The nightcap on this Friday night at Williams Arena was the second Class AA semifinal game that pitted upstart New London-Spicer taking on second-seeded Sauk Centre. The Wildcats got here by virtue of the upset victory over Minnehaha Academy while Sauk Centre easily disposed of Norwood-Young America. The Mainstreeters made it to the Class AA title game last year and were hoping to do not only that again but take it another step as well.
Compared to the offensive back-and-forth pace of the last game, defense took center stage in the early going in this contest. 'Streeter junior guard Jill Klaphake finally broke the scoreless tie with her score in the paint at the 15:30 mark but New London-Spicer would come back and grab a 4-3 advantage on the power of a score in the paint by junior forward Nicole Tebben at the 14:51 mark. The contest would be knotted up at six a piece when Wildcat junior post Morgan Swenson grabbed an offensive rebound for a putback at the 13:03 mark. Sauk Centre would grab a small lead at 9-6 on a pretty trey by sophomore guard Kelsey Peschel at the 12:24 mark and the Mainstreeters would get the lead to five points on two free throws by sophomore guard Maesyn Theisen with 7:35 left. But New London-Spicer would go on an 8-0 run; fueled by a jumper along the left baseline by junior forward Kabrie Weber and a pretty one-handed shot in the lane by senior forward Megan Thorson to grab an 18-15 lead with 3:51 left. A three-point bomb by Theisen from the left top area with 2:48 left tied the game at 18 and Theisen would follow that up with a pretty floater in the lane with 2:14 left to give the Mainstreeters a 20-18 advantage. A short jumper by Weber along the right baseline with :52 left tied the game once again at 20 a piece for the Wildcats but junior guard Taylor Borgerding's "3" from the left corner with :38 left gave Sauk Centre a 23-20 advantage that they took into the locker room with them at the half.
New London-Spicer came out on a bit of a hot streak at the beginning of the second half. Sophomore guard Shea Oman nailed one trey from the left top area at the 17:26 mark that tied the game at 23 a piece and another "3" from the same left top area by Weber at the 16:28 mark gave the Wildcats a 26-25 advantage and a Thorson lay-up off of an inbounds pass at the 15:03 mark allowed New London-Spicer to maintain that one-point advantage at 28-27. The Wildcats would increase their lead to 30-27 before Sauk Centre was able to regain some control. One free throw by senior post Rebecca Weir at the 12:45 mark and a lay-up in transition by Klaphake tied the score at 30-all and free throws by both eighth grade reserve guard Victoria Peschel and senior reserve guard Madison Greenwaldt gave the 'Streeters a 35-32 lead with 8:54 left. Sauk Centre stretched the lead to seven points at 42-35 with 5:56 left on the power of two scores by Klaphake and a "3" by Theisen and the Mainstreeters appeared to be in position to possibly close out this game but New London-Spicer managed to battle its way back from the brink with an astonishing 9-0 run. A short shot inside by senior reserve guard Lindsay Vagle with 5:21 left and a score in the paint by the always-reliable Thorson got the Wildcats back to within a single possession trailing 42-39. Two free throws by sophomore guard Shea Oman and a three-point bomb from the right corner by Weber capped this unlikely burst and it thrust the Wildcats back out in front 44-42. Sauk Centre would manage to get things tied up at 46-all with :50 left after Theisen snared a steal and dashed the other way for a lay-up and a Weber turnover shortly thereafter gave the 'Streeters a chance to take the lead but Greenwaldt wasn't able to connect with her three-point bomb attempt and Thorson was there for the rebound for New London-Spicer. The Wildcats got the ball up the court and carefully worked the ball around the perimeter; looking for any possible nook or cranny in the Mainstreeter defense that might be there for a last-second shot. Wildcat Head Coach Mike Dreier; not liking how this was shaping up for his squad, called a timeout with :10.6 left to draw up an option or two for a last-second scoring attempt. With time winding down, Oman got the ball and, with the ice-cold mentality of a tightrope walker, did a between-the-leg dribble and drove into the lane and put up a one-handed shot that kissed just perfectly off the glass and into the cylinder and drew a foul as well with :04.5 left. Her free throw was good making it a 49-46 game. Sauk Centre's Scott Bergman called a timeout to try and draw up a last-second play but a desperation three-point attempt by Theisen missed its mark and the Wildcats pulled off a stunner with a 49-46 victory over a very good (and heartbroken) Sauk Centre team.
A disappointed Bergman tried to put things in perspective after this heartbreaking loss. "You know....When you've got a lead (I think we were up by five with three minutes to go)......It felt pretty good but give them credit....They made big plays, they made big shots, got big stops, got big rebounds...So, yeah, it's tough....We're big rivals....It seems like one of us ends the other's season." On the New London-Spicer side, I got to ask Oman about her daredevil drive into the lane for the winning basket with time winding down. "We just had to run our play that we practice all the time and I just happened to make the final play." Dreier added afterward that "When it works that's exactly how we draw it up" that drew a laugh from all in the press conference. I also asked Weber about her big trey down the stretch that got her team back out in front and she admitted that it was definitely a "big shot". A check of the box score shows how balanced the Wildcat scoring was on this night. Both Thorson and Weber led the way with their 12 points and Oman was right behind with her 10 points; with the biggest contribution in the game's waning moments. Sauk Centre was led by Theisen and her 20 points and nine rebounds while Klaphake had 10 points in the losing effort.
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