2019 Minnesota Girl's State Tournament - Class AAAA Championship Game Recap - Hopkins vs Stillwater 3-16-19

The big enchilada on this Saturday night at the Barn was the Class AAAA Championship Game between top-seeded Hopkins and second-seeded Stillwater.  Hopkins, of course, would be the heavy favorite but this Stillwater team seemed ready to battle on this night and considering that the Royals have come up on the short end of the stick the last three times in this game, you could not discount anything.

Scoring would come at a premium in the first two minutes as Hopkins had only two free throws to show for their explosive offense by the 15:35 mark and it wasn't until the 13:22 mark that Stillwater got on the board on a lay-up by speedy sophomore point guard Alexis Pratt.  The Ponies would get this game tied at 4-all a bit later and a "3" from the top of the key by senior guard Sara Scalia had Stillwater up 7-4; much to the delight of a raucous Pony student section.  At the 10:50 mark, Scalia would strike again from downtown from the right top area to have the Ponies up 10-8 and a Scalia drive in to the paint for a finish at the 9:42 mark had Stillwater up 14-10.  Hopkins got this game tied up with 8:45 left when junior phenom Paige Bueckers tipped in an inbounds pass to make it 14-all and the Royals would assume an 18-14 advantage on a Bueckers lay-up with 6:23 left.  Stillwater would get this one tied at 20 when Pratt sank two free throws after getting fouled with 3:43 left and the Ponies got their nose out in front again with 1:49 left when junior forward Mary Fultz drained a "3" and two Scalia free throws a bit later pushed Stillwater's lead to 29-24.  Hopkins freshman forward Maya Nnaji would get two free throws to go down with :12 left but the Ponies still were able to take a 29-27 lead into the locker room at the halftime break.  The first half box score stats pretty much mirrored how close this game was so far.  Stillwater held at 25-22 edge on the boards but also had two more turnovers than Hopkins did at 9-7.  The Ponies thus far had more or less held Bueckers in check as she had eight points in this first half and it was senior guard Dlayla Chakolis leading the way for Hopkins with her ten points while Stillwater's Scalia was having a great first half with her 14 points. 

Stillwater's Scalia would strike with a steal and lay-up at the 17:26 mark of the second half to get the Ponies lead to four at 31-27 and a Scalia reverse lay-up at the 16:46 mark increased that lead to six at 33-27.  Hopkins' Bueckers would strike back with a tip-in of an inbounds pass at the 15:58 mark that drew a foul and resulted in Bueckers sinking the "and one" that reduced the Royals' deficit to three at 33-30 but Hopkins freshman Amaya Battle committed a cardinal sin at the 15:22 mark by fouling Stillwater's Pratt behind the arc and Pratt got two free throws out of it to get the Ponies' lead up to 35-30.  The Royals, however, would strike back with a 6-0 push capped by a lay-up in transition by eighth-grade forward Taylor Woodson as Hopkins suddenly found themselves back in front by a 36-35 count and prompted Stillwater Head Coach Willie Taylor to use a thirty-second timeout.  This run continued until Hopkins held a 42-35 lead and it wasn't until Stillwater's Pratt connected with a lay-up that the Ponies ended their dry streak.  Still, this 16-2 run was a big game-changer and it seemed uncertain whether Stillwater could recover from it.  By the 9:12 mark the lead was 52-40 and that lead soon increased to 55-40 with 8:55 left and the Ponies' Taylor now had no choice but to take a match to a full timeout as this one was clearly getting away from his team.  With 7:24 left, the Royals lead had grown to 60-42 and there seemed to be little doubt about the outcome now.  All those shots that were falling for Stillwater before suddenly stopped falling and everything seemed to be going in for the Royals.  Two scores by Hopkins' Nnaji had the Royals up 66-42 with 4:13 left and with 3:30 left that lead grew to 70-42.  After enduring three straight years of frustration and heartbreak, Hopkins finally secured a state title again with a resounding 74-45 victory. 

Some of the stats in the final box score are a bit deceiving at first glance.  For example, the Royals had a relatively slim advantage on the boards by a 40-36 count which, in many instances, would suggest a reasonably close game - which it was for a good chunk of the contest.  But when you dig deeper into the numbers, you begin to see why Hopkins was finally able to erase three years of frustration on this night.  In the second half, Hopkins held the Ponies to 5-23 shooting from FG range for 21.7% and Stillwater finished this game going 16-55 for 29.1%.  Behind the arc, Stillwater wasn't any better either finishing 5-18 for 27.8%.  Compare those numbers with that of Hopkins:  They finished going 30-59 from FG range for 50.8% and although the Royals were "only" 4-11 from behind the arc for 36.4% on this night, that really didn't matter as Hopkins had a huge advantage in points in the paint by a whopping 44-20 count and a 20-6 edge in fast-break points as well and those numbers right there give you a pretty good idea of what happened down the stretch when Hopkins got a stranglehold on this game.  What's ironic is that it wasn't Bueckers leading the way in total points on this night.  That honor actually goes to the freshman, Nnaji, who led the way with her 18 points.  Both Bueckers and Chakolis finished with 13 points and junior guard Kayla Adams had 12 points and that gives you an idea of how balanced this Hopkins team can be at times which must be an absolute nightmare for opposing coaches.  Scalia of Stillwater; even in the losing effort, had a great night leading all scorers with her 24 points and Pratt had 16 points.  Beyond that, scoring was pretty scarce and you can tell that Scalia and Pratt had to carry the load for the Ponies on this night.  During the Stillwater portion of the post-game press conference, I asked Taylor that it seemed like the difference was that Hopkins started to pack it in down low on defense and when a shot was missed, they were able to easily get the rebound, get the outlet pass and get into transition.  "Yeah, we tried to prevent that from happening....We were just kind of stunned and, before you know it, we were down twenty."  Taylor admitted later on that his squad simply could not match the speed that Hopkins has; particularly in transition opportunities.  Scalia; who was also in on the press conference along with Pratt, downplayed her twenty-four point performance on this night.  "I mean, I was just doing whatever I could to help the team win.....We just tried to come out; play with our hearts and give it our all."  Hopkins Head Coach Brian Cosgriff seemed to have a lot of emotions and feelings flowing through him during the Hopkins portion of the press conference.  Cosgriff; asked about what kind of halftime speech he might have given, replied "You know, I don't know if it was a speech or whatever but it was a matter of us saying 'You know what?  We gotta go out and play our game' because that was our worst half by far this year....We needed to make free throws."  But what caught nearly everyone by surprise (including your's truly) was when Cosgriff admitted that Bueckers was quite ill some 12-15 hours before the game on this night.  "Paige was throwing up this morning and was sicker than a dog today.....And she really toughed it out and she was amazing."  Cosgriff also had praise for his other players and how they stepped up on this night; saying that "it was more than just a Paige show".  Bueckers said that she was "coming to play with my team" and wasn't going to let anything get in her way of playing on this night and she was simply spectacular at times on this night.  Cosgriff also noted that this win on this night was a "complete team victory"; noting that he had four players in double figures scoring-wise and that other players were ready to step up to the plate when they learned that Bueckers was sick in the morning hours.  I have to admit that, when I get sick like that, it's nearly impossible for me to even think about picking up a tennis racket or doing much else for that matter other than getting - and staying - horizontal so, on that front anyway, I have to give Bueckers my Jack Youngblood tough award to her for this year.  And, in another way, I can understand while Cosgriff and his players likely feel some vindication of sorts after coming up short the last three years.  As good as Hopkins is, there are now other programs out there that can come in on certain years and steal the show but this year, the Royals made no mistake and finally picked up a crown that they - and Bueckers - had been seeking for a long time. 

2019 Minnesota Girl's State Tournament - Class AAA Championship Game Recap - De La Salle vs Becker 3-16-19

The first game on tap on this Saturday night at the Barn was the Class AAA Championship Game pitting perennial powerhouse De La Salle going up against upstart and third-seed Becker.  While the Islanders were the top seed in Class AAA and the favorites going in, I had caught this Becker team in action back in February doing color commentary with my good friend Mike Peden and I knew right then and there that this Bulldog team was good - not to mention hungry and ready.  So I wasn't surprised at all that they finagled their way into the state title game even if they did it living dangerously in thrilling wins over both Marshall and and defending state champ Robbinsdale Cooper. 

The Islanders would draw first blood in this contest on a "3" from the right corner by freshman forward Sydney Runseweat the 16:40 mark but Becker sophomore guard would soon knot the score at three with her own three-point bomb a short time later.  De La Salle would get their lead to 9-3 by the 13:37 mark and another unfortunate series of events for the Bulldogs allowed De La Salle to grow their lead to nine at 14-5 by the 13:01 mark that prompted Becker Head Coach Dan Baird to call for a thirty-second timeout to get his team calmed down.  That short stoppage in play seemed to give the Bulldogs new life as they struck like an agitated rattlesnake with two scores topped off by a lay-up that drew a foul and resulted in an "and one" by Nuest at the 12:23 mark that cut the deficit to four at 14-10.  Another series of misfortunes for Becker, however, allowed the Islanders to go on a 7-0 push to make it a 21-10 ballgame by the 9:30 mark  but a Nuest "3" from the top at the 9:10 mark gave the Bulldog faithful some hope as the deficit was back in single digit range again down 21-13.  The Bulldogs were also having problems with containing De La Salle sophomore post Nora Francois from getting steals and scores in the paint.  Becker sophomore forward forward Julia Bengston would come up big for her team with a couple of scores but getting the deficit slimmed back down to striking range distance was proving to be problematic.  The Bulldogs managed to get things trimmed down to seven points with 3:16 left at 26-19 and senior post Lexi Masog got one free throw to go down after getting fouled with 1:58 left that had the deficit down to six points at 26-20.  A lay-up by freshman forward Adeline Kent with just over a minute left kept the deficit at four at 26-22 but the Islanders would get a late push just before the halftime buzzer; topped off by a score in the paint by freshman guard Leah Dengerud as De La Salle took a 31-22 lead with them into the locker room at the half.  A check of the first half box score shows that the Bulldogs had the edge on the boards at 21-18 but, unfortunately for them, they also had 11 turnovers to go with that compared to De La Salle's five.  More ominous for Becker, however, was that they were held to 7-25 shooting for 28% and only 2-10 from downtown for 20%.  De La Salle had a very balanced scoring attack with junior Nurjei Weems leading the way with eight points while Nuest was pacing Becker with her nine points.

Two quick scores by Becker in the opening moments of the second half suddenly had the deficit reduced to five points at 31-26 and a "3" by Kent at the 15:58 mark now had the Bulldogs back within a single possession down 31-29.   De La Salle freshman guard Kiani Lockett got the Islanders a bit more breathing room with her lay-up at the 12:00 mark and by the 11:00 mark De La Salle had re-established a seven-point lead at 36-29.  The Islanders were still in good shape up 40-32 with 7:25 left but Becker would mange to slim the deficit down to four again with 6:40 left on a score in the paint by Kent at 40-36 and sometimes it seems like all this young Bulldog team needs to do is just stay within striking distance and hang around to give themselves a chance.  With 4:14 left, however, the Islanders' Lockett unleashed a dagger "3" from the right wing that pushed the De La Salle lead to ten at 46-36 and the sands of time now seemed to be closing in on Becker.  Nora Francois would add a score in the paint with 3:14 left to make it 48-36 and Becker's Baird now had no choice but to call a timeout with this one slowly but surely slipping away into the cold night.  Becker's Nuest would foul out with 1:31 left and the Islanders took care of business down the final 90 seconds to capture the Class AAA crown with a 56-40 victory. 

Becker's Baird alluded during the Bulldogs' portion of the post-game press conference that De La Salle's length and athleticism were a big part of his team's downfall on this day.  "They're longer, okay, at multiple positions and all five of their girls seem like they have extremely long arms and they're active.  So, this week in practice we brought in tall people; quick people who could really simulate that in a 2-3 zone and they (De La Salle) just did it really well.....It was just hard for us to get in a groove all game so that's very good coaching by them."  I asked Baird about his squad's two quick scores at the beginning of the second half that seemed to give his team a shot of energy and new life.  "Yeah, it was 29-31 and we got it there and it seemed like neither team could score for a minute or two.....We definitely had chances to tie it or take the lead and we just didn't capitalize.  Our shooting percentage wasn't very good today; it was like 26.5% for the game which is a season low and you've got to attribute that to De La Salle's defense.  They played a fantastic game."  Baird elaborated that the Islanders started the game in man-to-man defense and then when Becker managed to close the gap to two points at 31-29 early in that second half, De La Salle then switched to a zone defense and that really changed things up for his team.  I asked sophomore Julia Bengtson who also attended the post-game press conference for Becker about how important this experience was for her going forward.  "I think it's really important because you got to see what it's like; to experience this fun atmosphere and just where never giving up gets you.....Playing through your mistakes and just like coach says; next play mentality so it's definitely something you want to come back to as much as you can....Hopefully next year but you never know....So we're just gonna work our hardest this off season to hopefully win the championship next year and just get as far as we can."  Bengtson also said that there are some specifics that she intends to work on this off season such as changing her speed that will help her become a more versatile player and working on her shot and having more confidence in that as well.  Baird also said that he's so impressed with how hard this group works; particularly during the summer when they show up at 6:00 A.M. to get in a 2 - 2 1/2-hour workout and how incredibly motivated they are.  In the De La Salle portion of the post-game press conference, Head Coach Tanysha Scott definitely sounded like she had been through quite an ordeal over the last few days as her voice was hoarse and sounded very tired.  But through all of it, she was incredibly excited and happy for her team.  I was able to ask Scott right off the bat about her team's defense and the fact that they have a natural advantage with their overall length and athleticism, that that really helped disrupt a lot of things that Becker wanted to do; particularly with their half-court offense.  "Well, that's what we practice.....We practice getting into the passing lanes but we knew they were good drivers and good shooters so what we did was that we played a 'switch-five'."  Scott said that this tactic enabled them to get into the passing lanes more often and create mismatches as well.  Scott also said that it was important for them to slow Becker down and make them play more of a half-court game where their size and length would have an advantage.  A check of the final box score shows that Becker actually did have the advantage on the boards by a 39-33 count but unfortunately, also led the turnover department as well as they suffered 20 turnovers to De La Salle's 12.  Another big stat to point out:  The Islanders had a huge advantage in points in the paint by a 32-14 count plus the fact that they wound up holding the Bulldogs to 13-49 from FG range for 26.5% and 4-18 from downtown for 22.2%.  De La Salle had an incredibly balanced scoring attack on this night as sophomore Nora Francois led the way with 14 points while Lockett wasn't far behind with 12 points and Weems had 11 points while Mary Claire Francois finished with ten points.  Nuest was the only player for Becker on this night in double figures with her 11 points. 

2019 Minnesota Girl's State Tournament - Class AA Championship Game Recap - Caledonia vs Minnehaha Academy 3-16-19

 The second game on tap this afternoon was the Class AA Championship Game that pitted two unlikely participants - fourth-seeded Caledonia and third-seeded Minnehaha Academy.  But from having watched both of these two teams the night before, I knew that both of these squads had earned their way to this point and that this would be a tough game.

The Redhawks built a 5-2 lead at the 16:27 mark on the power of a score in the paint by senior guard Avery New and that lead would soon grow to 7-2 but Caledonia would get this one tied at seven when senior guard Ashley Schroder drained a "3" from the right top area at the 15:30 mark.  Minnehaha Academy would get solid footing again soon thereafter and get a 12-7 lead when junior guard Mia Curtis drained a "3" from the right wing at the 13:33 mark before the Warriors could claw their way back and two free throws by senior Kaitlin Conniff at the 11:29 mark had Caledonia down by only two at 12-10.  Right back came the Redhawks and a pretty drive and lay-up by senior point guard Taytum Rhoades at the 10:45 mark re-established some breathing room for Minnehaha Academy with a 17-10 lead.  And right back would come the Warriors as they closed the gap to two points at 17-15 when Ashley Schroeder knocked down two more free throws at the 9:45 mark.  Then senior guard Katie Tornstrom would drain a cold-blooded "3" from the left top area with 8:48 left that suddenly pushed Caledonia into the lead at 18-17.  Two free throw by senior guard Heidi Bolduan kept the Warriors in front 20-18 but Minnehaha Academy would soon get the game tied when Rhoades, who had to sit a spell with two fouls, connected with a layup with just over six minutes left.  One Rhoades freebie with 5:19 left pushed the Redhawks out in front 21-20 and a "3" by Curtis with 4:40 left from the right wing pushed the lead to 24-20 and with 3:53 left, Curtis would strike again from three-point land with a bomb from the left top to forge a 27-22 lead for Minnehaha Academy.  With 2:23 left, the Redhawks' Rhoades would connect on a pretty lay-up in transition to get the lead to 29-22 and two Rhoades free throws with 1:26 left maintained that seven-point edge at 31-24.  Rhoades would again get to the charity stripe for two more freebies that increased Minnehaha Academy's lead to nine at 33-24 and in pretty decent shape.  But a strange twist to end the first half occurred with just :01.6 when Caledonia's Ashley Schroeder would be fouled trying to unleash a desperation three before the buzzer by the Redhawks freshman forward Telia Graham.  Ashley Schroeder not only got all three free throw attempts to go down to narrow the gap to six points at 33-27 but now Minnehaha Academy's Graham had picked up her third foul as well.  A check of the first half box score shows that Caledonia absolutely owned the boards thus far by an impressive 29-13 count - but also suffered 15 turnovers in that first half as well which effectively cancelled that edge out.  Neither team was shooting the lights out by any stretch but considering Caledonia went 4-23 from FG range for 17.4%, they were probably pretty fortunate to be down only six at the half.

The Warriors would close the gap to four early on in the second half and a "3" by Tornstrom from the left corner at the 17:16 mark cut the deficit to one at 33-32.  At the 16;13 mark, Caledonia pushed out in front when Conniff made a pretty drive for a finish but things would be even worse for Minnehaha Academy at the 14:57 mark when Rhoades picked up her fourth foul of the day and Redhawks Head Coach Matt Pryor had no choice but to sit his star point guard.  Surprisingly, Minnehaha Academy did not wilt at this critical juncture and had retaken the lead by a 40-36 count but by the 13:41 mark, another Redhawk player was slapped with her fourth foul of the day; junior guard Tanna Gallo making things even more problematic for Minnehaha Academy.  Caledonia's Ashley Schroeder would drain a "3" from the right top area at the 12:36 mark to pull the Warriors to a point at 40-39 and at the 11:56 mark, Ashley Schroeder would be fouled in a transition opportunity and her two free throws had Caledonia back out in front 41-40.  Schroeder would strike again at the 11:20 mark for a lay-up to make it 43-40 and then a Tornstrom "3" at the 10:49 mark from the right wing made it 46-40 and clearly Minnehaha Academy was in the danger zone.  The Redhawks, were resilient enough to recover and a "3" from the top by Curtis at the 9:06 mark tied this one at 46 but more disaster would await Minnehaha Academy with 8:03 left when Curtis fouled out.  That allowed the Warriors to reassert themselves and get a 50-46 lead with 7:57 left.  With 7:44 left, Caledonia's Tornstrom drained a killer "3" from the left top area to get the Warrior lead to five at 53-48 but the Redhawks, staring at gloom and doom in the face, battled right back and would have this one tied at 53 when Rhoades knocked down two free throws.  With 4:37 left, Minnehaha Academy was clinging desperately to a 56-55 lead and you knew this stretch run was going to be a doozy.  With 4:12 left, Minnehaha Academy's Rhoades; racing like a late Union Pacific-Milwaukee Road "Cities" train, connected with a lay-up in transition to get the Redhawks lead to 59-55 with the obligatory free throw and with 3:16 left, Minnehaha Academy had a five-point 62-57 lead.  With 2:36 left, Caledonia's Tornstrom would get sent to the line but she could only get one free throw to go down which didn't make much of a dent.  With 1:15 left, the Redhawks had a 66-60 lead but Caledonia managed to whittle the deficit down to three points when Ashley Schroeder connected with a tough lay-up with :57.2 left.  But the Warriors never could get that one big stop or bucket that might have drawn them even and Minnehaha Academy captured the Class AA title with a 72-63 victory. 

Because of time limitations between when this game ended and when the evening session would start up again at 6:00 P.M., I opted to skip the press conference to get something to eat as I was literally starving; I hadn't had a bite to eat since breakfast.  But when you go over the final box score in this one, there are some numbers that have to be examined here.  The astonishing thing that sticks out to me more than anything is how Caledonia absolutely dominated the boards on this day by a 49-36 count - a margin that, more often than not, has you on the correct end of the scoreboard.  In this case, however, the Warriors were also guilty of 21 turnovers on this day as well compared to the 13 that Minnehaha Academy had and in a way, that effectively negated that big edge on the boards.  Another big factor was that the Redhawks had a big advantage in points in the paint by a 22-14 edge and coupled with the fact that Caledonia shot only 15-56 from FG range for a dismal 26.8% and weren't a lot better either from beyond the arc going 7-24 for 29.2%, you can begin to see why the normally-potent Warrior attack was stifled on this day.  Just a fantastic outing for Minnehaha Academy's Rhoades as she easily led all scorers with her 29 points and Curtis was solid as well with her 18 points while Pryor finished with ten points.  Ashley Schroeder led the way for Caledonia on this day with her 21 points and Tornstrom wasn't far behind with her 19 points while Conniff finished with 16 points. 

2019 Minnesota Girl's State Tournament - Class A Championship Game Recap - Minneota vs Goodhue 3-16-19

Got down to the Barn in plenty of time today on this cold but sunny St. Patrick's weekend for Championship Saturday at the Minnesota Girl's State Tournament.  The first game on tap on this Saturday afternoon featured the Class A Championship Game featuring top-seeded Minneota and second-seeded Goodhue.  This would be my first look at the Vikings in a while but I knew they were awfully good.  The Wildcats, of course, escaped two close calls thus far here in the state tournament so you knew this one had the makings to be a dandy. 

Both teams would be feeling each other out in the opening minutes and neither could get any separation in the early going with the Vikings clinging to a 3-2 lead at the 15:30 mark.  Perhaps the only blemish thus far from a Goodhue standpoint was that senior guard Kate Opsahl had been tagged for her second foul by the 14:10 mark but Wildcats Head Coach Josh Wieme seemed willing to roll the dice and keep her on the floor.  At the 13:37 mark Minneota senior guard Morgan Kockelman got a score to push the Vikings lead to 5-2 but Goodhue senior post Lexie Lodermeier would get her team on even terms with Minneota with two free throws at the 12:02 mark for a 5-5 game.  Lexie Lodermeier would repeat that feat at the 10:22 mark to keep the game tied at seven a piece.  By this point, Minneota senior post Lydia Sussner had collected her second foul of the day and Vikings Head Coach Chad Johnston was arguably rolling the dice a bit as well by keeping her in.  Still, Minneota got a bit of breathing room when sophomore guard Abby Hennen nailed a "3" from the left wing area with 5:25 left to give the Vikings a 14-9 lead and a jumper from the top by Kockelman with 4:59 left made that lead grow to 16-9.  Sussner; riding those two fouls, got into the paint for a score with 3:42 left that now had Minneota up by nine at 18-9.  Goodhue's Wieme had the benefit of a media timeout to get his squad regrouped but perhaps an even bigger problem for the Wildcats was that Opsahl was now riding with three fouls and Goodhue could ill-afford to lose her.  Minneota's Sussner would soon collect her third foul and Johnston was taking no chances on that front and quickly yanked her to the bench.  That allowed the Wildcats to cut the gap a bit to six points at 20-14 by the halftime break.

Goodhue managed to stay in that six-point range down 22-16 in the first three minutes of the second half but the Vikings' Hennen changed that with a three-point bomb from near the top of the key at the 15:05 mark to expand Minneota's lead to 25-16.  The Wildcats would counter on a nifty steal of a pass at midcourt by Opsahl and her lay-up at the 11:55 mark allowed Goodhue to close the gap to seven points at 27-20 and with 9:00 left, junior guard Arianna Thomforde snuck inside for a lay-up that had reduced the deficit to five points at 27-22 and hope was renewed on the Wildcat front.  But unlike yesterday, Goodhue never could seem to find that one burst that might have turned the tide in this one when they needed it most.  The Wildcats were applying pressure anywhere and everywhere they could but Minneota seemed to be surviving it.  With 4:39 left, Goodhue sophomore guard Torie Rehder fouled out and the Wildcats lost an important three-point shooting threat with her on the bench.  Still, Goodhue was able to get the deficit down to six at 32-26 with 3:30 that offered a ray of hope and they were still trying to trap various Minneota players on their offensive possessions like those mean old raptors in the Jurassic Park movies but on this day, the Vikings cleverly escaped most of those potential disasters.  In a game where defense took center stage, Minneota captured this Class A State Championship Game with a 40-31 victory. 

The final box score shows that Minneota did have the edge on the boards on this day by a 33-27 count and, in a close, low-scoring game such as this where defense does take center stage, that was huge.  Interestingly enough, the Vikings did have more turnovers on this day than the Wildcats did by a 20-15 count and Goodhue did indeed have a 16-9 advantage in points off of turnovers.  In fact, the Wildcats also had a 16-10 advantage in points in the paint as well.  But while Goodhue had a relatively decent day from the charity stripe going 8-10 for 80%, their FG shooting suffered mightily on this day as they finished going 11-46 for 23.9% and, even worse was the fact that the Wildcats were a dismal 1-12 from downtown for only 8.3%.  Needless to say, those are big numbers.  Abby Hennen led the way for the Vikings on this day with her 13 points and senior forward Lizzy Gillingham wasn't far behind with her 11 points.  Goodhue meanwhile relied heavily on Opsahl on this day as she was the only Wildcat player in double figures scoring-wise with her 14 points.  In the Goodhue portion of the post-game press conference, Wieme talked about Minneota's length and their ability to use that to disrupt their offense.  "Well, they have pretty good length at every position and they're very athletic.....They sank off of our outside perimeter and they weren't going to let Lexie (Lodermeier) have much room......And we just couldn't hit enough from the outside to loosen that up."  I asked Wieme about when Opsahl picked up her third foul and how that affected them with what they wanted to do; especially defensively.  "Well, yeah....Kate's a very versatile defensive player but I think it really hurt us offensively......We were stuck on nine for a long time and we just lost rhythm because she's an offensive player that can do so many things; handle the ball, drive to the basket, hit from the outside."  Wieme also added that it was a double-whammy from an energy standpoint as well.  Additionally, Wieme admitted that his team's 31 points on this day is simply not enough to win a state championship game; even in a game dominated by defense.  I also asked Lexie Lodermeier about how she managed to stay out of foul trouble on this day as compared to Friday's game against Menagha and what her personal strategy was for this game.  "I don't want to get into foul trouble at all....So I guard the high post and so I had to stay low and pretty much keep her (Minneota's Sussner) in front, push off or stay behind her....And I knew if I was going to do that, she doesn't force things so I was able to stay out of foul trouble."  Minneota's Johnston admitted during the Vikings' portion of the post-game press conference that their big concern was trying to find a way to neutralize Goodhue's Lexie Lodermeier down low on defense.  "Anytime you have a 6'3" player in the paint it kind of changes things.....so we talked about what we needed to do offensively and defensively.....I just knew that at some point that Goodhue's pressure was going to have to crank up a little bit and we kind of said that if we get a lead; the way we were playing defense, if we just took care of the basketball and didn't turn it over and didn't give up any transition buckets that we would be just fine.....They definitely cranked up the pressure there a little bit and at times we looked good with it and at other times, we looked like we were panicking a little with it.....The key thing is we got the key things done....We hit the free throws at the end of the game when we needed to and we got the 'W'."  Johnston also stressed that it was important for his team to focus on triple penetration, making sure that they clogged the lane down a little bit and that they were there to 'help'.  He added that his squad is not necessarily what you would call an "in your face" type of defense but they're a very smart group defensively.  Johnston added that rebounding was also a big focus in this game as well and the Vikings definitely had the edge on the boards on this Saturday afternoon.                       
 

2019 Minnesota Girl's State Tournament - Class AA Semifinal Game Recap - Albany vs Minnehaha Academy 3-15-19

The nightcap at the Barn on this Friday night also had the potential to be a good one as well as Albany matched up against in-town Minnehaha Academy. 

Albany would hold a 4-2 edge in the early going and that lead would expand to 7-2 at the 15:00 mark when senior guard Paige Rueter drained a three-point bomb.  The Redhawks would soon recover and were able to finally poke their nose out in front 8-7 on two free throws by senior phenom guard Taytum Rhoades at the 13:23 mark.  Minnehaha Academy would still be clinging onto that one-point lead at 11-10 by the 11:35 mark and a three-point bomb by junior guard Kate Pryor at the 10:55 mark still had the Redhawks up one at 14-13.  Albany, however, would strike back with a 6-0 push and a lay-up by sophomore guard Paige Meyer at the 9:28 mark had the Huskies up 19-14 and a three-point bomb by fellow sophomore guard Abbie Christen with 8:57 left pushed that lead to 22-14.  With 7:54 left, Meyer would drain a "3" from the left top that put Albany up 25-17.  The Redhawks' Rhoades, however, would help get her team back to within a single possession with a steal and lay-up the other way as Minnehaha Academy now found themselves down by only two at 25-23 and a "3" by junior guard Mia Curtis with 6:25 left had the Redhawks back out in front 26-25.  A "3" by Meyer with 4:58 left kept Minnehaha Academy ahead by one at 29-28 but then the Huskies managed to make a late push right before the halftime break.  Senior forward Molly Van Drehle got one lay-up with just under a minute left and then Meyer was able to sneak into the paint with just :05 left as Albany took a somewhat surprising 36-32 lead into the locker room at the half.  A check of the first half box score shows that Albany was owning the boards thus far by a 20-13 count and although turnovers were nearly even, the Huskies were definitely shooting better going 14-20 from FG range for 53,8% compared to Minnehaha Academy's 11-29 for 37.9%.  And the Redhawks were leaning heavily on Rhoades who led the way so far with her 12 points.  Albany, on the other hand, saw Meyer's 11 points leading the way while senior guard Amanda Killodge had ten points so far.

Albany increased their lead right away in the opening moments of the second half on a pretty give-and-go lay-up by senior forward Hannah Litchy at 38-32 and a "3" by Meyer at the 15:53 mark had the Huskies up five at 41-36.  Minnehaha Academy would soon claw their way back to tie the game at 41; thanks primarily to Rhoades by the 14:20 mark but the Huskies would forge their way ahead again by a 45-42 count on another shot by Meyer at the 12:45 mark.  Meyer would strike yet again at the 12:47 mark with another jumper to increase the lead to 47-42.  The Redhawks' Rhoades would get her team back in single possession range again at the 11:08 mark down 47-45 but right back came Albany and a lay-up by Christen at the 9:00 mark pushed the Huskies out in front by five at 53-48 and with 8:20 left, Christen would strike again from the left wing that made it 55-48 and a concerned Minnehaha Academy Head Coach Matt Pryor called a timeout in hopes of a quick fix.  With 5:30 left, the Redhawks had closed back to within a single possession down 54-54 and with 5:07 left, that gap had closed to one point at 57-56 and with a mountain of time left, there was every reason to believe for the Minnehaha Academy contingent to think this game could be saved.  Two free throws by junior forward Mia Curtis with just under 3:00 left pushed the Redhawks ahead 60-59.  The two teams would trade three-point blows and Albany would find themselves back out in front at 64-63 with 1:30 left but a Curtis lay-up with 1:19 left pushed Minnehaha Academy back out in front 65-64 and with :50.5 left, Rhoades would get sent to the charity stripe and she got one free throw out of it for a 66-64 lead.  After a foiled Albany possession, Rhoades again would be sent to the free throw line and two more free throws now had the Redhawks up 68-64.  Senior Avery New would get fouled on a defensive rebound and she got one free throw out of the deal to make it 69-64.  The Huskies would be foiled again on their ensuing possession and Minnehaha Academy's Curtis would be fouled with :15.4 left and she got one free throw to go go down to make it 70-64.  Albany's Meyer would get a "3" to go down with :08.6 left to trim the deficit to three points at 70-67.  Albany would get a steal on the ensuing Redhawk inbounds pass but a Meyer three-point attempt would go awry from the left corner with just :02 left.  Albany's Meyer would get one more crack at it with :01.2 left but that attempt, too, bounced off the back of the rim as Minnehaha Academy escaped Dodge with a 70-67 victory to advance into the Class AA Championship Game. 

A check of the final box score shows what a fantastic night it was for two players in this game.  For Minnehaha Academy, it was Rhoades' 27 points pacing the Redhawks on this night while Curtis wasn't that far behind with her 17 points.  And junior guard Kate Pryor had a solid night with her 12 points.  Over on the Albany side, an unbelievable night for Meyer as she led all scorers with 29 points and did everything but will her team to victory while senior guard Amanda Kollodge added 13 points.  Albany did wind up having the edge on the boards on this night by a 37-32 count but also suffered more turnovers than the Redhawks did by a 17-12 count and in a close game, that can be a killer.  And here's another number to keep in the back of your mind:  Minnehaha Academy also got ten steals on this night compared to Albany's four.  Another item that may have cost Albany on this night:  They shot 8-11 from the charity stripe for 72.7% and in a close game like this, that's leaving three important points on the table that could have made the difference.  Albany Head Coach Aaron Boyum talked about the game in the post-game press conference afterward:  "Our team battled right to the end.....Give Minnehaha credit; they have a lot of girls that have been here a lot of years and are experienced.....Their length is tremendous....Their athleticism is very, very good and they hit some big shots at some big moments so you have to give them a lot of credit but I take nothing away from our girls....Our girls battled right to the wire."  I asked Boyum about what his strategy was to try and contain Minnehaha Academy's Rhoades in the second half.  "Well, Taytum (Rhoades) got behind us in transition a couple of times in that first half so we knew we had to get back; we kind of took the press off a little bit because we felt that we were giving up on (Mia) Curtis because she was getting behind us a little bit.....But she's a great player and she made plays.  Both Meyer and Kollodge were sitting in on the press conference as well and both talked about exciting it was to get through the sectional battles and get to the state tournament and how important it was to be playing their best basketball at the end of the season.  During the Minnehaha Academy post-game press conference, I was able ask Rhoades right off the bat about how she seemed to be able to find that next "gear" so to speak; when things were tight and how she was able to take her game to another level when it mattered the most.  "I think.....It was easy for me to find that gear because I knew I wanted to get to that next game.....This has been our goal since the beginning of the season and going into halftime we were down so we knew we had to work our way back up and I think without the help of my teammates around me, I don't have that gear if they're not getting rebounds and outletting it to me so it comes easy when I have teammates like that."  The Redhawks' Pryor talked about how draining this game was from both an emotional and physical standpoint.  "Oh my gosh, I feel like I aged about three years after a game like that.....Just turned 26 the other day and I feel a heck of a lot older than that after a game like that....It was fun."  I asked Pryor about what adjustments he felt were necessary during the halftime break given the fact that his team was down and that Albany seemed to have the momentum.  "There were a lot of things we needed to clean up defensively......We missed a lot of rotations defensively and we're a 'switching' man-to-man defense and I don't think we executed our switches very well in the first half.  I thought we did a really good job of cleaning things up on the defensive end in the second half and going to the 'diamond-and-one' the last couple of possessions that did a really good job of getting our momentum back and taking their best player out of the game as much as we can.....But I thought our girls did a really good job of making those adjustments in the second half .....This group is tough; we were down, they had the momentum.  Their fans were getting loud but there was never any panic in our girls and I think that's a testament to the leaders we have on the team." Pryor had high praise for Albany's Meyer; calling her a "stud" and raved about her abilities but also thought that Rhoades did a great job on her defensively.           

2019 Minnesota Girl's State Tournament - Class AA Semifinal Game Recap - Roseau vs Caledonia 3-15-19

The first game on tap on this Friday night at the Barn would be an intriguing one to say the least with top-seeded Roseau taking on fourth-seeded Caledonia.  Both of these programs have had success at the State Tournament level before and I expected a pretty good contest to ensue.

Roseau started this game off in a 2-1-2 zone defense and that may have been one of the reasons as to why the Rams got off to a 6-3 lead early on in this one.  Then again, when you have the Borowicz sisters in senior Kacie and sophomore Katie, good things can happen.  Still, Caledonia was resourceful enough to close the gap to one point by the 15:00 mark and by the 13:18 mark, Warrior senior guard Heidi Bolduan's drive into the lane for a finish had Caledonia up 11-8.  But some timely three-point shooting by Roseau's Katie Borowicz made sure that that lead didn't last long and one Katie Borowicz freebie at the 11:16 mark had this one tied at 14 a piece.  The Warriors managed to go dry on a couple of possessions; missing two easy lay-ups and by the 8:45 mark, Roseau held an 18-15 lead.  And a "3" by Kacie Borowicz with 8:25 left expanded the Ram lead to 21-15 and younger sister Katie would strike with a jumper of her own with 8:00 left to grow the Roseau lead to 23-16.  Caledonia would finally get a big boost when senior guard Katie Tornstrom nailed a "3" from the right corner with 6:30 left to get the Warriors back to within a single possession down 24-21 but then Roseau's Borowicz Sisters went to work again.  Kacie would nail a jumper from the top and then with 4:10 left, Katie would get a lay-up and get fouled in the process and her "and one" got the Rams safety net back to eight at 29-21 and two more scores by Kacie allowed Roseau to take a 33-25 lead into the locker room at the half.  When I look at the first half box score, two stats jump out at me.  (1) Roseau owned the boards thus far by a 22-16 count and (2) Caledonia thus far was having a miserable time shooting the ball from downtown; going 4-16 for 25%.  I thought that they were settling for way too many three-point shot attempts.  It's one thing when you can up that to say, 40-45% but that wasn't happening.  Throw in the fact that Roseau was also getting several second- and third-chances on offense, you can see why Warriors Head Coach Scott Sorenson and his staff likely were going to half to make some adjustments during the halftime break. 

Caledonia's Bolduan got her team on the right track with a drive and finish early in the second half and two free throws by senior guard Kaitlin Conniff at the 16:46 mark had the deficit down to six points at 35-29.  But Roseau sophomore forward Julia Braaten would nail a killer "3" shortly before the 15:00 mark to up the Ram lead to nine at 38-29 and a pretty reverse lay-up by Roseau's Kacie Borowicz at the 14:34 mark had the Rams up double digits at 40-29.  Caledonia got a second lease on life when eighth-grade sparkplug reserve guard Alexis Schroeder nailed a "3" from the right wing area at the 11:08 mark that pulled the Warriors back to within striking distance down 43-38 and a Bolduan lay-up at the 10:18 mark now had Caledonia back within a single possession down 43-40 and hope abounded now for the group from the southeastern part of the state.  Conniff would snare a steal for a lay-up the other way at the 9:30 mark and suddenly the deficit was at one point at 43-42.  Bolduan would get sent to the charity stripe at the 9:00 mark and her two free throws now had the Warriors up 44-43.  Senior guard Ashley Schroeder's lay-up at the 8:23 mark had the Warriors up 46-43 and Caledonia was still clinging to that three-point lead with 6:48 left.  Roseau's Kacie Borowicz would get this one tied at 46 at the 6:38 mark with her three-point bomb from the right top area but then the Rams would commit an egregious error by fouling Caledonia's Ashley Schroeder behind the arc with 5:53 left and Schroeder would get two free throws out of the three-freebie attempts to push the Warriors back on top 48-46 and a score by Bolduan with 5:11 left upped the lead to four at 50-46 and a Tornstrom "3" with 4:15 left now had the lead at five at 53-48.  A Conniff lay-up with 3:00 left had the Warriors safety net at five points still at 55-50 and Conniff would strike again with 2:30 left with another pretty drive and finish to make it 57-53.  Roseau's Braaten would get to the charity stripe with 1:46 left and her two freebies had the deficit down to two points at 57-55.  But Caledonia's  Ashley Schroeder would soon follow with two free throws of her own and the lead was back at four at 59-55.  Still plenty of time for Roseau, of course, but when the Rams needed the magic of the Borowicz Sisters, it simply wasn't there this time.  With :25.7 left, Caledonia's Tornstrom would get fouled and her two free throws helped pave the way to ultimate victory as the Warriors pulled off the huge upset with a shocking 65-55 victory. 


A check of the final box score shows that rebounds were about even with Caledonia holding a 40-38 edge on that front.  The big difference was that Roseau was guilty of 20 turnovers in this contest with a bulk of them coming in that critical second half.  The other thing was the Warriors defense as Roseau's shooting percentage slumped in the second half as the finished going 20-57 from FG range for 35.1% and 7-25 from behind the arc for 28%.  Kacie Borowicz easily led all scorers with her 28 points to pace Roseau but nobody else was in double figures.  A much, much different story on the Caledonia front with a very balanced scoring attack with Bolduan's 24 points leading the way followed by Tornstrom's 13 points.  Schroeder finished with 12 points and Conniff had 11 points.  Roseau Head Coach Kelsey Didrikson attributed the grittiness and toughness of Caledonia coming down the stretch were some of the things that ultimately did her team in.  "Their aggressiveness, grit on defense.....Just the way they tie you up and get their hands on everything....Strong with the ball and I think that's where the tide turned in the second half......We just weren't strong with the ball and they tied us up; forced us out of bounds; forced us to turn it over.....Their just absolute grittiness on defense and they really turned that up in the second half."  Didrikson also said that her squad tends to struggle against zone defenses and they're just not as proficient on the offensive end when they go up against a zone defense - such as what Caledonia used on this day with their 2-3 zone.  The Roseau press conference was also attended by the Borowicz sisters - senior Kacie and sophomore Katie and it was evident how much pain and disappointment that Kacie in particular was feeling on this day as she was fighting back tears the whole time.  Perhaps the most tender moment of this press conference was when I asked Kacie about how special her time at Roseau has been and, as soon as I asked the question, I regretted it as soon as I did and wanted to kick myself for asking it in the first place.  Fighting back tears and sobs; after a lengthy pause, she said "The best years of my life....It's just so hard, I'm sorry."  My heart just broke in half and sank like the Titanic during those agonizing seconds which must've seemed like hours to Kacie.  I was able to mouth to her after the conference was over that "I'm sorry" and, being the absolute classy person that she is, she said it was okay.  Caledonia's Sorenson:  "A lot of hard fought and determination and grit.....But when they (his team) started pickin' at it and chippin' at it and getting to the rim they way they wanted to, things started to change a little bit for us.......These guys; their determination tonight."  I mentioned to Sorenson that I thought the big turning point for his team was when eighth-grader Alexis Schroeder hit that big "3" right before the 11:00 mark and how it was such a shot in the arm in terms of momentum and energy for his team.  "Oh, right on.....I think she took the first one from NBA range but what I like about her is that she's got that grit and she's not afraid to take it.......We talk about that all the time in practice; if you think you've got a shot, take it....We never discourage our kids.....She's a very good shooter and I'm glad I've got her for four more years."  I also mentioned to Sorenson that I thought his squad was a bit too tied to the three-point shot in the first half and in the second half, they showed a willingness to drive into the lane and penetrate.  "Oh absolutely.....It (driving into the lane) picked up a few fouls.....We were attacking to get to the line.  For us, if we're giving up lay-ups, it's demoralizing to our defense and we needed to step up and felt that Kaitlin (Conniff) had a couple there in the second half and we ran that out of bounds play and our seniors' ability and all of our kids ability to just make plays and to hold a team that usually make 75 points a game and to hold them to 55 in this game; I mean, that's getting it done."     

2019 Minnesota Girl's State Tournament - Class A Semifinal Game Recap - Goodhue vs Menahga 3-5-19

Was running a little late today but did manage to get my rear end in gear to get over to Williams Arena to get settled in for the second Class A semifinal game that pitted Goodhue against Menahga.  Goodhue, of course, had the goods to manage to get by a tough Mountain Iron-Buhl team yesterday while the Braves were something of a mystery to me not having seen them in action before.  With Goodhue, I was curious to see if they could improve some of the things that nearly cost them yesterday - particularly the shaky free throw shooting and some defensive lapses that allowed Mountain Iron-Buhl to have some opportunities late. 

Goodhue would get out to a solid start in this one; bolting out to a 5-0 lead by the 15:15 mark of the first half but the Braves would soon close the gap and by the 12:55 mark Menahga had poked their nose out in front by a 10-9 count and complicating the Wildcats' situation was that senior post Lexie Lodermeier had collected her second foul of the afternoon as well.  The Braves had the upper hand at 14-10 by the 10:07 mark as Goodhue's offense seemed to stall out a bit and Wilcats Head Coach Josh Wieme at least had the luxury of a media timeout to discuss things with this team and hopefully make a few quick fixes as well.  But Menahga would push that lead to 17-10 a short time later and Menahga senior guard Annika Aho would drain a "3" from the top just under 8:00 left to get the lead to 20-12 before the Wildcats could find some semblance of offensive proficiency and cut the gap to four points at 22-18 with 5:44 left.  Goodhue's Lexie Lodermeier, with those two fouls, got the game tied up at 22-all with her lay-up with just over four minutes left and Lexie Lodermeier's short jumper with 2:44 left kept the game knotted at 24 a piece.  Menahga freshman forward Greta Hillukka would get a score in the paint with just under thirty seconds left that allowed the Braves to take a 26-24 lead with them in the locker room but, even worse for Goodhue, Lexie Lodermeier would pick up her third foul of the afternoon with just :11 left so now the Wildcats' Wieme had a huge problem on his hand and he arguably played with house money when he had his star post player in there with those two fouls.  One of the reasons that Menahga seemed to have the upper hand so far is that the Braves had a 17-12 edge on the boards just looking at the first half box score and although Menahga was guilty of nine first half turnovers, it seemed to me like the Wildcats didn't do a good job of closing out on the Braves' three-point shooters as they had numerous open looks and Goodhue was probably pretty fortunate that Menahga was only 3-10 from downtown.

Predictably, things would stay tight in the first three minutes of the second half with the Braves clinging to that two-point lead at 28-26 but the Braves would make a push and have their lead up to six points at 34-28 by the 12:00 mark and a "3" by senior guard Cierra Ahlf from the left wing area at the 11:37 mark suddenly pushed Menahga's lead to 37-28 and now the Wildcats' Wieme had to take a match to a full timeout before the gap got too wide.  But one of the big problems Goodhue was facing - in addition to Lexie Lodermeier's three fouls - was that the Braves were getting way too many second- and third-chance opportunities on the offensive end - and the Wildcats were the bigger team in this matchup as well.  Goodhue still managed to get the gap closed down to five points at 37-32 with just over seven minutes left and a score in the paint by Lexie Lodermeier with 6:47 left had the Wildcats back within a single possession down 37-34 and with 5:00 left, Goodhue made a big move as sophomore Arianna Thomforde played a big role with her steal and lay-up the other way as the Wildcats finally got their nose back out in front by a 38-37 count.  Menahga Head Coach Cody Pulju would immediately take a timeout to try and get his squad calmed down.  The Braves would get a big lift on an Alf "3" a short time later to take the lead and one Alf free throw with 1:15 left pushed the Menahga lead to 43-40 but Goodhue managed to cut that deficit down to one point with 1:03 left on a score by freshman guard Joslyn Carlson.  With :46.8 left, Goodhue's Carlson sank one freebie to get this one tied at 43 and with :21.9 left, Goodhue's Carlson made a move into traffic for a lay-up that drew a foul as well but Carlson couldn't cash in on the "and one" so while the Wildcats now had the lead at 45-43, Menahga still had a chance.  But the Braves would be foiled on their ensuing possession with :04.7 left.  With :03.1 left, Goodhue's Thomforde would be fouled and she sank both free throws as the Wildcats escaped again - into the Class A final - with a 47-43 victory. 

A check of the final box score shows that Menahga indeed controlled the boards on this day by a somewhat startling 35-23 count that, in most cases anyway, would lead to ultimate victory.  But the Braves were shaky down the stretch from the charity stripe and today (unlike Goodhue yesterday), it cost them.  Menahga also was guilty of 19 turnovers on this day as well; another ingredient for disaster.  Goodhue was led by Carlson's 17 points and Lexie Lodermeier was right behind with 16 points and props to her for staying out of foul trouble.  Thomforde would add ten points as well for the Wildcats.  On the Menahga side, junior Tara Hendrickson and Ahlf led the way with their 12 points, respectively in the loss.  Menahga's Pulju didn't waste any time blaming turnovers and some missed free throws down the stretch that ultimately cost his team.  I mentioned to Pulju that I thought his team actually had one advantage in that second half with second- and third- chances with offensive rebounds.  "Yeah, I'll give our girls credit for crashing the boards.....We deserved to win.....We just didn't do a couple of things down the stretch to make the difference....We made enough plays to win the game."  Goodhue's Wieme:  "We've been down before....We never get down on ourselves ; these kids don't get down on each other; they never stop believin'.....We've had some nice comebacks this year....It's not comfortable being down but they can handle it.....We got a couple turnovers that led straight to baskets and that gave us a great emotional boost obviously."  I asked Goodhue's Lexie Lodermeier about her state of mind when she was tagged with that third foul just before the halftime break.  "I know that I don't want to be sitting on the bench whatsoever and that it's fun to be in the game so I knew that I needed to play some better defense and keep my hands straight up and make that extra slide so I don't pick up my fourth right away."  Lexie Lodermeier added that "I was pretty mad at myself....I thought it was kind of dumb what I did.....It's just a foul I shouldn't have had"  I also had an opportunity to ask Wieme about all the second- and third-chance opportunities that Menahga seemed to have in that second half.  "Yeah, it was tough.....They were going at Lexie (Lodermeier); trying to draw that fourth foul....And I thought she did a great job.  She was moving her feet; staying vertical.....The problem was that we got out of rebounding position....We're usually a pretty good rebounding team; we don't dominate the boards but we rebound pretty well.  They (Menahga) were scrappy....They're strong but they were going hard at Lexie (Lodermeier) and we just kind of got out of position.  Finally, I had an opportunity late in the press conference to veer off-subject for a bit and ask Wieme about how important it was to have former Goodhue and GAC standout Mikayla Miller on the coaching staff this season.  "It's been really fun to have her first of all and she's fresh out of college so the kids are able to see someone who's easily had so much success in high school and in college......She had a lot of post ideas for us and we used a lot of those so she just has a great perspective all season long."  Wieme also added that just having Miller on the bench along with the great support of other Goodhue alumni with text messages and videos of well-wishes going into the state tournament was a huge boost for his team. 

2019 Minnesota Girl's State Tournament - Class AAAA Semifinal Game Recap - Stillwater vs Eastview 3-14-19

The nightcap at the Barn on this Thursday night was the second Class AAAA semifinal game pitting Stillwater against Eastview.  I had to figure that this one had a much bigger potential to be a closer match-up and it would be interesting to see the different individual match-ups as well.  I got settled into my seat and ready to go in this one at the 12:38 mark of the first half with Stillwater clinging to a 10-8 lead.

Eastview senior guard Emma Carpenter got her Lightning team closer with a pretty lay-up at the 11:35 mark and junior Brynn Schwanz would tie the game with a score in the paint a bit later at 12-all.  The Ponies, however, got their lead to 19-14 with 7:53 left but Eastview senior guard Lauren Glas would soon cut that lead down to two points with a "3" with just over seven minutes left that made it a 19-17 ballgame.  Eastview would soon get the game tied at 19 and with just under four minutes left, Eastview junior Cassidy Carson got a friendly bounce on the rim with her three point bomb to push the Lightning out in front 23-22 and a Schwanz lay-up with 1:50 left got the lead to 25-22.  With 1:21 left, Eastview's Glas hauled in a long baseball pass and got a transition lay-up to increase the lead to 27-23 and then with :28.7 left, the Lightning's Carson increased the lead to 28-23 with one free throw before Stillwater sophomore sensation Alexis Pratt got two free throws of her own to trim that deficit to a single possession.  Still, Eastview senior guard Macy Guebert would increase the Lightning lead to five with two freebies after getting fouled with :03.3 left as Eastview took a 30-25 lead into the locker room at the half.  A check of the first half box score shows that Eastview did hold a 20-15 edge on the boards while turnovers were negligible.  It was indeed a great performance thus far by Eastview's Glas as she had tallied 11 points in that first half while Pratt's seven points led the way for Stillwater.  Perhaps more ominous for the Ponies, however, was that senior standout and future Minnesota Golden Gopher Sara Scalia had been held to only two points and you can bet that Stillwater Head Coach Willie Taylor was hoping to find a way to get her going in the second half. 

Two more Carson free throws at the 16:02 mark pushed Eastview's lead up to 32-25 and the Ponies finally got Scalia involved a bit later when she got into the paint for a score to make it 32-27 and a bit later, Scalia would score again to get Stillwater back to within a single possession down 32-29.  At the 14:16 mark, Scalia would get sent to the charity stripe and her two free throws now cut the deficit to one point at 32-31 before Eastview's Schwanz would give her team some more breathing space with a "3" from the left corner at the 13:07 mark.  A Guebert "3" from that exact same left corner a bit later now pushed the Lightning lead to six at 37-31.  Stillwater junior Liza Karlen gave her squad a big lift a short while later with a "3" from the right corner to again get the Ponies to within a single possession down 37-34 and Karlen would hit yet another three a short time later and then a Scalia steal in the backcourt and subsequent lay-up suddenly had Stillwater up 39-37.  Scalia would strike again with an unbelievable lay-up with just over eight minutes left to keep the Ponies ahead 41-39 and a Karlen lay-up a bit later pushed the lead to 43-39.  Eastview Head Coach Molly Kasper; a bit concerned for her team's near-term outlook, called a timeout to make some adjustments.  But two more Karlen freebies with 6:51 left increased Stillwater's lead to 45-39 and two more by Scalia with 5:52 left made it 47-39 and it was now clear that the Lightning was in some big time trouble.  With 4:03 left, Stillwater's Pratt made a nifty move into the lane for a lay-up that had the Ponies safety net maintained at eight points at 49-41 and two Scalia free throws with 3:14 left now made it a ten-point game at 51-41.  Two Pratt fee throws with 2:04 left maintained the ten-point edge at 53-43 and a coast-to-coast lay-up by Scalia with 1:16 left made it 57-45 and things were pretty much academic from there as the Ponies advanced to the Class AAAA title game with a 65-52 victory. 

Looking at the final box score in this one, Scalia came alive in that second half and finished with 22 points to lead all scorers which simply underscores what an incredible player she really is.  Karlen, who had a huge second half with some timely three-point bombs finished with 17 points on this night while Pratt had 15 points and junior Grace Cote tallied 11 points and when you have four of your starters finishing in double-digits, that gives you a pretty good idea of how potent you can be offensively.  Eastview was paced by Glas' 14 points while Guebert finished with 12 points in the losing effort.  I inadvertently neglected to turn on my voice recording feature during the Stillwater portion of the post-game press conference (silly me :p ) but Ponies Head Coach Willie Taylor was in complete agreement with me when I mentioned that the turning point in this ballgame came just before the mid-point in the second half when the Ponies had that flurry of scores that allowed them to finally poke their nose out in front and Taylor mentioned that it just gave his team a shot of energy that they were desperately seeking at the time.  Scalia, who has played with Hopkins star junior Paige Bueckers on the AAU North Tartan team , talked about what a fun person Bueckers is to be around not only as a teammate but off the court as well but it'll be all business Saturday night when the two face off.  Eastview's Kasper during the Lightning's portion of their post-game press conference lamented about some of the defensive breakdowns her team had in that critical stretch in the second half when Stillwater started taking control.  "I think they had like four right-handed lay-ups in a row which is a big no-no in our defensive scheme....and we got down by six and when you can't throw it into the ocean and when you consider yourself a pretty good three-point shooting team can make it very, very difficult and you're getting pretty good looks."  Kasper thought that her squad did a good job in containing Stillwater's Scalia in the first half; preventing her - for the most part anyway - of letting her go to her right.  But she lamented that they didn't contain her in the second half and noted that she had three right-handed lay-ups and that Pratt had a right-handed lay-up as well.  I asked Kasper specifically about what's been the "secret"; so to speak, about her program's consistency throughout the last few years of getting themselves into position to have success at this time of the year.  "Obviously work ethic and dedication is important......I think we make it special and we play for each other.  We're 'homegrown'.  We don't have girls randomly showing up at our door or steps.  We're from Eastview; we're from our district and we love each other.  It's not for the hoorah or 'I need to get my points' or it's about 'me'.  It's 100% for each other and I think nowadays to find true joy for each other, it's something that's very difficult; true gratitude and it's really our focus.  It's really based on love."  Kasper also felt that her only purpose this year was to make Emma Carpenter felt safe and loved.  "I think maybe that's the 'secret sauce'.  I don't know!.....I hope our underclassmen will step up next year.....It's hard to find genuineness like that anymore."  Eastvew's definitely in good hands with Kasper and expect to see a lot more of them in the future.     

2019 Minnesota Girl's State Tournament - Class AAAA Semifinal Game Recap - Hopkins vs Centennial 3-14-19

The first game on tap over at the Barn on this Thursday night might have seemed like a ho-hum affair for some with top-ranked and top-seeded Hopkins taking on fourth-seeded Centennial but from having watched this Cougar team over the last few weeks in the Section 5AAAA semifinals and final, I knew that this was a squad that was peaking at the right time and had the capability to hang with the best. 

Centennial would draw first blood on senior Sarah Lavell's score in the paint but Hopkins' junior sensation would soon snare a steal and dash the other way for a lay-up and by the 15:04 mark of the first half, the Royals held a 6-2 advantage.  By the 12:05 mark, a lay-up by Royals senior Dlayla Chakolis had helped Hopkins stretch the lead to seven and, to a certain extent, the Cougars had themselves to blame to a certain extent as they managed to miss two easy lay-ups that would have had them close.  Bueckers would get an offensive rebound of her own miss for a putback at the 10:55 mark and draw a foul in the process that would get the Royals lead to ten at 15-5 and Centennial Head Coach Jill Becken knew a timeout was in order.  And that famous pressure defense of Hopkins was beginning to wear on the Cougars as well and two quick scores pushed the Royals lead to 23-9 with 7:41 left in this first half and Centennial's Becken was forced to burn another thirty-second timeout.  Centennial did get a bit of a boost when sophomore Jodi Anderson snared an offensive rebound for a putback that drew a foul that resulted in an obligatory free throw with 6:17 left but the Cougars still had a lot of making up to do down 25-12.  Anderson would give more heroics with a "3" with 4:15 left but Centennial still found themselves down by thirteen at 30-17 and the Royals were not in a charitable mood on this night either.  It seemed when the Cougars could get things slowed down with their 2-3 zone defense, they had a fighting chance but getting into a running game with Hopkins was a death wish and, as it was, the Royals took a fairly comfortable 38-23 lead into the locker room at the halftime break.  Without question, one stat that had to have had Centennial's Becken reaching for the roll of Rolaids in the locker room were the 21 turnovers her team suffered in that first half alone.  Yikes.  Centennial did have the edge on the boards at 25-20 but when you turn the ball over that many times, that edge gets negated.  And the box score shows that Hopkins' Bueckers already tallied 17 points as well.  The Cougars thus far were being paced by Anderson's 12 points.

Centennial seemed to get their offense going a bit better once the second half got underway as they seemed to be playing on more even terms anyway.  The problem was that they were trading scores with the Royals and with the deficit already in double-digits, that's a luxury you cannot afford.  By the 15:00 mark, the Cougars were down by twenty at 51-31 and it was apparent that this one was a bridge too far for Centennial.  Hopkins maintained the twenty-point edge at 61-41 by the 11:35 mark and Bueckers' magic allowed that lead to slightly expand to 69-45 with 7:30 left.  As the game approached the 5:00 mark in the second half, the Royals started to be deliberate on offense, working the ball around for the best shot with a big lead in their back pocket.  With just under 4:00 left, Hopkins had this one in the bag with a 75-47 lead and both Centennial's Becken and Hopkins Head Coach Brian Cosgriff sent in their reserves for clean-up duty as the Royals rolled into yet another Class AAAA final with a resounding 75-51 victory. 

A check of the final box score shows that Centennial definitely got the turnover ratio down in the second half as they finished with 29 boo-boos - still way too many, of course.  The one positive is that the Cougars had a big edge on the boards at 43-29 but too many turnovers negated that advantage.  Another outstanding outing for Hopkins' Bueckers as she easily led all scorers with 28 points while Chakolis added 12 points and freshman Maya Nnajihad 11.  Senior Sara Stapleton's 16 points led the way for Centennial on this night while Anderson added 11.  Centennial's Becken spoke afterward in the post-game press conference.  "Well, the struggle for us tonight was the pressure...That just took us out of what we wanted to do; especially in the first half.  We just had too many turnovers........I thought that our kids played hard.....We made some adjustments; we really wanted Sara (Stapleton) down in the block and I thought we did a better job of getting her down there doing that as a team......We didn't do the best job of engaging Taylor (McAulay) offensively but we also had (Paige) Bueckers guarding her so that's tough."  I asked Becken specifically about how I thought that her squad showed a willingness in the second half to drive into the lane more; penetrate in there and get some opportunities at the rim.  "Our goal was to chip away at their lead and get it (the deficit) down to ten by the media timeout.....When we were playing defense, we tried to play a zone and contain but then they started eating up clock so we went back to 'man'......I thought (Jodi) Anderson did an okay job in staying in front of Bueckers....but she (Bueckers) just rose up and shot over her like four times......She's (Bueckers) just a phenomenal player."  Becken also pointed out about how proud she is of her team as they always pick each other up and encourage each other as well.  Hopkins Head Coach Brian Cosgriff was in the press room shortly thereafter with both Bueckers and Chakolis.  Cosgriff:  "Well, we want to dictate tempo....That's always been our goal all year long and we want our kids to play very hard on every possession.....And we feel that if we do that, good things will happen."  Bueckers expressed how important defense was.  "For us, it's defense first...getting a lot of transition buckets but setting the tone on defense, dictating that tempo and in this game against Centennial that was definitely the key."  I aksed Cosgriff about what the plan was wrt getting ready for Saturday night with the two-day window they have to prepare.  "Well, we're gonna watch this game (Stillwater vs Eastview), we're gonna get up and work out tomorrow at 5:30.....And then I'll be in the film room 8:30 to 3:00.  Then we'll have practice and then I'll be in the film room from probably 6:30 till 10:00.  Then we'll get up and have a light workout/practice and then we'll be in the 'Barn' "  Naturally, there were some chuckles from everybody in the room during this but facing this Hopkins team is no laughing matter for any opponent and you'd better be firing on all cylinders when you play them.     

2019 Minnesota Girl's State Tournament - Class A Quarterfinal Game Recap - Mountain Iron-Buhl vs Goodhue 3-14-19

In something of a rare appearance, I decided to jaunt over to the Maturi Pavilion side of things after taking in the exciting finish of the Class AAA semifinal between Holy Angels and De La Salle to cover this Class A Quarterfinal Game between Mountain Iron-Buhl and Goodhue; both teams very familiar with this state tournament setting - and both with a lot of success in recent years.  And given that I don't often get to cover the smaller schools, I thought this was a perfect opportunity to do just that.

The Rangers would get off to a decent start in this one; getting a 4-0 lead early on but Goodhue would have this game tied at 4-all by the 14:50 mark and one free throw by sophomore Arianna Thomforde allowed the Wildcats to poke their nose out in front 5-4 a bit later and Thomforde would continue to be a pain in the side for Mountain Iron-Buhl as the expanded their lead to 10-5 by the 12:42 mark and prompted Rangers' Head Coach Jeff Buffetta to burn a thirty-second timeout.  That short stoppage in play allowed Mountain Iron-Buhl to crawl back to within a single possession down 12-9 but Goodhue was able to get some more breathing room at 15-9 when senior guard Kate Opsahl connected with a long lay-up near the 8:00 mark.  The Rangers still managed to stay within striking distance down 19-14 with just under 5:00 left in the first half and with 3:33 left Mountain Iron-Buhl had closed the cap down to a single point at 19-18 but the Wildcats found some solid footing down the stretch and a drive and finish by sophomore guard Elissa Lodermeier with 1:41 left drew a foul and her "and one" got the Wildcat safety net up to eight points at 26-18.  Two free throws by Opsahl allowed Goodhue to take a nice 28-19 lead into the locker room with them at the halftime break.  A check of the first half box score shows a very balanced scoring attack for Goodhue with 6'3" senior Lexie Lodermeier leading the way with seven points while younger sister Elissa Lodermeier had six points.  Such was the case with Mountain Iron-Buhl as well as senior Madison Bennett lead the way with her six points and fellow senior Macy Savela had five points.  Perhaps a sore spot for the Rangers' Buffetta and his staff was that his team was getting outrebounded by a 19-14 count thus far and the 8-27 shooting from FG range for 29.6% was going to have to come up as well.

Goodhue expanded their lead to 32-21 when freshman Joslyn Carson hit a big "3" from the right corner early on in the second half but the Rangers managed to get the gap down to seven points on a big "3" by senior Madison Overbye at the 13:49 mark that made it 32-25.  Goodhue, however, got their lead back up to double-digits again at 36-25 by the 11:45 mark and the Rangers fortunes took another dip when Bennett would pick up her fourth foul by the 11:20 mark.  More disaster would strike Mountain Iron-Buhl when Overbye was down with an injury at the 10:59 mark with an apparent ankle injury and although she was able to walk off under her own power, her status to return seemed uncertain at the time.  Two big three-point shots by the Rangers allowed Mountain Iron-Buhl to cut the deficit down to single-digits again at 40-33 with just under nine minutes left and a score in the paint by senior Allie Negen soon reduced that deficit to five points at 40-35.  The Rangers were still within striking distance down six at 43-37 with 7:18 left and had slimmed the deficit even further down to five at 46-41 with 5:10 left.  With 3:09 left, Mountain Iron-Buhl remained in that five-point range down 48-43 and the game was just dangerous enough for the Wildcats that some of their turnovers and mistakes were starting to loom larger.  With 1:30 left, Bennett knocked down a jumper from the right side that reduced the deficit to three points at 48-45 and now things were becoming quite precarious for Goodhue.  With :17.1, senior guard Allie Negen drained a "3" from the left top area that pulled the Rangers to one point down 49-48 and now it was up to Mountain Iron-Buhl to try and get a stop.  Goodhue sophomore guard Torrie Rehder knocked down the front end of two free throw attempts after getting fouled with :10 left and the Rangers had an immediate chance to get this one tied up or take the lead but an untimely turnover killed their chances on that.  Opsahl would get fouled with :06.3 left and although she couldn't get either free throw to go down, the Wildcats would foil Mountain Iron-Buhl's last-gap attempt to get out of Dodge and advance to the semifinals with a thrilling 50-48 victory. 

A glance of the final box score shows that the Rangers picked up their FG shooting in the second half as they finished the game going 20-53 for 37.7%  Still, Goodhue had a slight edge on the boards by a 33-28 count and, somewhat surprisingly, turnovers evened themselves out as Mountain Iron-Buhl committed 17 and Goodhue 18.  The one danger sign for the Wildcats was some shaky free throw shooting; finishing 16-26 for 61.5%.  The only reason they got away with that this time around is that Mountain Iron-Buhl got to the charity stripe only six times in this contest; going 3-6.  Obviously, that's huge but realistically, you've got to do better at the free throw line in the next round because I don't think you can always count on having your opponent getting to the line so few times.  Again, Goodhue had a pretty balanced scoring attack on this night with Lexie Lodermeier's 11 points leading the way.  Negen's 15 points led all scorers on this day as she led the way for Mountain Iron-Buhl in the losing effort and Bennett finished with 11 points.  When I spoke with Goodhue Head Coach Josh Wieme afterward in the makeshift press conference room afterward, I asked him first about the possible experience factor given the recent success the program has had - particularly after the run to the state title two years ago - was maybe a calming influence for his team.  "Well, actually, because we have a lot of sophomores and freshmen playing, the last two minutes was kind of a what's what of not to do at the end of a game....It's just young players that have a good day.....On the other hand, they've (Mountain Iron-Buhl) have got some seniors that were making plays and knew they were never out of it and knew it was never over."  I did ask Wieme specifically about the shaky free throw shooting that his Goodhue team had coming down the stretch.  "Our final total was 16-26 and they were 3-6.  That's been us all year.  We don't allow the other team to shoot a lot....Yeah, we'd like to make more of those and our kids are trying but we don't give the other team a lot of opportunities to get there."  I also had a chance to briefly touch base with Goodhue's Lexie Lodermeier as well and asked her about the pressure her team felt when Mountain Iron-Buhl started getting close toward the end.  She mentioned that she was forced to go out to the high post to pick up some of the Rangers cutters that were starting to get opportunities for short- and mid-range jumpers.  Can this Goodhue team win it all again?  You can't completely count them out.  They'll have to tweak a few things defensively, IMHO, and that charity stripe shooting will have to come up if they get in another close game again.  One thing I did want to mention - props to Goodhue's Wieme for bringing on former Goodhue and GAC standout All-American Mikayla Miller onto the Goodhue coaching staff.  I can't think of anyone better who can not only relate to these players not only on a playing level but on a personal level as well and who can bring a high basketball IQ to the team as well and be that calming, supportive influence on the bench in tough affairs.  And someone who can still easily ball out and give those players some tough comp on the floor in practices, too.                   

2019 Minnesota Girl's State Tournament - Class AA Wednesday Night Game Recaps 3-13-19

The first game on this Wednesday night looked to be academic - at least on paper anyway - as top-seeded Roseau took on unseeded and unheralded Redwood Valley; a game in which the Cardinals supposedly had no chance.  Trouble was, someone forgot to tell that to this Redwood Valley group and they came out flinging in the first half; shocking the Rams with three-point bombs and timely defensive stops and held a 39-31 lead at the half on this heavily-favored Roseau team despite the fact that the Rams seemed on the verge late in the first half of getting this one knotted up.  By the 14:55 mark of the second half, Roseau had finally closed the gap to a single possession down 42-39; albeit the hard way.  By the 13:50 mark, the Rams had finally poked their nose out in front again at 43-42 .  Redwood Valley, however, showed considerable resistance and things were knotted at 51-all by the 10:40 mark and the Cardinals would again poke their nose out in front 53-51 a short time later.  But when things were still uncertain; when everything hung in the balance, the Borowicz sister duo of senior Kacie and sophomore Katie simply refused to let their Roseau lose on this night and they took over this game on both ends of the floor.  The Rams built their lead to 63-54 with 6:38 left in the second half.  Redwood Valley would still make one last bid and had the deficit whittled down to six points at 69-63 with 4:20 left; still plenty of time and would get it down to four with just under 2:30 left at 69-65.  With just under a minute left, the Cardinals had closed the gap to 71-69 and with :47.1, the gap was at one point at 71-70.  With :35.7 left, Roseau still led by one at 73-72.  Trailing by just one at 75-74 with :05.9 left, Redwood Valley had one more chance left but with the clock winding down, Cardinal senior Amy Martius' three-point shot attempt hit the front of the rim and Roseau staved off a HUGE upset bid.  When you glance at the final stats of this game, you'll see that Redwood Falls actually had the slight edge on the boards at 36-32 although they did suffer more turnovers at 19 than Roseau did with 12.  And a lot of that I think has to be attributed to the Borowicz duo of Kacie and Katie who just have that uncanny ability to do whatever they have to do to help their team win games and Kacie told me afterward that "It's kind of weird, but we just look at each other at times and we know when we have to pick it up."  And they did that on this night. 

The nightcap over on the Williams Arena side featured Proctor taking on Caledonia; two teams that I'm not at all familiar with but was certainly more than willing to let this battle unfold to see what would happen.  Caledonia appeared to have the upper hand early on in this one; as the Warriors held an 8-4 lead by the 13:30 mark and that lead would grow to 12-4 a little more than a minute later and Caledonia's pressure defense wasn't giving Proctor very much room to breathe either.  Turnovers continued to plague the Rails as Caledonia's lead grew to 21-9 with 7:15 left in the first half before Proctor finally got untracked a little bit on offense as a "3" from the left wing area at the 6:14 mark by junior guard Sam Pogatchnk got the Rails back in single-digit range again down 23-14.  Proctor would get the deficit down to seven at 29-22 with 2:07 left but the Warriors managed to increase their safety net a bit with a 4-0 push down the stretch of the first half to hold a 31-22 lead at the halftime break.  Proctor managed to get the deficit down to seven points in the first few minutes of the second half but getting closer than that was proving to be a tough nut to crack with turnovers and other mistakes still plaguing the Rails.  With  13:17 left, Proctor was able to cut the deficit down to six points on a "3" by Pogatchnik at 34-28 and a bit later Pgatchnik would strike again with a lay-up that had the deficit at four points at 34-30.  But Caledonia quickly responded; building their lead back to nine points at 39-30 at the 11:30 mark and Warrior senior forward Katie Tornstrom soon got that lead up to double-digits with her "3" at the 9:20 mark to make it 42-31.  Still, Proctor had enough pizazz left in them to crawl back into single-digit range at 42-36 with just over five minutes left but Caledonia would not open the door any further than that and advanced into the Class AA semifinals with a with a 56-44 victory.  A check of the final box score on this night shows that Proctor actually wound up with a 35-30 edge on the boards but, at the same time, were done in by 16 turnovers compared to the ten that Caledonia had.  Now, neither team shot the lights out by any stretch on this night but here's a stat that really stands out like a sore thumb.  Proctor was only 12-24 from the charity stripe for 50% on this night.  That's simply not going to get the job done in a relatively close game and let's leaving a LOT of points on the table.  Caledonia Head Coach Scott Sorenson was in agreement when I mentioned to him that his team's pressure defense really took Proctor out of any real comfort zone on this night.  "Yeah, absolutely.....We thought if we put pressure on them, we'd wear them out and their legs wouldn't be as good or we could pick up some big turnovers and go the other way with the fast break but we 'locked in' pretty good tonight."  Tornstrom's 25 points led all scorers on this night to pace the Caledonia attack while surprising eighth-grader Alexis Schroeder had 13 points and senior Heidi Bolduan tallied ten points.  Junior Morgan Nylund and freshman Payton Rodberg led the way for Proctor on this night with their 11 points and junior Sam Parendo had ten points. 

2019 Minnesota Girl's State Tournament - Class AAAA Quarterfinal Game Recap - Forest Lake vs Eastview 3-13-19

Eastview would bolt out to an early 5-0 lead on the strength of a three-point bomb by senior guard Macy Guebert but Forest Lake had the gap closed to one point at 5-4 by the 15:00 mark of the first half but the Lightning would recover and soon increase the lead to 10-4 by the 13:00 mark. Both teams would endure an extended scoring drought of nearly seven minutes before Eastview finally upped their lead to 12-4 at the 6:32 mark and it wasn’t until the 6:12 mark that Forest Lake finally got back on the board with two free throws by senior guard Lindsey Johnson. Fellow senior guard Abigail Groeneweg helped trim that deficit to four points with her two free throws with 4:20 left but Eastview was bailed out by another Guebert "3" shortly thereafter. The Lighning’s 2-1-2 zone defense kept Forest Lake bottled up for the most part and a late three-point bomb allowed Eastview to take a 24-13 lead with them into the locker room at the half. Eastview’s Guebert had a blazing first half with her ten point30,s to lead the Lightning thus far and Forest Lake relied on a balanced scoring attack; led by Groeneweg’s six points. Both teams had seven turnovers but Eastview had the edge on the boards by a 17-12 count.

Two quick scores by Forest Lake in the early moments of the second half allowed the Rangers to slide back into single-digit range and a Groeneweg layup at the 14:50 mark cut the deficit to seven points at 26-19. Eastview recovered, however, and got the lead back to double-digits at 33-21 by the 11:33 mark. Still, the Rangers were resourceful enough to slim things down back to single digits with 8:58 left and Eastview was far from out of the woods by this point. But when the Rangers needed that big "3" to crawl back to within striking distance, it just wasn’t there for them. And trying to crack that 2-1-2 zone of Eastview’s was an even tougher proposition in the paint with all the long and athletic bodies of the Lightning protecting the rim. With 5:13 left, Forest Lake’s Johnson took an awkward tumble and had to be helped back to the bench. Even so, the Rangers would make one last bid to get close again and a "3" by senior guard Maddy Rice from the right corner with 2:52 left had Forest Lake back within single digits at 42-34 but Eastview would close the door when they needed to and advanced to the semifinals with a hard-earned 48-38 victory.
　

The final box score shows that Eastview was led by Guebert’s 15 points while junior Brynn Schwanz was right behind with 14 points. Groeneweg led the way for Forest Lake with her 13 points while Rice had 11 points. Surprisingly, the Rangers had the edge on the boards on this night by a 31-28 count but wound up shooting only 14-46 from FG range for 30.4% and were only 2-17 from downtown for 11.8% and that Eastview defense played a big part in that.

　

2019 Minnesota Girl's State Tournament - Class AAAA Quarterfinal Game Recap - Shakopee vs Stillwater 3-13-19

Both teams would come up empty on their first few possessions but Stillwater finally drew first blood at the 15:51 mark on a "3" by junior forward Grace Cote and a steal and lay-up the other way by senior guard Sara Scalia at the 14:59 mark pushed that lead to 5-0. Shakopee would fall into a further hole when the Ponies exploded on another big run to take 12-2 run by the 13:46 mark and Shakopee Head Coach Juan Mitchell was forced to use a thirty-second timeout to try and get his squad regrouped. To their credit, the Sabers would soon get the deficit cut down to six points at 12-6 and Shakopee was still in that six-point range just before the 8:00 mark down 17-11. But Stillwater would soon get the lead to nine points at the 7:10 mark at 22-13 and the Sabers appeared to be in trouble again. Shakopee would battle right back, however, and have the lead reduced to four points at 22-18 with 6:34 left . Stillwater managed to step on the gas again and expand their lead to nine at 29-20 with 3:51 in the first half and a pretty reverse lay-up by sophomore sensation Alexis Pratt in the closing seconds allowed the Ponies to take a 37-25 lead into the locker room at the half. Both teams had balanced scoring attacks in the first half. The big surprise was Shakopee’s dominance on the boards by a 24-15 count but the Sabers also committed nine turnovers to Stillwater’s four.

A quick 6-0 burst out of the gate in the second half by Stillwater helped them get their lead to 46-25 by the 15:40 mark and a "3" by Scalia at the 14:51 mark upped that lead to 49-25. Defensive pressure was the key to the Ponies big burst in the first five minutes of this second half and although Shakopee was able to get within the twenty-point range briefly but back-to-back lay-ups in transition by the Ponies’ Pratt effectively put to bed any comeback attempts the Sabers may have had. Stillwater’s lead would grow to 67-38 with 5:20 left and the Ponies strolled into the semifinals with a resounding 73-48 victory.

Surprisingly, it would be Cote leading the way for Stillwater on this day with her 16 points but both Scalia and Pratt would tally 12 points and junior forward Liza Karlen pulled down 13 rebounds. Senior guard Jayley Coplin led Shakopee on this day with her 11 points and sophomore guard Natalie Holt had ten points. Stillwater managed to close the gap on rebounds a bit in the second half but Shakopee wound up holding a 39-36 margin on that front. The big downer for Shakopee on this day was the 19 turnovers they suffered on this day because of Stillwater’s pressure defense.

2019 Minnesota Girl's State Tournament - Class AAAA Quarterfinal Game Recap - Maple Grove vs Centennial 3-13-19

Centennial would get the upper hand early on in this contest grabbing a 6-2 lead by the 15:35 mark and that lead would increase to 9-2 on a three-point bomb by Sarah Lavell but the Crimson would go on a 9-0 burst to take an 11-9 lead and the duo of freshman guard Ari Gordon, sophomore forward Jordyn would help Maple Grove get a 16-11 lead. Centennial would get the game tied up at 16 at the 10:30 mark but then some timely three-point shooting by the Crimson got them another five-point lead at 24-19 with 7:11 left in the first half. But a resourceful Centennial team would come right back and get this game tied again at 24 when sophomore forward Jodi Anderson nailed a "3" from the top of the key and a short shot by senior guard Taylor McAulay with 4:50 left allowed the Cougars to poke their nose out in front again at 26-24. Fittingly, this one would be nip and tuck down the stretch of this first half between these two Northwest Suburban Conference powers now squaring off on the Big Stage; trading jab for jab and blow for blow. The first half ended with Centennial clinging to a four point edge at 38-34 but you could tell that neither team was willing to give an inch. Lavell led the way for Centennial in the first half with her 14 points and Anderson had ten. Gordon led the Maple Grove attack with nine points and both sophomore Kylie Baranick and fellow sophomore Jordyn Lamker had eight points a piece. Rebounds were nearly even with Maple Grove holding a 13-12 edge and both teams had eight turnovers in the first half.

Centennial got a big boost in the early moments of the second half getting a 45-39 lead by the 15:40 mark but Maple Grove would soon get the deficit down to four and then the Cougars’ Stapleton would get tagged with her third foul and Centennial Head Coach Jill Becken had no choice but to sit her primary post player. By the 12:42 mark, Maple Grove had closed the gap to two points at 46-44. The game would be tied at 52 at the 10:00 mark and although Centennial got a bit of separation with a 59-53 lead on a short shot by McAulay and led 61-55 by the 5:15 mark, the Crimson had a devilish time trying to penetrate Centennial’s 2-3 zone defense and with 2:30 left, Centennial held a 65-57 lead. Maple Grove would get that deficit whittled down to five points with exactly 2:00 left on two Gordon free throws but could never get closer. The Cougars would hit insurance free throws down the stretch to defeat their conference rival by a final score of 74-64.

Centennial wound up with four players in double figures scoring-wise on this day; led by McAulay's 22 points while Lavell was right behind with 19 points and she hit some big "3's" on this day as well. Anderson had a solid day with 13 points and senior Sara Stapleton finished with 11 points. Maple Grove was led by junior Abby Schulte's 17 points while Lamker had 15 points and the surprising Gordon had 14 points. Centennial used their big bodies to control the boards on this day by a 29-25 count and for Maple Grove which needed a big day from downtown, they didn't get it on this day as they were only 6-23 from behind the arc for 26.1%.

　

2019 Minnesota Girl's State Tournament - Class AAAA Quarterfinal Game Recap - Lakeville North vs Hopkins 3-13-19

Lakeville North would stay close with Hopkins in the first five minutes of the first half down only 6-4 and a "3" by junior guard Laura Jensen at the 13:11 mark pushed the Panthers ahead 7-6. But Hopkins quickly regained control thanks to junior phenom Paige Bueckers and managed to get a double-digit lead down the stretch of the first half and held a 33-20 lead at the half. Not surprisingly, Bueckers led the way for Hopkins in the first half with her 13 points and senior guard Dlayla Chakolis had a solid first half with her ten points. Senior guard Analiese Tschida paced Lakeville North in the first half with seven points. What WAS surprising was that both the Panthers and the Royals had nine turnovers a piece although Hopkins did have a decided edge on the boards in the first half by an 18-9 count.
　

Hopkins wasted little time in the second half; quickly putting this one out of reach with a 12-3 run over the first three minutes to establish a 45-23 lead. Lakeville North would manage to trim the deficit down to seventeen points at 50-33 at the 9:54 mark but the Royals would manage to re-establish their safety net to twenty-plus with 7:00 left up 59-35 and although Lakeville North would fight valiantly, it was simply too much Bueckers down the stretch. Up 65-40 with just under five minutes left, the Royals would put things in cruise control the rest of the way and coast to a 68-46 victory.