The second game on tap this afternoon from Williams Arena on this day was the much-anticipated match-up between defending state champ New Richland-H-E-G and challenger Kenyon-Wanamingo for the Class 2AA crown. These two team met back in January on New Richland-H-E-G's home floor with the panthers claiming a tough seven-point victory so the hope was that this one would follow along the same lines.
The Knights took a 5-2 lead in the opening minutes but a "3" from New Richland-H-E-G's Maddie Wagner from the right wing at the 15:27 mark tied things up at 5-all. Kenyon-Wanamingo was in a 2-3 zone defense to start this one out; most likely in hopes of preventing Maddie's older sister and senior star Carlie Wagner from making several forays into the paint and make her shoot from the outside; a pick-your-poison proposition from a Kenyon-Wanamingo perspective. Nevertheless, things woud stay tight until about the midway point. Panther senior guard Jade Schultz drained a "3" from the right corner at the 11:13 mark and then fellow senior post Paige Overgaard connected on a lay-up at the 10:53 mark that suddenly had New Richland-H-E-G up 19-10 and the Panther contingent going nuts. Kenyon-Wanamingo Head Coach Brent Lurken knew it was time to call a timeout as his Knight's team must have felt the weight of the world on their shoulders with all the noise.
Kenyon-Wanamingo's senior sharpshooting forward Siri Sviggum tried to get her team closer when she drained a "3" from the right wing with 9:30 left to cut the Panther's lead down to 19-13 but the Knights were not having much success trying to get the ball down low and New Richland-H-E-G Head Coach John Schultz switched up his defense to a 1-3-1 zone in an effort to try and confuse Kenyon-Wanamingo. With the Knights offense sputtering, New Richland-H-E-G took full advantage. A free throw by Carlie Wagner with 6:00 left had the Panthers up double digits at 23-13 and a score down low by Overgaard with 5:06 left upped the lead to 25-13. Maddie Wagner struck again from three-point land as her trey from the left wing with 4:40 left suddenly had the Panthers up 28-13. A Maddie Wagner jumper from the left wing with 2:29 left upped the New Richland-H-E-G lead to sixteen at 33-17 and another Overgaard score down low with 1:50 left upped it to 35-17. Kenyon-Wanamingo's junior reserve guard Emily Ashland tried to shave some of the fat off of the Panther cushion with her "3" from the right corner with :40 left but two free throws by senior forward Hannah Lundberg kept the cushion at 18 with a 37-19 lead once halftime arrived. Carlie Wagner's ten points did lead the way for New Richland-H-E-G in the first half but younger sister Maddie Wagner was right behind with her eight points in a balanced Panther scoring attack. Sviggum and junior forward Megan Quam each had six points to pace Kenyon-Wanamingo in the first half. Rebounds were fairly close with New Richland-H-E-G holding a slight 21-19 advantage on the boards but Kenyon-Wanamingo was guilty of 12 first half turnovers compared to only four for New Richland-H-E-G. That was going to have to change if the Knights were entertaining any ideas about getting back into this one.
The turnover bugaboo soon reared its ugly head for Kenyon-Wanamingo early on in the second half as the Panther's Carlie Wagner easily stole an errant Knight pass and dashed the other way for an easy lay-up at the 17:15 mark for a twenty-point 39-19 New Richland-H-E-G lead. That lead soon expanded to 42-19 when Carlie Wagner uncorked a "3" from the right corner at the 15:09 mark and another Carlie Wagner trey shortly thereafter from the right wing made it a 45-23 game. Still another Carlie Wagner "3" from the right wing at the 13:10 mark made it a 48-23 New Richland-H-E-G lead and the rout appeared on.
The Carlie Wagner show continued in this championship game. She knocked down a jumper from the left elbow at the 12:31 mark and then connected with a lay-up at the 12:07 mark as New Richland-H-E-G's lead bulged to 52-30. A Carlie Wagner "3" from the top of the key barely made the net move; it was so accurate at the 11:18 mark for a 56-32 lead. By this time, she had easily made up for an "off" (if that term could ever be applied to her) first half and had tallied 29 points. Kenyon-Wanamingo kept fighting and wouldn't give up; two scores by Quam whittled the Panther lead down to 56-42 with 8:00 left but it still simply looked like a bridge too far for this Kenyon-Wanamingo to cross. But one thing I learned about this team as this game came down to the home stretch is that this Kenyon-Wanaming team has the heart of a lion and if they're going to go down, they're going to go down fighting and make their opponent sweat. It took some time but they kept chipping and whittling away at the Panther lead; applying ball-pressure defense and looking for any crack or opening they could find. One free throw by Quam with 5:52 left and a lay-up by senior guard Meg Clark with 5:47 left had the deficit cut down to fourteen trailing 60-46 and two more Quam charity stripe shots with 5:16 left had New Richland-H-E-G's lead down to 61-49. Meg Clark's twin sister Audra Clark was able to knock down one free throw with 3:13 left to narrow the gap slightly trailing 63-52 and then with 2:01 left, Meg Clark was fouled behind the arc trying to launch a three-point attempt and was able to knock down two out of the three free throw attempts to close in further trailing 64-56. New Richland-H-E-G struggled a bit from the charity stripe when the Knights quickly fouled in order to preserve what little time was left and, had the game been any closer, the Panthers would have had reason to seriously sweat bullets. As it was, Kenyon-Wanamingo could get no closer than seven on two occasions late in the game and Carlie Wagner hit insurance charity stripe shots within the last minute to preserve a 71-61 victory and a repeat as Class AA champions.
I had an opportunity to speak with Kenyon-Wanamingo's Lurken after the game and I had to tip my hat to him and his squad for never giving up in this one, even when all appeared lost early in the second half. "They're such a determined group of girls" Lurken remarked. "We needed to get a couple of extra shots" he also added. The Clark twins also took time to speak to me afterward as well. I first asked Audra about how this team found a way to fight back and make a game out of it towards the end. "It was our last chance and we wanted to keep fighting" she said. Meg talked about what it was like to have to battle Carlie Wagner in this championship game. "She can be intimidating but you have to find a way to get over that and just play" she said. Audra also talked about what it's been like to have been a part of this Kenyon-Wanamingo program. "It's been an awesome experience" she said. Indeed, these sisters have been playing together with their teammates since grade school and this had always been a long-standing goal of theirs. In the end, this Kenyon-Wanamingo team won respect but New Richland-H-E-G won another state championship.
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