The early evening game at Mariucci Arena would have Redwood Valley going up against #2 seed Kenyon Wanamingo which sported a spectacular 29-1 record. Again, two teams that I am very unfamiliar with; save for Kenyon-Wannamingo which I saw play back in November, so it would be a bit of a learning process as this one went along. The Cardinals, decided underdogs in this one with a 19-9 record, got here by virtue of the Section 3AA Championship Game win over Fairmont while the Knights had to survive a tough game from Plainview-Elgin-Millville to survive the Section 1AA Championship Game.
Kenyon-Wanamingo was able to establish a 5-0 lead by the 14:30 mark but it was some tough going early on for the Knights as they had to fight to get through the 2-3 zone that Redwood Valley was showing early on. However, the Knights' senior forward Siri Sviggum was able to knock down a "3" from the left corner at the 15:18 mark that opened things up a bit for Kenyon-Wanamingo with an 8-1 advantage as Redwood Valley struggled on the offensive end. The Cardinals finally shook off some of those early cobwebs when junior guard Lauren Hanson was able to connect on a jumper along the right baseline at the 11:54 mark Kenyon-Wanamingo extended their lead to 12-3 on a score in the paint by junior forward Megan Quam at the 9:47 mark and a "3" from junior 6'0" post Brittney Flom made it a 15-3 game shortly thereafter.
A short jumper from the left side by Sviggum with 6:11 left maintained a fairly comfortable cushion for the Knights at a 19-6 count and a Sviggum "3" from the top with just over five minutes left extended the lead to 24-6 and Redwood Valley was now in some serious trouble. Senior guard Meg Clark got into the paint for a score with 4:12 left and a 28-8 Knight lead. Kenyon-Wanamingo was also in the bonus by this time as well; adding to the problems of Redwood Valley Head Coach Trevor Wittwer. A Flom "3" from the right top area with 2:36 left bulged Kenyon-Wanamingo's lead to 35-8 and a trey by junior reserve guard Emily Ashland made it 38-8 in favor of the Knights and it became apparent that this one was turning into a runaway train. Kenyon-Wanamingo took a seemingly prohibitive 39-12 lead into the locker room at the half and it would take a miracle of gigantic proportions for Redwood Valley to get back into this one. Sviggum's 14 points paced the Knights in the first half and they also held a decisive 23-10 edge on the glass as well.
The Cardinals woes continued once the second half got underway and scores by the Clark twins - Meg and Audra - had Kenyon-Wanamingo up 49-21 by the 12:43 mark. A Flom score in the paint upped the margin to thirty at 53-23 by the 11:56 mark and by this point the so-called "Mercy Rule" might very well come into play. With 6:00 left, the "Mercy Rule" indeed come into effect with Kenyon-Wanamingo up comfortably by 35. With such a big lead and with time winding down, Knights Head Coach Brent Lurken had a golden opportunity to rest his starters and insert his reserves to give them some experience on the big stage. Kenyon-Wanamingo would win this one by a 64-31 margin and after this one it was easy to see why the Knights were the second-seed in this state tournament. I asked Lurken afterward if having such a large lead affected his team's intensity after halftime. "There's a tendency for a natural letdown" he admitted but he also felt that his team did a good job of avoiding that trap. Sviggum's 23 points led the way for the Knights in this one while senior guard Tara Sandgren led the Redwood Valley cause with 13 points.
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