SECTION GIRLS BASKETBALL: Well-balanced
Top-seeded Minneota rolls past No. 4 YME in sub-section semifinals, 65-32
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MARSHALL - With one win each underneath their belts in the postseason, the Minneota and Yellow Medicine East girls basketball teams looked to add to that number on Tuesday night at SMSU in the Section 3A North semifinals.
Thanks to a solid defensive performance and a balanced scoring attack, the top-ranked Vikings quickly raced out to a big lead and never looked back, eventually earning a 65-32 victory over the No. 4 seeded Sting on Tuesday night at Southwest Minnesota State University.
Minneota coach Chad Johnston said it took them a few minutes to find their niche, but then were able to do some good things on either end of the floor.
"I think YME's strategy was to slow us down a little bit and their zone has that capability, there's a lot of long arms in that zone and we weren't moving very well at first," Johnston said. "I think it took us a little bit to realize we needed to get them in transition; we did a great job rebounding but we needed to get those outlets, push the ball and get back before their zone got back. We started doing that five or six minutes into the game. Our press threw them some fits a little bit, but they handled the ball and we needed to get them into a normal transition and it took our girls a little bit to do that, but once we did, we were able to do some good things."
It was tight to start, as Minneota held a slim 7-4 lead before a pair of 3-point plays from Lydia Sussner and Abby Hennen gave the Vikings their first double-digit advantage of the night at 19-8 with 8:24 left in the first half.
That's when Minneota's defense started to come alive and ultimately set the tone of the game. After a steal from Lizzy Gillingham led to a transition layup from Abby Hennen to give the Vikings a 26-10 lead, more stifling play from Minneota turned into quick 3-pointers from Gillingham and Morgan Hennen on back-to-back possessions to extend the Vikings' advantage to 34-10. Meeghen Dahlager was able to get a layup to go to stop the bleeding, but Minneota would then take a 41-12 lead at halftime thanks to a 15-2 run to close out the first half.
YME coach Ryan Schultz said their biggest adjustment throughout the first half was remaining patient on offense and getting clean, quality looks at the basket.
"In the first half, we were just trying to be patient offensively. We knew we had to slow it down and get good looks and we couldn't try to force passes, especially when they weren't pressuring us," Schultz said. "Just being patient on offense and playing good defense, trying to get the girls to move their feet a little bit more and anticipate passes and rotating on defense was the biggest thing."
Coming out of the break, the Sting looked to change things up and got into a groove in the opening minutes of the second half, but Minneota had an answer and got out to a 50-16 lead before a 3-point play from Natalee Rolbiecki pushed the Vikings lead to 58-23. Minneota would then hold at least a 30-point advantage the rest of the way before earning the 65-32 victory.
Schultz said despite the outcome, he was proud of the way his team competed and was able to improve on some areas they had struggled with.
"We started off the game, I thought, playing fairly decent and we were handling the press a little bit. Offensively we weren't getting the best looks or not really setting it up, I think we were a bit nervous still. After that initial four or five minutes, give Minneota credit, they stepped it up and put a lot more pressure on us and started forcing turnovers," Schultz said. "I thought we came out in the second half a little bit ready to play and then the same thing happened where they turned on the press a little more. Overall, I thought we did a good job, we improved on some things that we struggled with in the past two games and it is what it is."
Abby Hennen led the way for the Vikings with 15 points while Morgan Hennen added 14, Gillingham had 12 and Morgan Kockelman and Sussner chipped in 11 and 10, respectively. Sussner led in rebounds with eight while Gillingham and Sussner led in assists with three each.
Johnston said with YME's height in the paint, they had to find other ways for Sussner to score, but felt they did a good job of finding the open player and be able to create movement with the basketball.
"They got a lot of height in the post and that does neutralize Lydia a little bit, and we tried to utilize her in a couple of different ways, but like we talked about, we've got a lot of weapons. We've got a lot of girls shooting the ball well right now, we're hitting a few threes a game, we're doing a lot of good things and we need that," Johnston said. "Some teams are going to focus on taking Lydia away or just have the height to neutralize her a little bit, so other girls had to get good shots and we did a nice job of getting some movement and getting some ins and outs, and we were able to get some open threes."
The Sting were led by Mackenzie Dyrdahl with 12 points while Hannah Gullickson added 10 and Dahlager had four. Dyrdahl led in rebounds with three while Dahlager led in assists with five.
YME ends its season with an overall record of 14-9. The Sting graduate four seniors, including Samantha Anderson, Dyrdahl, Dahlager and Gullickson. Schultz said all four players brought a lot of leadership and they'll be missed next year.
"Their leadership was second to none; they get everybody in the gym and work hard and motivate their teammates," Schultz said. "They do the things that other kids don't want to do and they've done a lot for us and they're going to be hard to replace."
Going into next season, Schultz said they have a lot of younger kids he feels are ready to step up to the challenge while utilizing their seniors to lead the way.
"We lose four seniors who did a lot for us. They're going to be very hard to replace but we've got a lot of athletic younger kids who I think are up to the challenge," Schultz said. "We had a freshman in Shelby Mortenson kind of step into some minutes at the end of the year and I think she got a little confidence. We'll have three seniors next year who I think will be up to the challenge leadership-wise and have a little bit of experience that they can carry us from there."
Minneota (25-1) advances to the North sub-section championship game and will face No. 2 seed Lac qui Parle Valley Friday at 6 p.m. The Eagles defeated No. 3 seed Wabasso 59-55.
Johnston said regardless of who they would've faced, he knows it's going to be a different style of game and they just need to adjust as best they can.
"Regardless of who it is, it's going to be a different type of game. We've seen Lac qui Parle Valley twice, so we know what we're going to get out of them, Wabasso we've seen once, not 100 percent but we saw them," Johnston said. "Transition will be a little bit more difficult, you're talking about two quicker teams and not as much height, so I'm happy with what we did in transition, but we might not be able to get those looks as easy. It'll probably be two better ballhandling teams, so our pressure might not be as effective against those teams and we might not press as much at all, so far we haven't pressed either one of them. The things that we're doing well, we just have to change and just have to keep doing the things in the half-court that we're doing and we need to keep playing good defense."
YME 12 20 -- 32
Minneota 41 24 -- 65
YELLOW MEDICINE EAST: Hinz 0-2 3-5 3, Anderson 1-2 1-2 3, Dyrdahl 6-10 0-0 12, Dahlager 2-6 0-0 4, Gullickson 4-7 2-2 10.
MINNEOTA: Gillingham 5-7 0-0 12, A. Hennen 7-12 1-1 15, M. Hennen 6-13 0-0 14, Kockelman 4-11 0-0 11, Rolbiecki 1-3 1-1 3, Sussner 4-7 2-3 10.
REBOUNDS: YME 9 (Dyrdahl 3); Minneota 30 (Sussner 8). ASSISTS: YME 9 (Dahlager 5); Minneota 13 (Gillingham 3, Sussner 3). STEALS: YME 3 (Three with 1); Minneota 10 (Four with 2). BLOCKS: YME 4 (Four with 1); Minneota 1 (M. Hennen 1).