MINNEOTA GIRLS BACK IN STATE TOURNAMENT


VIKINGS BACK IN STATE!
For years Minneota owned the Section 3A Tournament.
Then Tracy-Milroy-Balaton took over.
Now Minneota has moved back into Section after a couple years in 3AA — and Tracy was moved up to 3AA.
So what happened?
Friday night both teams won their way into the state tournament in their respective divisions.
Minneota beat Southwest Minnesota Christian of Edgerton, 82-74 to earn a spot in the Division A tournament and Tracy-Milroy-Balaton edged Eden Valley-Watkins, 49-48 to also earn a spot in state — only in Class 2A.
Minneota got a yeoman effort from post player Lydia Sussner, who poured in 34 points, grabbed 15 rebounds, had three steals and four assists.
Her stellar night was nearly matched by freshman Abby Hennen, who scored 23 points, including eight of nine free throws with six rebounds.
Minneota led 37-30 at the half — but basically the whole game was close. The Vikings opened up a 46-34 lead in the second half and led by 11 at 51-40. But led by a second-half surge from Brooklyn DeKam, the Eagles kept narrowing the margin and kept the game in limbo.
In fact, they got within 74-69 before Abbey Hennen went to work at the free throw line and hit five or six late free throws and Sussner scored, stole the ball and scored again it was too late for another Eagle rally.
Lizzy Gillingham poured in 17 points with 5 rebounds for the Vikings and Morgan Kockelman eight points.
A lot of the Eagle rebounding was generaged by Hannah Nerem, with nine rebounds — but she finally fouled out as the the Eagles needed to foul the Vikings to try and get the ball back.
In the second half alone, Minneota hit 18 free throws and that would be the Eagles downfall.
SWMC was very good at the free throw line, sinking of 14 free throws. And even though Jazlynn Prins contributed 14 points to DeKam's 19-point effort, it wasn't enough to overcome Sussner, Hennen, Gillingham and the Minneota Vikings, who committed just 15 turnovers. The Eagles had 19.
"I knew this was going to be a different game than the last one," said Coach Chad Johnston. Minneota won the first meeting between the two teams by over 30 points.
But, "Lydia was so aggressive tonight," said the coach. And that made a big different for the Vikings.
Now they head to the state tournament next week for the seventh time with Coach Johnston at the helm.
Tracy-Milroy-Balaton will be there too — but this time they can enjoy each other being there. This time, rivalry is gone. But Morgan Hennen probably said it best. "Tells you how good our conference is, doesn't it," she said.
MINNEOTA (2's, 3's, FT, F, TP) Morgan Kockelman 1 1 3-6 2 8; Lizzy Gillingham 7 0 3-6 3 17; Lydia Sussner 13 0 9-13 3 34; Morgan Hennen 1 0 0-0 4 2; Abby Hennen 6 1 8-9 3 23; Natalee Rolbiecki 0 0 0-0 1 0; Abby Rost 0 0 0-0 0 0. Totals 27 2 22-32 16 82.
SWMC (2's, 3's, FT, T, TP) Brooklyn DeKam 8 0 3-3 4 19; Jazlynn Prins 4 2 0-0 4 14; Emily Nerem 3 1 1-2 4 10; Hannan Nerem 5 2-4 5 12; Maren Nerem 1 0 4-4 4 6; Sydney VanHulzan 2 0 0-0 1 4; Sommer Schaap 2 1 2-2 0 9. Totals 25 6 12 of 15 22 74.
Score by Halves
SWMC 30 44 — 74
Minneota 37 45 — 82
Statistics:
SHOOTING: Minneota 29 of 53 for 55 percent; SWMC 31 of 67 for 46 percent.
FREE THROWS: Minneota 22 of 32 for 68 percent; SWMC 12 of 15 for 80 percent.
REBOUNDS: Minneota 34 (Sussner 15; Abby Hennen 6; Gillingham 5; Kockelman 4; Rolbiecki 3; Morgan Hennen 1); SWMC 24 (Hannan Nerem 9; Emily Nerem 5; Maren Nerem 4, VanHulzen 3, Schaap 2; DeKam 1).
STEALS: Minneota 6 (Sussner 3, Kockelman, Gillingham, Morgan Hennen 1 each); SWMC 1 (Hannah Nerem).
BLOCKS: SWMC: DeKam 1.