The nightcap at Williams Arena on this Thursday night was the second Class AAAA semifinal game pitting upstart White Bear Lake which upset second-seeded STMA on Tuesday and third-seeded Minnetonka. The Skippers would be favored in this battle but after the Bears took out STMA, nothing could be counted on as a sure deal.
A "3" from the right wing by senior guard Grace Allen helped the Skippers draw first blood in this contest but White Bear Lake would come right back and grab a 4-3 lead by the 16:53 mark and the Bears would extend the lead to three points at 9-6 when senior forward Taite Anderson stole the ball from the usually reliable Skipper back court like a thief in the night and dashed the other way and was fouled in the process and sank the ensuing free throw. It was here the Minnetonka made its first decisive move of the evening; embarking on an 8-0 run on the strength of two scores by senior post Lizzie Odegard and another trey by Allen to take a 14-9 lead by the 9:34 mark. Right back came the Bears who proceeded to go on a 7-2 push to forge a 16-16 tie but the Skippers answered that with a 7-0 run of their own; capped by a jumper from lefty senior forward Courtney Fredrickson who has a deft touch from short/medium-distance range with 5:13 left for a 23-16 Minnetonka lead. White Bear Lake managed to trim the gap to six points at 26-20 when senior guard Alison Hinck was able to get one free throw to go down but the Bears were having considerable trouble trying to work the ball inside on that murderous Skipper front line and instead settled for ill-advised three-point shots which all missed their mark. Minnetonka smelled blood at this point and proceeded to go on an 8-0 blitz; fueled by a drive into the lane and finish off the glass by senior guard Hannah Hedstrom with 4:10 left and a Hedstrom "3" from the left wing with 2:27 that got the lead out to 34-20 and White Bear Lake Head Coach Jeremy Post had no recourse at this point but to call a timeout and assess his squad's strategy. Another Allen "3" from the right wing with :58 left put the Bears in more doo-doo with a 37-20 Minnetonka lead and an Allen lay-up in transition that drew a foul and allowed her to go to the charity stripe for the free throw ballooned the lead to 40-21. A short shot by senior reserve forward Makala Keefe with :11 left helped ease some of the pain for White Bear Lake but going into the locker room trailing 40-23, the Bears had their work cut out for them to say the least.
The Bears hoped to make an early dent into the Minnetonka cushion to get some momentum going their way again but a "3" from the right wing by graceful sophomore guard Chrissy Carr made it a 45-25 ballgame and another timeout by White Bear Lake's Post was in the offing. Another "3" by Carr - this one from the left top area at the 14:03 mark bulged the lead to 51-29 which resulted in a thirty-second timeout by the exasperated Post. But there was simply no stopping a determined Skipper team on this night. A score in the paint by lanky sophomore reserve forward Kayla Mershon at the 11:46 mark and two free throws by fellow sophomore reserve guard Megan Walker at the 10:58 mark along with a score in the paint by Carr at the 10:22 mark made it a 58-32 game and Minnetonka was able to put it in cruise control the rest of the way. Senior reserve guard Laura Hamilton connected with a jumper along the left baseline with 6:56 left for a 64-39 Skipper advantage and a drive along the left baseline and finish by Fredrickson with 5:28 left made it 68-42. Both Post and Minnetonka Head Coach Leah Dasovich pulled their starters out with 3:32 left and the Skippers secured a spot in the Class AAAA title game on Saturday night with a convincing 75-50 victory.
A disappointed Post afterward talked about some of the things that went wrong for his squad in the crucial moments late in the first half when things started to snowball for his team. "We had our shooters taking the right spots and we were getting the ball inside......I thought we were getting decent looks....."We felt we were right there......We knew what we could do...You've gotta maximize your opportunities." On the Minnetonka side, I asked Head Coach Leah Dasovich about the crucial 8-0 run that increased a 26-20 lead to 34-20. "I knew that run would come eventually....We talked about establishing our game in the paint first." Ironically, it would be a bevy of three-point bombs that helped fuel not only that run but right before the half as well. About the championship game with Hopkins on Saturday night: "I like our matchups with Hopkins......I think we can go player to player with them.....They have a variety of defenses and we have to be ready to recognize what we see and we can't have empty possessions." The Skippers had a reasonably balanced scoring attack on this night. Allen led the way with her 15 points while both Carr and and Odegard contributed 14 points. For White Bear Lake, Anderson led the way with her 12 points in the losing effort.
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