MANKATO — We have our girl’s basketball section 2AA championship game cemented.
Norwood Young American will play Glencoe-Silver Lake at 7:45 p.m. Friday at Minnesota State’s Taylor Center. Here’s how Monday’s section semifinal action went down.
Glencoe-Silver Lake 67 Maple River 49
This game was tied 22-22 at the half, but the Panthers made the big push.
Maple River’s Bria Cole nailed a 3-pointer to make it a one point game at 26-25 early in the second half, but the Panthers surged ahead. Thanks to a walloping 17-4 run, cemented by a triple from Jaydn Stuewe and a hook shot from freshman Jordyn Kube, who played the entire second half with three fouls, the Panthers took a 46-32 lead.
The Eagles clawed back to 48-39 with a shade over six minutes remaining off a 7-2 run, but Kube earned a layup and a foul, the fifth committed by Eagles 5-foot-10 junior Claire Caven, the player primarily responsible for battling with Kube, who stands at 6-foot-2.
The Eagles season ends with a final record of 16-12. They were a group which, according to head coach Devin Drager, brought something different every day, and it was in the best way possible.
“They are a great group of girls,” Drager said. “They’re funny, hard working. They want to get better. They ask questions, they take your coaching and they make improvements. They’re just a really fun group to be around.
“This is a group I would spend every day with. They’re so worth it.”
Monday also marked the final game for seniors Bria Cole, Madison Ward, Olivia Sellers, Alli Boening and Azzurra Nicolini. It is a quintet which, according to Drager, has played various roles throughout their time. A group which was a driving force for the program.
Oh, and they’re also ridiculously competitive.
“I’ve never had to pull that out of them. That’s how they’ve been since elementary school,” Drager said. “They always want to win. That’s pretty powerful. The foundation they’ve laid for our underclassmen — when you have that desire and you have that want, good things can happen. They were a testament to that.”
Kylie Walters led the Eagles with 14 points. Claire Caven flirted with a double-double, tallying 12 points and nine rebounds. Cole had 10 points.
Brooke Mickolichek led the Panthers and all players with 19 points. Kube scored 11 of her 13 points in the second half.
Norwood Young America 52 Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton 46
This one stings for the Bulldogs, who surrendered 14 unanswered points to finish the game. JWP led 46-38 with under six minutes to play.
Then Central went on the run of a lifetime.
The Raiders went 9 of 12 from the free throw line and had five points from senior Vanessa Schmidt, who hit a triple and netted what became the game-winning layup with 32.3 seconds remaining.
“You have to play for a whole 36 minutes,” JWP head coach Brandon Goebel said. “We played well for 28 minutes of the game. But, it shows that if you don’t play the 36 minutes, anything can happen.”
Whitney Cebulla led Central with 14 points. Josie Kamps added 13 points. Schmidt and Kate Strickfaden each scored 10 points.
JWP was led by Nevaeh Weimert, who scored a game-best 21 points. Ashlynn Wolff, who fouled out with 4:52 remaining, scored seven points.