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CLASS A QUARTERFINALS: No. 4 Minneota holds off No. 5 Menahga late, 74-69

Photo by Tara Brandl Minneota’s Lydia Sussner shoots a jumper over a Menahga defender during their Class A quarterfinal game on Thursday at Williams Arena. The Vikings defeated the Braves 74-69 to advance to the semifinal round today.

MINNEAPOLIS – Facing an undefeated team in the opening round of the Class A State Girls Basketball Tournament didn’t faze the Minneota girls basketball team Thursday afternoon. The Menagha Braves were making their first ever state appearance after a 30-0 regular season, but the Vikings had other plans for their state tournament appearance.

Minneota’s upbeat pace and aggressive defense held the high-scoring Braves to only 30 points in the first half on their way to a 74-69 victory that put them in the Class A semifinals where they will face Lyle/Pacelli at noon today at Target Center.

“We’ve been really excited about what we’ve been able to accomplish,” Minneota coach Chad Johnston said. We’ve watched these girls grow and mature as the season wore on. All these girls got experience last year. We thought we’d be going through some growing pains early, but after Christmas break, we saw a lot of good things out of this group.”

The Vikings opened the game with 7-2 run after a field goal from Lydia Sussner started the game, and Lizzy Gillingham followed with five points of her own. As Menagha’s offense started to get going, Morgan Hennen extended the lead for the Vikings with back-to-back buckets of her own. Sussner and Gillingham again made their presence known as they scored to widen the Vikings’ lead to 16-8.

Menagha was not about to let its perfect season go without a fight, however, and battled back and forth with the Vikings, getting to within two points at 16-14 before Minneota went on another five-point run.

Minneota kept the momentum throughout the first half as it went on a 12-6 run that was topped off with a Morgan Kockelman 3-pointer. The two teams traded baskets and rebounds throughout the rest of the half before Minneota went to the locker room with a 41-30 lead.

Minneota entered the second half just as aggressive as the first, starting with a 3-pointer by Morgan Hennen. That sparked a 12-5 run by the Vikings who would extend their lead to 53-37 with 12:32 left.

But Menagha was not done yet, as Minneota had its hands full with the Braves’ diamond press in the second half. The Vikings committed five turnovers in two minutes to allow the Braves to regain momentum and cut the Vikings lead to 11 before eventually bringing it to single digits at nine.

“We knew that at some point in time if we had the lead, they would definitely come after us with that diamond press,” said Johnston. “They did it extremely well and did a nice job getting back into the game with it. They did a nice job switching it up on defense. Their defensive intensity was what I was worried about the whole time.”

Johnston continued, “It was nice to get that lead, but it’s that time of the year when teams know how to crank up the heat on you. They do a great job of being on-the-ball defensive players. They don’t allow you to get into many sets.”

The Vikings eventually adapted to Menagha’s physical, in-your-face defense and were able to move the ball more efficiently as the game wore on.

“Last year pressed a lot and we were really physical,” Abby Hennen said. “Yeah, it was really physical, but if you broke through the two girls, it was usually two-on-one going back so I just looked up the court to Lydia and Lizzie — usually we could get a layup off of that.”

As the Braves inched closer to the Vikings, Minneota was able to break the press and get the ball to Gillingham for four buckets and Sussner for one, as the Vikings continued to hold off Manahga.

With time running out, the Braves were forced to foul and send the Vikings to the free-throw line. Minneota would make five free throws in the last minute of the game and hold on for the big 74-69 win.

Sussner led the way for the Vikings (26-4) with 22 points and nine rebounds, while Gillingham scored 19 and Morgan Hennen added 18.

Menahga 30 39 – 69

Minneota 41 33 – 74

Scoring: Minneota 26-53, 49.1 percent (Sussner 8-14, 6-8 22; Gillingham 7-13, 5-7 19; M. Hennen 7-8, 1-1 18; A. Hennen 0-6, 6-9 6; Rost 2-5, 0-0 4; Kockelman 1-3, 0-0 3; Rolbiecki 1-4, 0-0 2).

3-Pointers: Minneota 4-13, 30.8 percent (M. Hennen 3; Kockelman 1).

Rebounds: Minneota 37 (Sussner 9; Rolbiecki 7; Gillingham 6; A. Hennen 5; Kockelman 3; Rost, M. Hennen 2).

Assists: Minneota 16 (Sussner 7; A. Hennen 6; M. Hennen, Kockelman, Rolbiecki 1).

Steals: Minneota 4 (A. Hennen 3; M. Hennen 1).

Blocks: Minneota 3 (Sussner, Kockelman, A. Hennen 1).

Fouls: Minneota 15.

Turnovers: Minneota 15.

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