The second half of the Friday afternoon matinee over at Williams Arena featured a match-up between another team that wears LA Ram Royal Blue, Gold and White - Mankato Loyola and Win-E-Mac out of Erskine. The Crusaders were the Section 2A champs and came here with a 27-2 record while the Patriots of Win-E-Mac were the Section 8A champs and had an almost identical record of 28-2. This one would be a tough one to call and the game before was a tough act to follow for sure.
Win-E-Mac would take a 4-2 lead at the 15:43 mark on a drive and finish off the glass by sophomore guard Madison McKeever and the Patriots would extend their lead to 9-6 on a jumper by senior guard Korbyn Ross from the right wing at the 13:58 mark. The Crusaders would battle back and eventually knot the issue at 11-all by the 12:16 mark and freshman guard Lindsey Theuninck's free throw would have Mankato Loyola out in front 12-11. A "3" from the left top area at the 11:31 mark by junior guard Megan Schroeder put the Crusaders out in front 15-13 so it looked as if we were in for another potential entertaining game.
Schroeder, however, had also picked up her second foul before the midway point and Mankato Loyola Head Coach wasn't going to take any chances and had her sit a spell to save her for the second half. Two lay-ups by Win-E-Mac's freshman forward Alayna Espeseth had the Patriots back out in front 17-15 with 7:58 left and a one-handed driving jumper by McKeever with 6:53 left extended the Patriot advantage to 19-16 but the Crusaders would climb right back and grab a 20-19 lead with 4:53 left on a lay-up in transition by Schroeder in what was proving to be a very fast-paced game by both squads. This see-saw affair would turn again as the Patriots staged a 7-2 run over the next two minutes to grab a 26-22 advantage highlighted by a lay-up by senior forward Shelby Kaster's lay-up with 2:28 left. Win-E-Mac would extend its lead to 28-22 at the half as Mankato Loyola went cold down the stretch of the first half. McKeever would pace Win-E-Mac in the first half with her 15 points while Schroeder's 16 points led the way for Mankato Loyola. The Crusaders did own a slight advantage on the glass at 25-22 but they also committed 11 turnovers to Win-E-Mac's five so it was arguably a glass half-full proposition for Mankato Loyola at the break.
The Crusaders started making inroads on the little cushion Win-E-Mac had established by the halftime break when Mankato Loyola's Theuninck suddenly got a hot hand. First, she connected with lay-up in transition at the 15:27 mark and then uncorked a "3" from the left top area at the 14:53 mark that whittled the Patriot lead down to 30-28. But Win-E-Mac had no intentions of letting their opponent get comfortable and proceeded to go on a 7-2 burst over the next two minutes highlighted by a steal and lay-up the other way by Ross at the 13:11 mark that had the Patriots up 37-30 and Win-E-Mac appeared to be gaining more and more control in this one by the midway point.
The Patriots maintained that 6-7 point cushion over the next four minutes and Mankato Loyola had trouble sustaining any real offensive push that might have drawn the Crusaders closer. Schroeder was back in the game for Mankato Loyola but she too, struggled to find her touch from the perimeter and the charity stripe as well. Complicating Mankato Loyola's problems was that the Patriots got into the bonus with under seven minutes left and then the Crusader's Theuninck fouled out with five minutes left; robbing Mankato Loyola of a potent scorer. With 4:35 left, Win-E-Mac was finally able to establish a double-digit advantage at 52-42 and Theuninck's father Rick; the Crusader Head Coach, had no other choice but to burn a timeout to try and save the sagging Mankato Loyola fortunes. The Crusaders were able to slice the Win-E-Mac lead down to seven at 52-45 with 3:33 left. A little more than a minute later the Crusaders were given new life when Schroeder snared a steal and got an easy lay-up out of it and got fouled in the process. Her ensuing freebie now had Mankato Loyola within a single possession trailing 54-51. Win-E-Mac would get the lead back up to 57-51 with 1:20 left but a "3" from the right corner by Mankato Loyola's senior reserve guard Jordyn Strachan with 1:08 left got the Crusaders within a single possession again trailing 57-54. Win-E-Mac's McKeever appeared to have sealed the deal for the Patriots with two pairs of charity stripe shots that had the Patriots back up by seven at 61-54 with :50.6 left but the Crusader's Strachan made lightning strike twice when she nailed another "3" from the left wing with :26 left that drew Mankato Loyola to within four trailing 61-57. The Crusaders promptly fouled Win-E-Mac's junior reserve guard Kara Stonstelie but she missed both free throws and this gave the Crusaders a chance to get it down to a single possession again. Freshman RaeAnn Dose was the unlikely choice to try and make things tight but her score in the paint with just :18 left had the Crusaders within two trailing 61-59. Mankato Loyola promptly fouled McKeever which, at first glance may have been a bad thing but McKeever was only able to make the back end of her two charity stripe attempts and, trailing 62-59 the Crusaders had their chance. They got the ball to Strachan in the right corner behind the arc and she tried uncorking one with :05 left but this shot was not true. The long rebound went to Mankato Loyola, however, but instead of kicking the ball back out for another attempt they got it into the hands of Schroeder who was able to get in the paint for an easy two points but that would not be enough. Personally, I thought they would have tried kicking it back out for an all-or-nothing last-ditch three-point attempt but it was not to be as Win-E-Mac escaped with a 62-61 victory to move into Saturday's championship game.
Afterward, a very happy Win-E-Mac Head Coach Ian Hanson admitted that "We knew they (Mankato Loyola) were a quick team and it would be an up-and-down battle." When things got tight at the end, Hanson said that "We knew they were going to come with pressure but we told the kids not to panic." WRT Saturday's championship game against Minneota, Hanson admitted that "It will take a team effort to beat them tomorrow." Hanson also said that his squad "had a chip on its shoulder about coming into the state tournament unseeded". McKeever's 32 points led all scorers in this game and Mankato Loyola's Schroeder led her team with 21 points.
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