Playing its fifth game in seven days, the Mankato Loyola girls basketball team kept enough gas in the tank to upend Granada-Huntley/East Chain/Martin Luther/Truman 57-53 in a Valley Conference game Tuesday night at the Fitzgerald gym.
Loyola, which trailed for a majority of the highly competitive contest, watched as the Jaguars (6-7 overall, 5-3 in the Valley) took a 48-43 lead on Harley Geistfeld’s 8-foot runner with just over seven minutes remaining. However, senior guard Gabby Bemmels’ right baseline 3-pointer along with a coast-to-coast drive by senior wing Sammy Kann and a fastbreak hoop by eighth-grade guard Isabel Endres pulled the Crusaders even at 51 with 2:56 to go.
“We’ve played a lot of games lately but we really refocused after our game last night,” Bemmels, who tallied nine points, said. “We made a big effort to go out and play for each other because we kind of felt a stale energy. We played with a lot of energy and I think that pushed us through this game. We stuck with our game plan and executed by playing good pressure defense.”
After converting two foul shots to give the Jaguars a 53-51 advantage, senior guard Rachel Ammann came up with her lone basket of the game — a left-side 3-pointer — with 1:07 remaining to begin a string of six straight points. Kann, who led the Crusaders (6-7, 3-4) with 16 points and 12 rebounds, then drained a trio of free throws over the final 13 seconds to put things away.
“We deserved that last shot by me because of our patience and good passing,” Ammann said. “It wasn’t just me making it, but it was my teammates who got me the ball in a position to score. In that moment that was what we needed and thankfully it went in. There was plenty of energy in the house tonight. Our goal was to support each other no matter how the game played out. … We had a lot of positive touches and we showed we deserved to be here.”
Loyola fell behind 13-5 in the early stages before Endres’ length-of-the-court drive sparked a 20-10 surge which produced a 25-23 Crusader lead on four straight free throws from freshman Ava Evenson. Endres, Evenson and senior wing Maddie Huiraz each scored six points as Loyola trailed 28-27 at the break. Junior guard Keira Benck put through 10 of her team-best 15 points for the Jaguars.
“We had a team meeting before this about having positive aspirations and keeping our energy alive during the game,” Kann said. “Having that energy just bleeds competitiveness and we were all into it. We just needed to get a few stops and then get baskets on the other end. Basketball is a game of runs and we just ran with ours. They do a good job with jumping the passing lanes so we prioritized making fakes before passing the ball.”
Endres and Evenson finished with eight points apiece for the winners, who won the boards 46-42 and committed fewer turnovers 22-17. Neither team shot the ball very well, with Loyola making 18 of 58 for 31% and the Jaguars hitting 18 of 55 for 33%.
“The girls played together and gutted it out,” Loyola coach Air Chantharak said. “They knew their bodies were tired so they really focused on bringing that extra energy from the bench on up. They just played together and with all the close games we’ve been in they’re figuring out end-of-game situations better. They’re doing a great job of learning and playing together.”
Loyola plays Friday at Cleveland.