PREP GIRLS BASKETBALL: Springfield pushes past Minneota in final stages
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MARSHALL - The Minneota girls basketball team found themselves in a back and forth game against the Springfield Tigers that went down to the final minutes in their first game out of the Christmas break. Minneota held a small lead down the stretch, but saw that lead slip through their grasp in the final stages, as the Tigers came from behind to defeat the Vikings 44-41 on Wednesday morning in the Borch's Holiday Classic at Southwest Minnesota State University.
The Tigers jumped out to an early start, going up 9-4 in the beginning stages before a 5-0 Minneota run tied things up at nine. The two teams then went back and forth over the next several minutes, with Springfield holding a slim 16-14 lead before more points were traded to bring the game to another tie at 18-18 with four minutes left in the first half.
A 3-pointer by Abby Hennen with 3:15 left gave Minneota a 21-20 lead before the Tigers answered right back with a 3-pointer of their own. Another 3-pointer from the Vikings, this time from Morgan Kockelman, gave Minneota the lead back before yet another shot from long distance connected for the Tigers. Morgan Hennen finally broke the streak of triples with a strong drive to the basket to tie the game up with 30 seconds left as the Vikings and Tigers went into the locker rooms deadlocked at 26.
Minneota kicked things off to start the second half by going on a 5-0 run, as Springfield was held scoreless for the first five minutes of the frame. The Tigers would go on a mini spurt of their own throughout the next few possessions, cutting the deficit to one at 31-30, before a 3-pointer by Abby Hennen pushed the Vikings lead to four.
Minneota would continue to add to its lead in the second half and saw its biggest advantage at eight points with six minutes left. The Tigers would then cut it to as close as four over the next few minutes, before a 3-pointer by Brandi Platz made it a one-point game with a little more than 30 seconds remaining.
On the ensuing possession, the Tigers would come up with a steal and Casandra Graff found her way to the basket to give Springfield a 42-41 with 12 seconds left. Minneota then fouled Springfield's Sydney Hauger on its next possession, who connected on both free throws to give the Tigers a 44-41 lead with 6.3 seconds left. The Vikings had one last look to force an overtime period, but they couldn't connect on the desperation three, and Springfield capped off the late comeback.
Minneota coach Chad Johnston said it was a frustrating performance and that it wasn't the way they wanted to come out of the Christmas break.
"That was a frustrating one, and I know that the girls are probably frustrated," Johnston said. "We had some good looks at the basket that didn't go in, and you can't always control that. You can control things like defense and boxing out, and I even think that was lackadaisical at times. We weren't the team that we can be, not by any means."
Abby Hennen led the way for the Vikings with 12 points while Lydia Sussner added 11 and Morgan Hennen had eight.
Sussner said their key on offense was moving without the ball, but they need to work on their passes.
"We were just moving and getting each other open," Sussner said. "We've just got to work on throwing better passes and not right into the hand of the other team."
Minneota (5-3) will face St. Clair today in the tournament at 4 p.m. Johnston said their biggest takeaway will be to clean up the careless mistakes on either side of the court.
"We've got to play a lot better than we did against Springfield otherwise it's going to be a tough one against St. Clair. They're a good ballteam," Johnston said. "We've got to take care of the ball; we had a lot of careless turnovers against the zone and we've got to be a little more disciplined on offense and play a lot better on defense."