CLASS A GIRLS BASKETBALL: Top-seeded takedown
Minneota stuns No. 1 Mountain Iron-Buhl in opener, 51-48 in overtime
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MINNEAPOLIS -- It's not how you start, it's how you finish.
The Minneota girls basketball team has shown the definition of that phrase as of late, overcoming slow starts in its section tournament games with strong second halves. The Vikings were put to the test again in their Class A tournament opener on Thursday against top-seeded Mountain Iron-Buhl, facing a 12-point deficit at halftime.
But unseeded Minneota never gave up, opening the second half with a crucial 16-4 run before battling back from another double-digit deficit in the final minutes to force overtime. In the extra session, McKenna Yost was able to hit two late free throws to help the Vikings hang on and earn a thrilling 51-48 victory at Maturi Pavilion on the campus of the University of Minnesota and advance to the Class A semifinals.
Minneota coach Chad Johnston said they knew they had to match MIB's effort, especially on the defensive end and felt their defensive play helped them stay in the game and not let the Rangers create an insurmountable advantage before they got the key shots late.
"It was effort. We emphasized defense [today] knowing that MIB would play pretty good defense on us and offensively we maybe have some struggles. We haven't hit the outside shots in about three or four weeks and we know we're capable of shooting them; obviously we got big threes from Natalee [Rolbiecki] and McKenna when we needed them and it was just about going back to what we felt like we were doing early in the year," Johnston said. "We didn't do everything perfect and that's credit to MIB, they play a great defense and there's pressure nonstop, so just the fact that I thought we played good defense and it just kept us in the game and then obviously it's about a game of runs and we made a run when we threw a press on them to get a little energy and confidence going. We just never allowed them to really pull away even when we weren't scoring, they weren't scoring and obviously we got some key shots when we needed them."
Facing a 10-point deficit with 5:23 left at 42-32, the Vikings gradually closed MIB's lead, with McKenzie Tolk getting a layup before a 3-pointer by Yost made it a three-point game at 45-42 with 1:40 left. After some empty possessions, Rolbiecki connected on a 3-pointer to tie things at 45-45 with 20 seconds left. MIB then turned it over on the ensuing possession, giving Minneota the ball with 11.2 seconds remaining. The Vikings had two great looks in the final seconds, but weren't able to capitalize and the two teams headed to overtime.
In the extra session, Yost drew a foul and made a pair of free throws to give Minneota a 47-45 lead, its first lead since it was 8-3. MIB responded with a trio of free throws to take a 48-47 lead with 1:03 left, but the Vikings again had an answer, with Ireland Stassen getting a layup with 20 seconds left in overtime to put Minneota in front at 49-48. The Rangers then missed on the ensuing trip down the floor, and Yost calmly made both free throws with 2.6 seconds left to seal the victory.
Yost said she just put all of her focus into the first free throw and was relieved when it went in.
"Going to the line, I thought, 'We're up by one, if you don't make it, it's OK, they have a full court to go,'" Yost said. "I just really tried to focus and get that first one so that I was given that second one. It was a big sigh of relief when that first one went in."
It was back and forth to start, with MIB holding a slim 3-2 lead before Rolbiecki and Yost connected on 3-pointers to give Minneota an 8-3 advantage with 14:16 left in the first half. MIB had an answer, though, going on a 10-0 run to take a 13-8 lead with 12:35 left before a Yost 3-pointer stopped the run. The Rangers quickly responded with another key run, this time an 11-2 burst highlighted by a 3-pointer and a layup to give them a double-digit lead at 24-13 with 2:30 left before taking a 26-14 advantage going into the locker rooms.
Unlike its first half, Minneota's second frame had a much better start, as Yost connected on two free throws and Tolk and Rolbiecki added layups to tie things at 30-30 with 10:32 left. MIB had an answer, though, going on a 12-2 run of its own, as a 3-point play gave the Rangers a 42-32 lead with 5:23 left, paving the way for the thrilling comeback by Minneota.
Yost led Minneota with 22 points while Rolbiecki added 12 and Tolk had nine. Rolbiecki led in rebounds with eight and in steals with four while Stassen added five rebounds and three steals and Yost had three steals as well.
As a team, Minneota shot 54.3% (19 of 35) from the field, including 6 of 14 from 3-point range (42.9%) and made 7 of its 9 free-throw attempts (77.8%).
Defensively, the Vikings held MIB to 45.2% shooting (14 of 31) from the field, including just 3 of 10 from 3-point range (30%), but made 17 of its 24 free-throw attempts (70.8%).
"We knew it was going to be a tough fight and I'm really glad we put all of our effort in at the end and we got the win," Tolk said. "Especially our defense. That's what kept us in the game."
Up next
Minneota (27-4) will face No. 5 Hayfield (32-0) in the Class A semifinals today at noon at Williams Arena. Going into their next matchup, Johnston said they just need to continue to play with confidence as a group and believe in themselves.
"You just have to play confident. I know when we drew MIB right away, some of the girls' response was they thought I was joking and I said, 'We got MIB, we got the No. 1 right away'. We always say, 'If you're going to be the best, you need to beat the best,'" Johnston said. "And we kind of felt that way and that's the state tournament, you're going to run into great competition the entire time. Just the fact that our girls believed in themselves and we hit a couple of early shots loosened them up a little bit and we went from there."
"All of the motivation that we've got, we just want to keep it going," Yost added.
Minneota 51, Mountain Iron-Buhl 48 (OT)
Minneota 14 31 6 - 51
MIB 26 19 3 - 48
Scoring: Minneota (Yost 6-9, 6-6 22; Rolbiecki 5-9, 0-0 12; Tolk 4-6, 1-3 9; Stassen 3-5, 0-0 6; Rost 1-2, 0-0 2).
Rebounds: Minneota 18 (Rolbiecki 8; Stassen 5; Yost 3).
Assists: Minneota none.
Steals: Minneota 14 (Rolbiecki 4; Stassen, Yost 3).