The second quarterfinal game of the day figured to be much closer than the first one as Section 2 champion Shakopee took on Section 4 champ and #4 seed White Bear Lake. Shakopee was an unfamiliar team for me but I had caught the Bears in action earlier in the season during the Breakdown Classic at Hopkins back in December. Both students certainly seemed fired up for this one and you just had the feeling that this could be a good one.
White Bear Lake would get off to a quick 4-0 lead on a jumper from junior forward Brianna Karg at the 17:34 mark and a steal and lay-up the other way by fellow junior guard Alison Hinck at the 16:59 mark but two scores by Shakopee junior forward Caleigh Rodning tied things up at 4-all by the 15:22 mark and a "3" from the left corner by senior guard Emily DeSart put the Sabers out in front 7-4 at the 14:32 mark. A 5-2 Saber run; highlighted by a "3" from the right wing by senior forward Haley Zerr at the 13:11 mark and a drive and finish by lanky 6'2" junior post Taylor Koenen at the 12:45 mark had Shakopee out in front 12-6 and White Bear Lake Head Coach Jeremy Post; not liking the early look of things called a thirty-second timeout. The resourceful Bears, however, would scratch and claw their way back and eventually get a 19-18 lead with 5:42 left so any thoughts of another blowout were quickly washed away. Trailing 20-19, Shakopee would get a key run to end the first half. Zerr made a hard drive and finish with 3:21 left and an offensive rebound and putback by sophomore reserve forward Mateya Hutton with 2:57 left made it 24-20 Sabers. Two jumpers from the left wing by Koenen - one with 2:18 left and the other with just :07 left - gave Shakopee a 28-20 halftime lead and White Bear Lake seemed out of sorts; hitting a drought on offense. Koenen's 11 points paced Shakopee while Karg's 11 led the way for the Bears in the first half.
Shakopee's 7-3 burst in the opening minutes of the second half had the Bears mired in more doo-doo. Two scores in the paint by the Bears - one by Karg at the 15:25 mark and one by junior reserve post Kate Brabenec at the 14:42 mark - helped to trim some fat off the deficit but White Bear Lake was having a devilish time trying to get stops in critical moments and even more so trying to neutralize the Sabers versatile Koenen. At the 13:53 mark the willowy-blonde Koenen snared a defensive rebound and then dashed coast to coast for a finish to give Shakopee a 41-28 lead. White Bear Lake got a bit of a lift offensively when sophomore reserve guard Gabrielle Potthoff banged home a "3" from the top of the key at the 10:26 mark but by now the Bears could no longer afford to simply trade baskets with their opponents. They needed to get on a run and Shakopee was in no mood for that. With 6:51 left and leading 50-37, Shakopee was now in the bonus and things definitely looked gloomy for the Bears by this point but White Bear Lake was not quite ready to wave the white flag just yet. Hinck connected with a lay-up with 6:16 left and got fouled in the process and the obligatory free throw reduced Shakopee's lead down to ten at 50-40. Two Hinck freebies with 6:00 left and a score in the paint by reserve junior forward Makala Keefe got the Bears back to within single digits trailing 52-44 with 5:17 left. A Hinck drive and finish in the lane with 2:33 left that got her fouled and allowed her to sink the ensuing free throw again had White Bear Lake trailing by eight but they could not get the stops necessary to get on a sustained run that might have got them to within serious striking distance. Koenen free throws with 1:07 and :24.2 left and a pair from Rodning gave Shakopee a 62-56 victory to advance to Thursday night's semifinals.
It's certainly not that big of a surprise that Koenen's 26 points led all scorers in this one as she was definitely the focal point of Shakopee's offensive output on this day. I specifically asked Saber Head Coach Juan Mitchell about that 8-0 run to end the first half. "We played really well defensively" he said during that run. White Bear Lake's Post had a differing view. "We missed 6 free throws in that stretch and we should have held the ball" he replied glumly when I asked him about that run. "They did a great job of defending us and they're very long he added. The Bears; who close the season at 22-8 were led by Hinck's 19 points in the losing effort.
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