After a scintillating Class AA final to wrap up the afternoon, anything after that would be anti-climactic but the Class AAA title game would get this Saturday night going. This one featured defending state champion DeLaSalle against Red Wing. The purple-clad Wingers broke through into the title game by virtue of their exciting win over favored Richfield while DeLaSalle's entry into the final game of the season was a given by many. Now the question would be, would Red Wing have enough to take down the heavily-favored Islanders?
The first three minutes of this one suggested an emphatic "No" as DeLaSalle raced to a 6-0 lead by the 14:46 mark. The Islanders were up as much as 10-0 before Red Wing finally found itself and made a sudden flurry to make it 10-5 by the 11:51 mark and two Tesha Buck pull-up jumper in transition pulled the Wingers to within four at 13-9 (yes, the same score UCLA beat USC by back in '06 :) ) with 10:21 mark. But just when it looked like Red Wing was ready to play spoiler in this one, the Islanders responded with an 8-2 run over the next four minutes that had DeLaSalle up by ten at 21-11 with 6:18 left and a lot of the damage was done by senior standout Tyseanna Johnson who has an incredible knack for snaring offensive rebounds for putbacks - and drawing the foul in the process as well. DeLaSalle looked as if they were on their way again but right back came Red Wing as they drew to within three at 28-26 when McKenzie Muelken made good on a drive and finish that drew a foul and sent her to the charity stripe to sink the obligatory free throw with 1:04 left. Two more freebies by McKenna Schaffer tied it up soon thereafter but a late DeLaSalle basket allowed the Islanders to limp into the locker room with a (now) slim 30-28 lead at the halftime break. Johnson led the way for the Islanders with 11 points while Tesha Buck led Red Wing with 10 points and both McKenzie Muelken and Kelly Macy each had 7 points. As expected, DeLaSalle did have the edge in rebounding in the first half by a 23-17 margin.
The Wingers would stay close with DeLaSalle in the early going of the second half but a surge by the Islanders got them out to a 38-32 lead with 12:53 left. At that point, the Islanders were in position to break things open again but right back came Red Wing to close the gap and, to make matters even worse for DeLaSalle, Allina Starr picked up foul #4 at the 11:01 mark that had to have even the most faithful Islander fan worried. With 7:00 left, DeLaSalle had once again righted the ship and embarked on another run that had them up 49-40 with just under 7:00 left; punctuated by a steal by Tyseanna Johnson on Tesha Buck that resulted in an easy Johnson lay-up. At this point, you had to wonder if Red Wing had one more run in them; one more push that could get them to within striking distance again. But the Islanders simply were not to be denied on this Saturday night as they carefully and craftily took time off the clock; being incredibly patient and then, waiting for the right moment, found either Starr or Johnson for a shot down low that got both of them to the charity stripe numerous times coming down the home stretch. Johnson was simply a monster on the boards in the second half and with 3:00 left, DeLaSalle was riding comfortably on a 57-42 margin with no looking back. With :52 left, Red Wing Head Coach Dave Muelken took his star senior, Tesha Buck, out of the game to a standing ovation from the Red Wing contingent and DeLaSalle Head Coach Faith Johnson Patterson soon began doing the same. DeLaSalle scored a convincing 65-50 win and with it captured the Class AAA crown for the third time in a row which tells you a little something about the dynasty Faith Johnson Patterson has built at DeLaSalle and what a great coach she truly is.
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