The first game on Friday featured the first Class A semifinal pitting Bethlehem Academy located in Faribault against Minneota located in southwest Minnesota. These Class A games would be something of a new experience for me as I have had little exposure to the smaller schools in recent years and this game was no exception. So, bear with me!
On paper, this game appeared to be a match-up of experience with Bethlehem Academy's senior-laden team against youth as the Minneota team is peppered with sophomores and juniors. Early on, it appeared as though the young ones had the edge as the Minneota Vikings built a 14-9 lead with 7:04 left in the first half. The Cardinals of Bethlehem Academy initially had some trouble getting the ball inside into their big post player senior Taylor Schwab. The Vikings would hold that edge as lanky junior forward Molly Hennen drained a "3" from the left corner with 3:04 left for a 17-11 Minneota lead. But sometimes experience does pay off as the Cardinals, despite struggling some on their offensive sets late, managed to whittle the deficit down to a single point at 19-18 with the finishing touch being applied by senior Megan Hoisington as she nailed a "3" from the left wing just before the halftime buzzer that had to have former Carleton and current Bethlehem Academy Head Coach Tammy Filzen proud of her team going into the locker room. Not surprisingly, the Cardinals had incredibly balanced scoring with Schwab's four points leading the way. Minneota was led by sophomore Taylor Reiss' 7 points.
Bethlehem Academy came out fired up as the second half got underway and quickly went on a 6-0 run by the 16:27 mark that had the Cardinals up 24-19 before a lay-up in transition by Reiss helped get the Vikings untracked. Minneota regained the lead at 27-24 as this young bunch showed that they were up for the challenge. By the 7:50 mark, the Vikings upped that lead to a touchdown margin at 35-28 and Filzen knew she had to get her team regrouped for the home stretch. By the 5:00 mark, a "3" by Cardinal senior Jessie Matthews had once again trimmed the deficit down to a scant point at 36-35 and there was a mountain of time left to complete the comeback here. But just when it looked like this young Minneota team might be on the verge of breaking at the crucial moment, they responded on a big way as a quick 6-0 burst by the Vikings had them up 42-35 with 2:56 left and Bethlehem Academy knew they were running out of lifelines in this one. Minneota Head Coach Chad Johnson go into a stall offense to eat up as much clock as possible. It appeared to have things wrapped up for good but a late "3" by Cardinal senior Taryn Ashley cut Minneota's lead to 45-43 with :16 left and on the ensuing Minneota possession Bethlehem Academy forced a turnover that got the Cardinals the ball and a chance to tie or win. Ashley was fouled and sent to the line to shoot two and, although she got the front end, the back end freebie was not as cooperative as it rolled off the rim and into Reiss' waiting arms. She was quickly fouled and sent to the line where she put down two free throws to make the score 47-44. A desperation heave by the Cardinals went awry and this young bunch from Minneota had pulled off an improbable upset that propels them into Saturday afternoon's Class A Championship Game. Reiss led the way for Minneota in this one tallying 22 points and 8 rebounds while Molly Hennen snared 11 total rebounds; huge for this Viking team in its win. Matthews' 16 points led the Bethlehem Academy attack.
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