The last game on this Wednesday evening featured another interesting match-up of unknown teams - Section 8AA champ Roseau going up against Section 7AA champ and #3 seed Esko. Both squads came into this game with identical records of 26-4 so, in my mind anyway, this one would virtually be a toss-up.
Both teams played something of a cat and mouse game early on as neither side could gain more than a one-point advantage. Eighth grader Kacie Borowicz connected with a jumper from the FT line at the 15:51 mark and sophomore Kiley Borowicz got a lay-up at the 14:56 mark to give the Rams a 4-3 lead. Esko grabbed a 5-4 lead on two charity stripe shots by senior guard Kailee Kaminski at the 14:40 mark but Roseau countered with a 6-0 run fueled by a "3" from the right top area by freshman reserve guard Victoria Johnson and a jumper from the free throw line by senior reserve forward Rachel Lindemann that made it 11-5 by the 11:30 mark. Esko would answer with a 6-0 spurt of its own that knotted the issue at 11-all with 8:00 left to put things right back at Square One. Actually, the bigger issue as this game progressed would be which team would commit more turnovers as both the Eskimos and the Rams were guilty of several boo-boos that saw an abundance of scoring opportunities squandered. The Borowicz' of Roseau - Kacie and Kiley - continued to be a thorn in the side for Esko as the duo helped put the Rams up 15-13 with 4:56 left and a short jumper by Kacie Borowicz with 4:44 left upped the Roseau lead to 17-13. Once again, Esko battled back. Sophomore reserve guard Karlie Kulas knocked down a jumper from the left side with 3:35 left and two free throws by senior guard Bailey Mudek knotted things up at 17. Roseau's 18-17 halftime lead came courtesy of one free throw by Kiley Borowicz with :53.1 left but, as I had suspected at the outset, this game seemed like a toss-up that could easily come down to the last possession.
The cat-and-mouse game continued once the second half got underway A Kiley Borowicz lay-up at the 16:00 minute mark put the Rams up 20-17 but Esko countered less than a minute later when Mudek banged home a "3" from the right wing to make it 20-all. The Eskimos were able to poke their nose out in front for a change at the 12:51 mark when sophomore reserve guard Mandi Dincau drilled a "3" from the left corner for a 25-24 Esko lead. A Dincau lay-up at the 11:47 mark and one Mudek free throw at the 11:24 mark had the Eskimos up 28-24 but their advantage was short-lived. Kacie Borowicz mad a drive into the lane for a finish at the 10:59 mark and got fouled in the process and the obligatory freebie brought Roseau to within one trailing 28-27. Junior forward Amelia Johnson's jumper from the right wing with 9:14 left put the Rams back out in front 29-28 but Esko would find another way to tangle up the issue at 31-all when 6'5" senior post Molly Trapp snared an offensive rebound for a putback with 6:01 left. So there we were; all knotted up in this cat-and-mouse game with neither side really being able to gain any decisive advantage. But things finally changed with 5:41 left and, again, it would be the Borowicz sisters doing the damage for the Rams. Kiley Borowicz first banged home a "3" at the 5:41 mark and then snared a steal for a lay-up ten seconds later for a 36-31 Roseau lead. Two Kylie Borowicz free throws with 5:12 left and two more by Kacie Borowicz with 4:18 left made it 40-34 and Kiley Borowicz' lay-up with 4:03 left put the finishing touches on this decisive 11-3 run for a 42-34 Ram lead and Esko Head Coach Scott Antonutti had no choice but to call a timeout. By that time, though, the damage had been done and the Eskimos simply could not recover. Johnson snared an offensive rebound for a putback with 3:27 left and insurance freebies by both Kacie and Kiley Borowicz sealed the deal for a 50-37 Roseau win that sends the Rams into the semifinals.
Roseau Head Coach Kelsey Didrikson heaped a ton of praise on the Borowicz sisters afterward and rightly so. Kiley finished with a game-high 23 points while Kacie, the eighth grader, poured in 20 of her own to lead the way for the Rams. Didrikson felt that her squad's defensive effort made the difference in that critical stretch when the Rams went on that 11-3 run that changed things. "This time of year you have to win with defense" she said. Didrikson and her staff felt comfortable playing Esko and added that "We were familiar with them." Kylie Borowicz felt that she had to step up her game in the second half as she felt that the team "wasn't doing so good in the first half." About the run in the second half, she added "When we get on a run, we just get much more efficient." Esko's Antonutti could only point to the 19 turnovers his team committed on this night. "They capitalized on them" he said. When Roseau got on that run Antonutti said that "we got tight" and they never were able to recover from it.
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