The first game of the evening session on this Championship Saturday was the Class AAA Championship Game that pitted upstart Holy Angels going up against second-seeded Winona.
Defense and perhaps a case of the nerves seemed to be the watchwords early on as a score in the paint by Stars senior forward Laura Bagwell-Katalinch at the 17:00 mark made it a 2-0 game but Winona's 2-3 "match-up" zone was making life miserable for Holy Angels down low. The Winhawks were their own worst enemy in the early going with questionable shot selection and turnovers bogging them down. A Bagwell-Katalinich trey from the left corner at the 13:20 mark gave the Stars a 5-1 lead before Winona was finally able to shake off some of the early cobwebs. Junior reserve guard Justine Schultz banged home a trey from the left wing area at the 13:01 mark that got the Winhawks back to a single point trailing 5-4. Holy Angels would extend the lead to 8-4 by the 12:26 mark on the power of a jumper from the right elbow by Bagwell-Katalinich but a bigger fly in the ointment for Winona at the time was the fact that lanky junior post Danneka Voegeli got tagged with her second foul at the 11:50 mark and was forced to sit a spell. The Winhawks would cut it to one point again on a "3" from the left corner by senior forward Hallee Hoeppner at the 11:15 mark and a score in the paint by Schultz at the 10:41 mark and one Hoeppner freebie with 8:39 left helped forge a 10-10 tie. Winona, however, was having a tough go of it on the defensive side; even with their 2-3 "match-up" zone, in stopping the Stars Bagwell-Katalinich as back-to-back scores helped Holy Angels grab an 18-12 lead. The Winhawks were having a tough time as well trying to put the ball in the hole and after another Bagwell-Katalinich score with 1:28 left and a drive along the left baseline and reverse lay-up by freshman forward Destinee Oberg that made it a 22-14 ballgame, Winona looked like it might be in an uphill battle. But the Winhawks hunkered down right before halftime and managed to close the gap a bit. A jumper along the left baseline by Voegeli with those two fouls with :34 left and a lay-up in transition by Hoeppner with :14 left cut Holy Angels lead down to 22-18 at halftime.
Winona hoped to keep that "feel good" feeling alive once the second half rolled around but the Stars quickly put the orange-clad Winhawks in yet another hole early on. A score in the paint by Oberg at the 17:29 mark and a score in the paint by senior forward Sarah Spanier that drew a foul and sent her to the line for the obligatory freebie upped the Holy Angels lead to nine at 27-18. A "3" from the left wing area by the Winhawks Hoeppner at the 15:26 mark trimmed the deficit down to six at 29-23 and a drive along the left baseline and finish by sophomore reserve guard Selena Lor at the 13:13 mark still had Winona down by only six at 31-25. But a 4-0 Star burst in the form of two free throws by sophomore forward Megan Meyer and another Bagwell-Katalinich score in the paint got the lead up to ten at 35-25 and two Bagwell-Katalinich freebies at the 10:41 mark maintained the ten-point edge at 37-27. A "3" by Hoeppner from the left wing area at the 10:22 mark had Winona back to within single digits again at 37-30 but this is where things really started to fall apart for the Winhawks. A key 6-0 burst in the form of another Bagwell-Katalinich score in the paint, a Bagwell-Katalinich jumper in the lane and a score in the paint by sophomore reserve guard Riley Thalhuber now had the Stars up 43-30 and Winona Head Coach Tim Gleason had no choice but to call a full timeout to get his squad reorganized and to stop the bleeding. The Winhawks tried desperately to turn things around but mistakes such as errant passes and defensive lapses did in Winona on this night; not to mention a great performance by the Stars Bagwell-Katalinich who always seemed to have an answer when Holy Angels needed it. Trailing 46-32, Winona did make one last-gasp attempt to try and get back in this one. Hoeppner unleashed another trey; this one from the left wing area with 1:52 left and a Voegeli score in the paint with :41 left trimmed the Holy Angels lead down to 50-37 and a three-point bomb from the right wing off the glass with :33.4 left by junior reserve guard Maria Appicelli cut the Star lead down to ten at 50-40 and a "3" from the left corner by freshman reserve guard Brittin Winter with :11 left got the deficit back to single digits again at 51-43 but it would not be nearly enough as Holy Angels ran out the clock to claim their first-ever state title.
The two fouls that Winona's Voegeli picked up early on in the first half was the first real sign of big trouble for the Winhawks down the road and I asked her what her mindset was when she came back into the contest after having to sit for a spell. "Just stay behind my girl....and try to not let her get any shots." Gleason; despite the loss, called this tournament - indeed this season - "one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life." Gleason calls the Section 1 area in which his team is located "a pretty darn good place to play basketball in the state of Minnesota." I asked Gleason about the key run that Holy Angels had right around the midway point that turned a single-digit deficit into a double-digit deficit that his team was never able to recover from. "I remember it being 37-30 and it not going our way after that" Gleason attributed this sequence where things started going downhill to turnovers and Holy Angels offensive rebounding that led to second-chance points. Emotions spilled over when Hoeppner talked about her Winona career. "I am just really proud of the team we are and it's been just such fun to play with these girls....I told them in the locker room 'Don't be sad'....They were so fun to play with and we have so many memories on and off the court.....I am so grateful for all the opportunities I had." Gleason, too, became emotional when he talked about how the last month or so has been hard for him as he mentioned that his father passed away in mid-February and how he was one of the team's biggest supporters. Holy Angels Head Coach Dan Woods said the win tonight "It means everything for Holy Angels.....It let's people know we're state champs and it puts us on the map." Bagwell-Katalinich talked about how previous disappointments in section losses was used as motivation to work hard and help get her team into a position to not only get to the state tournament but also to make a determined run once they were in. Bagwell-Katalinich talked about how the squad was mired in winning 5-6 games a year and how easy it would be to just keep it that way. But the hard work payed off and "now here we are!". Indeed, Bagwell-Katalinich's 25 points led all scorers but her 16 total rebounds (7 offensive, 9 defensive) played a big part as well. Winona was led by Hoeppner's 15 points.
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