Photo by Jake McNeill: Minneota guard Kiersyn Hulzebos (center) drives into the lane during a girls basketball game against Southwest Minnesota Christian in Minneota on Feb. 6. The Vikings defeated Central Minnesota Christian in the Section 3A North Championship game on Tuesday night to advance to their seventh consecutive section championship game, in which they will face No. 1S Southwest Minnesota Christian.

MONTEVIDEO — The top-seeded Minneota girls basketball team withstood a late rally from No. 2 Central Minnesota Christian in the Section 3A North championship game on Tuesday night to pull out a 59-51 win. The victory sends Minneota to its seventh consecutive section championship game. It will also mark the second year in a row that Minneota faces off against Southwest Minnesota Christian with a state tournament berth on the line.

Minneota called a timeout late in the first half holding a 19-18 lead. When they came out of the huddle, they seized all momentum.

Dakoda Hennen started the Minneota run with a simple free throw. After the Vikings got a defensive stop, they kicked the ball around the perimeter until Kiersyn Hulzebos knocked down a 3-pointer to bring their lead back to two possessions and Grace Hennen weaved through the lane to give Minneota a 25-18 lead, its largest of the game.

Sophia Vogel finally ended the Bluejays’ scoring drought after clanking in a floater of the back rim but a foul on Emmi Braem put Hulzebos to bring Minneota’s lead right back to 7 points.

Hulzebos continued to make big plays in the final minute of the half. She drew a charge on Sienna Duinnick to get a stop on the defensive end. The foul was Duinnick’s third of the game and her second charge after Hennen drew one earlier in the half. After making the play on the defensive end of the court, she banked in a jumper on the offensive end to give Minneota a 29-20 lead at halftime.

Minneota led by as many as 13 points in the second half but Duinnick went to work in the final five minutes. She hit a sidestep 3 and sliced through the Vikings’ defense for an old-fashioned 3-pointer to make it a 2-point game, 50-48, when Minneota called a timeout with 4:50 to play.

Coming out of the timeout, Grace Hennen found Hulzebos on a backdoor cut for an easy layup to bring Minneota’s lead back to two possessions. Minneota then forced CMC to turn the ball over to get the ball back. Grace Hennen then dished a rocket to Dakoda Hennen in the low post and Dakoda sent a shovel pass to Arndt for an easy push shot and a 54-48 Viking lead with two minutes to play.

After a scoreless minute, Hulzebos put the game away with three free throws and a blocked shot in the final minute. Dunnick hit one last 3-pointer with 14 seconds to play but it was too little, too late for a rally.

Hulzebos finished the game with 17 points, trailing only Duinnick’s 23. Myhre and Grace Hennen added another 14 and 12 points for Minneota while Braem was the only other Bluejay in double figures with 15 points.

Minneota was hot at the end of the first half but started the second ice cold. Lauren Taatjes got the Bluejays on the board with a turnaround jumper to start the half and a Carrie Mulder offensive rebound turned into a Braem layup to bring CMC within 5 points.

Arndt ended the Minneota drought with a free throw but the Bluejays kept coming. Duinnick knocked down a runner to make it a 4-point game and she then assisted Morgan Groen’s first bucket of the game, a 3-pointer from the wing, to make it a 1-point game.

Panka called a timeout after Groen’s 3-pointer to talk things over and Minneota immediately looked like a new team. At the 14:30 mark, Myhre hit the Vikings’ first field goal of the second half on their first play out of the timeout and she drained a 3-pointer on the next trip down the floor to give the Vikings a 35-29 advantage. Taatjes responded with a shot for CMC but Grace Hennen free throws, a Dakoda Hennen runner and a Myhre jumper extended Minneota’s lead to 10 points. After a timeout, Grace Hennen hit another layup to complete a 13-2 Minneota run.

Grace Hennen was the heart of the Minneota offense early in the first half. With Minneota trailing 5-2, Hennen hit a game-tying 3-pointer and slashed to the rim for the go-ahead layup on the next play. After scoring her sixth consecutive Minneota point with a free throw, she assisted Kenadi Arndt on consecutive plays to give Minneota a 12-9 lead. Faith Myhre then fought through contact for a layup to give the Vikings the first multi-possession lead fof the game nine minutes in.

Despite not being the tallest player on the court, Grace Hennen dominated the offensive glass early on. She grabbed four offensive rebounds in the first 10 minutes of play to keep setting up the Minneota offense. She finished the game with seven total rebounds, second on her team to Arndt’s 10. Still, CMC held a 45-31 advantage on the glass — and a 14-6 advantage on the offensive glass — behind 11 rebounds each from Braem and Mulder.

Grace Hennen finished the night with four steals to pace Minneota to a 9-17 advantage in the turnover battle. She also dished out a game-high three assists.

Minneota, now 27-3 and ranked No. 9 in Class A, will take on SWMC in the section championship game. The Vikings held on for a 57-53 win when the two teams met in Minneota on Feb. 6. The Eagles head into the championship game at 27-2 and are riding a nine-game win streak while the Vikings are on a 13-game win streak.