Eight days removed from being upset by Mankato East, the Mankato West girls basketball team opened Section 2AAA tournament action Wednesday night with a 57-44 victory over the Cougars at the West gym.
East (3-23) turned in its best effort of the season in getting past the Scarlets 71-67 at Bresnan Arena earlier this month. However, West’s quick start enabled the No. 4-seeded Scarlets to build a 20-point lead (48-28) on senior guard Avery Schmitz’s layup with 10:25 to go. East trimmed the deficit to 51-40 on senior forward Kylinn Stangl’s eight-point flurry — a three-point play off an 8-foot turnaround and a right-side 3-pointer and layup — before Romo Smith’s driving hoop put things away.
“We talked about being able to make defensive stops,” West coach Gretchen Keefe said. “We struggled last week with stopping them from dribbling from one end of the court to the other. We made it a point to stop the ball to slow them down. We also tried to make that extra pass to get better shot opportunities. We showed up right away and were able to get some steals to put up some easy points. … We didn’t really get them out of their comfort zone in the second half.”
West (11-16) took an 11-4 lead behind Smith’s two inside baskets and 18-footer along with junior forward Livi Downs’ layup and left-side 3-pointer. After East senior forward Hannah Full’s 12-footer and left-wing triple closed the gap to 11-9, West freshman guard Joy Weimer’s three baskets triggered a 13-0 burst that produced a 24-9 advantage with 8:43 remaining in the first half.
“Our intensity really helped us out in this game,” Smith, who ended up with 15 points and five rebounds, said. “We were looking for that next pass and that kept us connected the entire game. We had plenty of energy at the start and everyone was locked in. East is a physical team with a couple of good post players. A lot of our players stepped up in the second half to keep that momentum going.”
After senior guard Ella Mullenbach’s free-throw line pull-up put the Scarlets in front 33-14, baskets by senior guard Maddy Beaty and junior forward Ariet Omot, along with Full’s two foul shots, pulled the Cougars within 33-20 at the break. Full finished with nine points, five rebounds, three steals and a trio of assists while Stangl netted a team-best 16 points and eight boards.
“Turnovers have been an issue for us since the beginning of the year,” East coach Ana Boever said. “Applying what we do in practice into game situations has been our biggest issue. West wanted this game a lot and we showed glimpses of it. Livi Downs was a huge factor tonight and it’s tough to shut her down when she gets going. We cut our turnovers in half in the second half, but we dug ourselves a hole and couldn’t get out of it this time.”
West connected on 24 of 60 from the field for 40% compared to the Cougars’ 17 of 45 for 37.7%. Downs fired through 23 points for the winners, who also received nine rebounds from Mullenbach along with six boards, five assists and four steals from Downs. East enjoyed a 36-31 rebounding edge while committing more turnovers 28-19.
“We knew there was a lot more at stake in this one,” Stangl said. “We started out slow so we knew we had to chip away with every ounce of fight we had. We came up short in the second half, but we turned up our pressure and cut down on our turnovers. We were gritty on both sides of the court not trying to give up anything. … We knew this was going to be a developing year for us, we had to fight with all the energy we had.”
West faces top-seeded Marshall (25-1) Saturday at 5 p.m. at Gustavus’ Lund Center.