As you likely know, that rivalry was a WAR.
A score in the paint by Goodhue senior forward Meredith Watson at the 14:24 mark that got her fouled and allowed her to sink the obligatory free throw had the Wildcats up 5-2 but an offensive rebound and putback by Minneota senior star forward Taylor Reiss at the 13:42 mark allowed the Vikings to close the gap to one trailing 5-4 and Minneota would assume a 6-5 lead by the 10:24 mark with both sides seemingly struggling from the perimeter early on in this one so defense was the watchword early on for both teams in this one.
Goodhue would shake some of those shooting cobwebs off when senior guard Molly Miller uncorked a "3" from the top of the key with 9:48 left and a score in the paint by Watson off of an inbounds pass allowed the Wildcats to hold a slim 10-8 led with 6:56 left as Minneota continued to struggle with their shooting touch. The Vikings were able to knot the score at 10-all on an offensive rebound and putback by junior forward Payton Boerboom with 6:05 left and a score down low by Reiss with 3:32 left had Minneota up 15-12. The Vikings seemed to be on the verge of taking control of this one before the half but Goodhue's Miller came to the rescue for her Wildcat teammates. A jumper from the right elbow with 1:05 left drew Goodhue to within one and then a daring foray into the lane by Miller who finished and got fouled in the process and sank the obligatory freebie now had the Wildcats back out in front 20-18 with :25.2 left. The late round of fireworks in this one took another twist when Minneota's junior forward Emily Stienessen drained a "3" from the right wing with just :02 left that put the Vikings back out in front by a 21-20 count when the halftime buzzer sounded. Goodhue was paced by Miller's 11 first half points while Minneota featured a somewhat more balanced attack as Reiss' nine points led the way and that late "3" by Stienessen helped pad her total to five points in the first half. Minneota, however, held a decided advantage in rebounds at 23-13 which was no big surprise but you had to think, though, that in such a close game, that that factor could eventually derail Goodhue's hopes of pulling off a huge upset. Turnovers were fairly close as well as Minneota committed nine while Goodhue was guilty of seven turnovers.
Five straight points by the Wildcats; including a drive and finish by Watson right at the 17:00 mark that got her fouled and allowed her to sink the ensuing free throw had Goodhue in good shape with a 25-20 advantage but the Vikings would manage to strike right back as Reiss got down low to score and got fouled in the process and her charity stripe shot was good that helped draw Minneota to within one trailing 25-24 at the 15:40 mark and another Steinessen "3"; this one from the top of the key at the 15:03 mark, put the Vikings out in front 27-25. By the 11:44 mark both teams had fought to a 29-29 deadlock and it looked as if this one could go right down to the wire.
Defense continued to dominate as this second half progressed and scoring would come at a premium. A lay-up by Goodhue 8th grader Sydney Lodermeier had Goodhue up 33-31 with 5:50 left and the Vikings clung to a precarious 35-34 lead with 4:54 left. An offensive rebound and putback by Watson upped Goodhue's lead to 39-36 with 3:22 left but Stienesen came to Minneota's rescue again as she uncorked another three-point bomb; this one from the top of the key with 3:05 left that had the issue deadlocked again at 39 a piece. The tie would continue at 41-all and Minneota's Steinessen couldn't get a "3" to fall from the left top area with :30 left and Goodhue got the ball back. With :16.6 left, Goodhue Head Coach Josh Wieme called a timeout but when the Wildcats tried to inbound the ball, Minneota's Reiss came out of nowhere to snare the steal and promptly dashed the other way for a lay-up and was fouled in the process. Reiss missed the front end of the one-and-one but Minneota's senior reserve forward Megan Larson was right there to grab the long rebound and she promptly put it back up for a score to seal the deal for Minneota. Goodhue got one last shot right before the buzzer sounded but the Vikings had secured a thrilling 45-43 victory to move into the championship game on Saturday afternoon.
A happy but calm and composed Minneota Head Coach Chad Johnston admitted that his squad didn't shoot all that well save for those Steinessen treys but they kept grinding and found a way. I asked him specifically how they stayed composed in those last few final frantic minutes when everything was hanging in the balance. "Give the kids credit" he replied...."They could have buckled". They didn't and a lot of the credit arguably has to go to junior Taylor Reiss and senior forward Molly Hennen. I asked Reiss afterward if that steal she made was just pure instinct or if she saw the opening that allowed her to do that. "I definitely saw the opening and just went after it" she replied. I also asked her about how she stayed calm and composed throughout this game when both contingents were so loud. "I just tried to block out the noise and concentrate" she said. She also admitted that being here before (and winning it last year) definitely helped. Reiss' 11 points led a balanced Minneota attack in this one while Goodhue's Miller led all scorers with her 25 points in a losing effort.
No comments:
Post a Comment