BRAINERD 59, BUFFALO 56 OT

Visiting Brainerd outlasted Buffalo in a section 8AAAA rivalry game

Thursday at Buffalo. The victory gives Brainerd a marker in the seeding discussions late February. Brainerd managed to take the victory despite being out shot by the Bison in all three measurements: 45%-37% in 2s, 42%-34% in 3s and 73%-52% in free throws. Both teams made 11 free throws. Brainerd had 21 chances at the line to Buffalo’s 15. Brainerd did make more 3s than Buffalo; they just took more shots to get their totals. The key stat in this game turned out to be turnovers. The Warriors had a +12 differential, which led to ten more shots. Another key factor was the balanced scoring effort with three players reaching double figures for Brainerd and five players with six  or more points. Buffalo only had one double digit scorer with junior Jordan Zrust scoring a game high 27 points. Only two other players were able to score over six.

Neither team was singeing the nets in the first half. The host Bison held a 19-17 after 18 minutes of action. Brainerd scored the first five points in the second half, which forced Buffalo to play catch up. The Brainerd full court press did its job by making Buffalo think about each pass. There would end up to be twelve lead changes in the second half. With 1:45 left it appeared Brainerd’s Lillee Hardee hit a 3 from the right corner, one of eight on the night for the Warriors. On the ensuing Buffalo possession, which took a minute off the clock, there was a missed shot. The ball deflected out of bounds with Brainerd in possession. With 23.2 seconds left Lexi Roby added an insurance free throw for a 51-48 lead. Buffalo called time with 16.5 seconds left. Zrust nailed a deep three (maybe a four) for the tie. A lay up went astray for Brainerd and an extra four minutes were added to the clock. Cara Helgeson made a free throw on Brainerd’s second chance in the overtime. A Bison turnover with a steal by Regan McElfresh led eventually to a shot from the left block by Hardee for a three point lead. McElfresh tacked on another free throw with 49.7 seconds left for a 55-51 lead. Sarah Hudson scored her only points of the game for Buffalo on a three from the left corner and it looked like the drama would continue. Roby made her first free throw with 31 seconds left. Buffalo missed a chance to take a lead with a missed three. Roby converted both free throws in her next opportunity pushing the margin to four (58-54). Another missed Buffalo three led to another Roby free throw and the Bison finished with a lay up against no defenders for the final margin.

Some may wonder….Why this game? I need to see 64 AAAA teams and at this point I have charted 30 of the teams (46.9%) with 34 left on the menu. I figured getting to Buffalo was a faster choice than getting to Brainerd. I have a good start with Section 8AAAA  with only two more to go—-Elk River and St. Cloud Tech.

Team	PP100	scorer	Distributor	D stops
Brainerd	89.4	Regan McElfresh 21	Cara Helgeson 3	Cara Helgeson 11
Buffalo	82.4	Jordan Zrust 27	Jordan Zrust 6	Megan Lowell 11

TRENCH: Regan McElfresh, the senior guard ended up with 21 points with five 3s on the night.