2019 Minnesota Girl's State Tournament - Class AAAA Quarterfinal Game Recap - Shakopee vs Stillwater 3-13-19

Both teams would come up empty on their first few possessions but Stillwater finally drew first blood at the 15:51 mark on a "3" by junior forward Grace Cote and a steal and lay-up the other way by senior guard Sara Scalia at the 14:59 mark pushed that lead to 5-0. Shakopee would fall into a further hole when the Ponies exploded on another big run to take 12-2 run by the 13:46 mark and Shakopee Head Coach Juan Mitchell was forced to use a thirty-second timeout to try and get his squad regrouped. To their credit, the Sabers would soon get the deficit cut down to six points at 12-6 and Shakopee was still in that six-point range just before the 8:00 mark down 17-11. But Stillwater would soon get the lead to nine points at the 7:10 mark at 22-13 and the Sabers appeared to be in trouble again. Shakopee would battle right back, however, and have the lead reduced to four points at 22-18 with 6:34 left . Stillwater managed to step on the gas again and expand their lead to nine at 29-20 with 3:51 in the first half and a pretty reverse lay-up by sophomore sensation Alexis Pratt in the closing seconds allowed the Ponies to take a 37-25 lead into the locker room at the half. Both teams had balanced scoring attacks in the first half. The big surprise was Shakopee’s dominance on the boards by a 24-15 count but the Sabers also committed nine turnovers to Stillwater’s four.

A quick 6-0 burst out of the gate in the second half by Stillwater helped them get their lead to 46-25 by the 15:40 mark and a "3" by Scalia at the 14:51 mark upped that lead to 49-25. Defensive pressure was the key to the Ponies big burst in the first five minutes of this second half and although Shakopee was able to get within the twenty-point range briefly but back-to-back lay-ups in transition by the Ponies’ Pratt effectively put to bed any comeback attempts the Sabers may have had. Stillwater’s lead would grow to 67-38 with 5:20 left and the Ponies strolled into the semifinals with a resounding 73-48 victory.

Surprisingly, it would be Cote leading the way for Stillwater on this day with her 16 points but both Scalia and Pratt would tally 12 points and junior forward Liza Karlen pulled down 13 rebounds. Senior guard Jayley Coplin led Shakopee on this day with her 11 points and sophomore guard Natalie Holt had ten points. Stillwater managed to close the gap on rebounds a bit in the second half but Shakopee wound up holding a 39-36 margin on that front. The big downer for Shakopee on this day was the 19 turnovers they suffered on this day because of Stillwater’s pressure defense.