ST. CLAIR — St. Clair senior sharpshooter Brooklyn Meng fired in a game-high 25 points to surpass the 1,000-point barrier Tuesday night as the Cyclones dropped a 72-69 Section 2AA decision to Belle Plaine.
In what could have been a storybook ending, Meng’s 3-point attempt from the right baseline at the buzzer was no good, allowing the Tigers (9-5) to notch the come-from-behind victory. Belle Plaine trailed 50-38 when senior guard Aubree Mathiowetz buried a left-side triple to cap a 12-2 Cyclones’ surge to open the second half. Mathiowetz nailed 5 3-pointers in tallying 15 points.
Meng began her onslaught by hitting a 12-footer before her right baseline 3-pointer with 9:40 left in the first half pulled St. Clair to within 20-16 and forced a stoppage of play as a brief celebration followed. Meng ended up with five buckets from beyond the arc as the Cyclones converted 12 in the contest.
“Brooklyn has put in a lot of time to become the shooter she is.” St. Clair coach Brian Noyes said. “She’s had an amazing career and an unbelievable season so far which makes it nice to see her get rewarded. Her biggest improvement this year has been her ability to get the basket. She was more of a spot up shooter in years past but she’s gotten stronger at taking the ball to the rim.
“When we rebounded, I felt we were the better and more skilled team. Unfortunately, we kind of got abused on the glass tonight and that was 100% the difference in the game.”
Meng scored 13 first-half points as the Cyclones held a 38-36 lead at the break. Senior guard Brooklin Hinze totaled 10 of her 22 points while Mathiowetz chipped in a trio of 3-pointers. Junior forward Averie Mieseler collected 13 of her 19 points while sophomore guard Emma Martin scored eight of her 19 points. Belle Plaine made 31 of 70 from the field for 44.2 percent compared to the Cyclones’ 21 of 60 for 35 percent.
“I couldn’t have done this without my family, my coaches, my friends and my teammates,” Meng said. “Obviously, I wanted it to become a team win on my night, but even though we executed and played well, we couldn’t get the team win. There’s nothing we can do so we’re going to flip the page and move on.
“I am definitely a 3-point shooter. I try to get in the gym as much as I can and hard work has paid off for me. I like to tell the younger girls that hard work pays off and it takes a lot of time and effort in becoming a good shooter. I am executing better and getting to the line more which has made my all-around game get better. I’ve been trying to go to the rim harder to make noise at the basket.”
Trailing 66-62, Meng’s 8-footer off the glass and top-of-the-key 3-pointer put the ‘Clones ahead 67-66 with 2:31 to go. However Martin’s second-effort basket along with Mieseier’s layup off a turnover gave the Tigers a 70-67 lead. After Hinze’s two free throws trimmed the margin to a single point, Kallie Thaemert’s’s layup off a press break with five seconds left sealed things.
“It was a great accomplishment for Brooklyn to get,” Mathiowetz said. “She’s so appreciative of her teammates and is so caring as a person. She is so grateful for her teammates and I am so proud of her. My teammates find me a lot and give me that opportunity to shoot. Basketball is a game of runs and we know that. This was a tough loss but we hope to improve off it and carry on with our season.”
St. Clair, which got out rebounded 43-35, hosts Sibley East Thursday.