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.