FOUR CHAMPIONSHIPS

The 2017-18 season is in the books. The themes of the day included redemption, revenge, rallies, unbeaten seasons, and sisterhood. It also went down in history as the only time since the state tournament has been seeded that all four winners were #1 seeds.

LYLE-PACELLI 57, SLEEPY EYE 33

Redemption. LP was undefeated in Minnesota as they kept upset minded and unseeded Sleepy Eye at bay. It is hard to crack the LP defense. With 6-5 Kristi Fett in the middle teams just don’t know how to attack the paint successfully. SE shot 20% inside and their better defenders against Fett picked up fouls forcing them to the sidelines. For the Indians to have a chance they needed to deliver from long distance. And they needed to score frequently from there to offset the lack of production inside. As it was LP limited SE to only twelve attempts with four conversions. The first nine minutes were fairly competitive, but by half LP led by nine (31-22). It would take only three more points for LP to secure the win. Five minutes into the second half LP, squeezing as much out of Fett inside as they could, led by 21 (45-24).

SAUK CENTRE 63, ROSEAU 52

The Mainstreeters capped off an unblemished season by knocking off the defending state AA champs in a rematch of last year’s title game. This was the third time these two rivals faced each other in the last twelve months. SC topped the Rams in the Perham tournament in December. These two teams had book on each other.

Sisterhood was an important feature of this contest. On the SC side there is Kelsey and Tori Peschel, on the Roseau side Kacie and Katie Borowicz. SC was paving their way to their first title with a combination of crashing the boards hard, scoring inside and containing the Borowicz sisters. In the semis Friday night, the two combined for 60 points. Today the two were less than half of that with 25 points. Also, those two sisters got in foul trouble. The Streeters took their lead for good at the 13:27 mark of the first half and they slowly kept adding points to their totals. The SC Peschel sisters, who combined for 36 points, helped push the lead to a dozen by half (33-21). By the twelve-minute mark in the second half the lead ballooned to 21 on a three by Kelsey Peschel. But defending champs don’t usually concede and the Rams started believing they could come back. Emma Waling off the bench provided a spark with a trio of 3s. In the couse of seven minutes Roseau was Ram Tough and whittled away at a 19 point lead to only one possession (55-52). It was a 17-4 outburst and the maroon and white were wondering if St. Patrick’s Day would tilt the game to the Roseau green. The game was still in the balance, but Katie Borowicz picked up her fifth foul at 1:15. Tori Peschel made both for a two-possession game. Sister Kacie exited 24 seconds later, and Roseau did not score again.

COOPER 49, NORTHFIELD 37

The Hawks, in their first state tournament, made it memorable going home with a state title. The Hawks are built to run and cause havoc. They pressurized Northfield into 19 turnovers and caused some rushed shots in the process. Grace Touchette was the only Raider to consistently score. She supplied 65% of the Northfield points. After Annika Hoff’s seven no one else could muster more than two. Cooper in their frenetic lightning bug speed, would create the turnovers and in a flash would be at the rim. Yet they did not capitalize on their advantages. Cooper did take 15 more shots from the floor thanks to being relentless on the offensive glass collecting 16 for the game.

Overall this was a ragged affair, which worked in Cooper’s favor. Cooper opened with the first eight points setting the tone for the night. Northfield responded with a nine point run of their own to take their only lead (9-8) at the 10:25 mark. The Raiders stayed stuck on nine for the next five minutes. The Hawks added six to their totals in the same time. Northfield had one last surge at the end of the half to cut the deficit to two (20-18). The key moment when Cooper created separation came after Northfield trailed 26-25. Cooper had an outburst of nine unanswered points getting to a double digit lead at 35-25 with nine to go. Andrea Tribble, who came off the bench, knocked down a three and tacked on two free throws to close the run. But the Raider drought continued. With three points in seven minutes the offense was on life support. Northfield could not take advantage of their height.

Coach Kiara Buford is familiar with the gold medal ceremony. She won two state titles with St. Paul Central as a player, the last coming ten years ago. Buford is the second player in Minnesota history that won a title as a coach and as a player.

This is Northfield’s second runner up trophy. Their first came in 1979 when they lost to St. Paul Central.

EASTVIEW 68, HOPKINS 63

Two heavyweight contenders fighting for the crown. This clearly was the epic match up of the day with drama all around. This will go down as another classic title game. These two teams know each other well. They met last year in the semis, which Hopkins prevailed 64-59. They generally meet once during the regular season, with St. Olaf the host during the Holiday Tournament season. With the bright lights players stepped up. Chief among them Paige Bueckers, the sophomore phenom for the Royals who ended up with 37 points on the night and made the highly exclusive 51 Club. I am sure she would trade that for a state title. In this regards Bueckers mirrored the efforts of Touchette and Northfield. Bueckers scored 59% of the Royal points. Only three other Royals scored. Six Lightning players contributed with the window from six to 20. This is the third straight year Hopkins came up short in the title game.

Hopkins controlled the tip and scored on their first four possessions. Bueckers was sensational early on with seven of the first nine Royal points. She was at 23 at half, which many players would consider a good night. It appeared we may have been heading for a blow out with Hopkins stretching their margin to 13 at the 10:27 mark of the first half (25-12). As late as 2:44 Hopkins led by nine (33-24). Eastview started their comeback at this point closing out the half with the last six points and the game was now one possession different (33-30). As a result, the game ebbed and flowed between the two. One advantage Eastview had was Cassidy Carson and her defensive efforts. Prior to her entering the game Megan Walstad was guarding Bueckers. With Carson on Bueckers it freed up Walstad to a more traditional opponent. Not only did Carson contribute on defense, but she made her presence felt on offense. It was Carson’s lay up at the 7:15 mark that put the Lightning up for good. Of course no one knew that at the time. The game was never safely  in the bank until four seconds were left. A couple of times Eastview would stretch out their margin to six, the last coming with 1: 48 left. Teams fighting for titles leave it all out there. Hopkins increased the defensive intensity and were rewarded with two straight turnovers including what many consider a fast 10 second count violation. Dlayla Chakolis scored off a put back to cut the Royals deficit to one (64-63) with 32.5 seconds left. The officials had to go back to the tape to verify when the time out was actually called. The Eastview fans were holding their breath. Macy Guebert provided a cushion for the Lightning with two free throws. Hopkins had one chance to tie but a three attempt from the left side bounced high and caromed out. With four seconds left a last foul was made and Emma Carpenter ended the night with a pair of free throws.

Category	Lyle-Pacelli	Sleepy Eye	Sauk Centre	Roseau
Points	57	33	63	52
Rebounds	35	23	45	34
Turnovers	20	19	15	13
2FG%	54.3	20.0	44.8	29.7
3FG%	25.0	33.3	25.9	36.8
FT%	66.7	63.4	76.2	64.3
Paint	34	6	20	14
Bench	0	6	5	13
Fast break	2	0	2	2
2nd chance	11	4	9	5

 

Category	Cooper	Northfield	Eastview	Hopkins
Points	49	37	68	63
Rebounds	39	39	32	22
Turnovers	9	20	15	9
2FG%	40.0	29.4	63.0	46.2
3FG%	28.0	33.3	28.6	33.3
FT%	75.0	47.1	81.5	80.0
Paint	28	16	32	26
Bench	10	2	11	0
Fast break	4	0	0	4
2nd chance	8	6	11	8

 

Team	PP100	scorer	Distributor	D stops
Lyle-Paceli	95.0	Kristi Fett 30	Brooke Walter 11	Kristi Fett 11
Sleepy Eye	54.1	Madi Heiderscheidt 8	Madi Heiderscheidt 3	Two with 7
Sauk Centre	94.0	Two with 18	Maesyn Thiesen 9	Tori Peschel 15
Roseau	77.6	Kacie Borowicz 15	Katie Borowicz 8	Kacie Borowicz 13
Cooper	80.3	Aja Wheeler 15	Two with 4	Aja Wheeler 13
Northfield	61.7	Grace Touchette 24	Annika Hoff 4	Annika Hoff 13
Eastview	111.5	Megan Walstad 20	Two with 6	Two with 6
Hopkins	103.3	Paige Bueckers 37	Paige Bueckers 8	Paige Bueckers 7

TRENCH PLAYER

I debated, tossed & turned and eventually came up with this list. State titles carry a price. The ease, or difficulty is factored in.

GAME 1: Kristi Fett, Lyle-Pacelli

GAME 2: Maesyn Thiesen, Sauk Centre

GAME 3: Aja Wheeler, Cooper

GAME 4: Megan Walstad, Eastview

TRENCH PLAYER OF THE DAY: Megan Walstad, Eastview