The early afternoon game at Williams Arena on this day featured another intriguing match-up pitting Eden Prairie; the champ out of Section 2AAAA and the seventh seed in this tournament going up against second-seeded and highly-regarded Farmington; the champ out of Section 1AAAA with a sparkling 27-2 record. I had seen Eden Prairie play once during the regular season but this would be my first and highly-anticipated look at the Tigers.
Farmington junior guard Maleah Scott would give her team a 3-2 lead at the 16:27 mark with her three-point bomb from the left wing area but Eden Prairie would come right back and establish a 7-5 lead by the 15:20 mark as it was obvious that both teams were pumped and ready to play. Eagle junior guard Destinee Bursch would expand her team's lead to 9-5 at the 15:00 mark with her jumper from the left wing area but Farmington would soon close to a single possession thanks to a three-point bomb by senior guard Katelyn Mohr at the 13:20 mark down 11-10. Sophomore guard Rose Willie's two free throws at the 11:33 mark kept the Tigers in that one point range down 13-12 and by the 10:58 mark, Farmington had assumed a 15-12 advantage. The Eagles would keep their cool, however, and a pretty drive and finish by Nneka Obiazor at the 9:43 mark helped push Eden Prairie back into the lead at 17-15. Right back would come Farmington, though, and a three-point bomb from the top of the key by junior guard Payton Blandin with 8:52 left pushed the Tigers back out in fron 18-17. This back-and-forth battle would continue with Eden Prairie establishing a 21-18 lead with 7:00 left. But a 7-0 burst by the Tigers had them out in front 25-21 and a Mohr "3" with 5:13 left grew that lead to a touchdown at 28-21 and a concerned Eden Prairie Head Coach Ellen Wiese thought it best to call for a halt to the action to make some quick adjustments. With 3:45 left, Mohr would again deliver a three-point dagger to make it 31-23 before Eden Prairie's Bursch could counter with a "3" of her own with 2:45 left. The Eagles would get another lift as well when freshman guard Molly Lenz drained a "3" with 1:45 left that suddenly reduced the deficit to four at 33-29. Sophomore guard Myra Moorjani would draw the Eagles back to within a single possession with her two free throws with 1:29 left and although Farmington recovered just enough to grow their lead to five at 36-31 by the halftime break, it was a far better sight than what the Eagles were facing earlier. A quick check of the halftime stats showed that Farmington did enjoy a 17-12 advantage on the boards but they also had more turnovers than Eden Prairie did at 7-4. Plus, Farmington Head Coach Liz Carpentier and her squad likely had to feel a little letdown after being on the cusp of getting a sizable lead and having it shrink right before their very eyes.
Eden Praire managed to stay in that five-point range down 38-33 at the 15:30 mark of the second half and the Eagles managed to shrink the deficit to three points at the 13:34 mark on two Obiazor free throws. The fact that scoring was suddenly coming at something at a premium for Farmington in the opening part of the second half left the door open for the Eagles and when Bursch nailed a "3" for Eden Prairie at the 12:03 mark, that deficit was finally reduced to just a scant point 41-40. That got the Tigers attention real quick as they went on a 5-0 burst to establish some more breathing room up 46-40 but getting this Eden Prairie team to simply go away was becoming more and more of a difficult proposition. With 6:25 left, Eagle senior forward Natalie Mazurek scored down low and drew a foul in the process and her ensuing "and one" had the deficit down to five at 50-45. With 4:25 left, an offensive rebound and putback by Mazurek finally got Eden Prairie back to within a single possession down 50-47 and, with a mountain of time left in this one, bringing this one back didn't seem like an outlandish idea at all. With 2:55 left, Bursch would drain a "3" from the right corner that had the deficit down to two at 52-50. But the Eagles' hopes took a hit with 2:00 left when Farmington got into the double-bonus and with a 55-50 lead in the Tigers pocket, Farmington definitely looked to be in good shape to close this one out from the charity stripe. Still, Eden Prairie refused to go away. With 1:03 left, Bursch made a nifty steal in the backcourt and got a lay-up out of it that drew a foul in the process and although she couldn't cash in on the "and one", the deficit was now down to a scant point at 55-54. But the Eagles would commit a costly turnover with just :41.1 left and with :37.6 left, a flagrant foul was assessed to Eden Prairie much to the chagrin of Wiese who argued vigorously. Farmington junior guard Paige Kindseth got one free throw out of the deal to go down to make it 56-54 but even with possession of the ball, the Tigers were far from out of the woods just yet. With :27 left, Obiazor got a steal and was going in for a lay-up but the attempt rolled off. With :22 left, Farmington junior post Sophie Hart would get fouled and she at least got the back end of the two-shot deal to go down to make it 57-54. Now Eden Prairie was down to pretty much their last best shot but that little opening soon died when the Eagles committed a costly turnover. With :08.4 left, Farmington's Blandin would get one free throw attempt to go down as the Tigers escaped with a 58-54 victory.
Eden Prairie's Wiese lamented afterward that her team "just wasn't quite consistent enough down the stretch when it needed to be". She also was disappointed with the questionable flagrant foul that was called on her team in those frantic final two minutes and knew full and well that her team had opportunities and just couldn't cash in. But she did respond positively when I asked her about how she's helped lay the groundwork at Eden Prairie for not only this week but for the years to come as well and even she wasn't sure if she'd be at the state tournament with one of her teams in only her third season. Farmington's Carpentier would remark afterward about how proud she was of her team's defensive effort and how it was a unique match-up for her team considering Eden Prairie's size. While much of the talk during the Farmington portion of the press conference centered around those last two minutes, I asked Carpentier if that narrow victory over Rochester Mayo in the Class 1AAAA Championship Game prepared her team for this kind of atmosphere. "Absolutely" she said. She mentioned that the crowd and noise didn't faze her team that much and that they talked about how that section championship was really like their first state tournament game. Farmington was led by Blandin's 18 points while Eden Prairie's Bursch led her team with 19 points in the losing effort.
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