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Megan
King moves in for a lay-up during the Section One AA championship
game.
Photo by Daniel McGonigle
By Daniel McGonigle
Argus Managing Editor
The Lady Warriors weren’t lulled by jumping out to a commanding lead. They also weren’t swayed when that lead eroded.
“It was simply a gutsy performance by our girls, I could not be more
proud of how they handled adversity and stayed together for a complete
team win,” said head coach Scott Sorenson of his teams 43-38 victory
over Rochester Lourdes. “The girls came focused to win and
they were going to do what ever it took to be the champions.”
The Warriors led 26-17 at the half. They enjoyed comfortable leads throughout the first stanza, sometimes in the double digits.
After the break, however, the Rochester Lourdes came storming back with
a 12-2 run to take a 36-35 lead with four minutes remaining in the
contest.
The Warriors would end the game with an 8-2 run of their own and go on to state with a 43-38 victory over the Eagles.
“It was a great win for our girls and our program,” said
Sorenson. “It is very difficult to repeat as section champs, but
that is what I love about this team and these girls, they do everything
they can to go out and prove that they belong as the best team in the
section.”
Cassie Gran came through in the clutch and shall now be forever known as “Clutch Cassie.”
In the final minute of the game, the junior scored two key lay-ups and pulled down a critical rebound to seal the win.
Libby Augedahl, who led all Warrior scorers with 13 points, made her
free-throws down the stretch as did her running mate Megan King.
King would finish the game with six points.
The Warriors again played tenacious defense, specifically in the first half and the Eagles never seemed to have an answer.
“This team feeds off each other and they just want the win as the final
buzzer goes off and they don’t care who has to do what to get it done,
they all do whatever it takes,” said the proud coach.
The Warriors pulled off of the press just a bit in the second half
however, and that, coupled with the fact that the team came out cold in
the second half, led to the Eagles climbing back into the contest.
Laquita Becker, one of the shorter Lady Warriors, often found herself covering the Eagles Laura Melquist.
Melquist didn’t have an answer for the scrappy, quick Becker and committed several turnovers despite her size advantage.
Becker came off the bench to score 10 points, including a nice three-point shot early in the game.
While not known for this component of the game, the Warriors out
rebounded the Eagles, 31-23. They also held Lourdes to just one put
back basket on the offensive side of the ball.
In terms of crowd noise, the Warriors won in that category as well.
“Our fans made the difference, it was just great to see the amount of
fans we had, it means a lot to the girls,” said Sorenson. “They
were loud!!! The student section was just incredible throughout
the whole game, it is great to see a community rally around these
girls. A special thank you goes out to our fans from the
girls and the coaching staff.”
The Lady Warriors will face Jordan in the opening round of the State Basketball tournament on Wednesday, March 12 at 10:00 a.m.
Stats
Laquita Becker had 10 points, one assist, one steal and three rebounds.
Megan King had six points, three assists and four rebounds, all on the
offensive side of the ball. Sarah Colleran scored two points, had five
assists and one rebound.
Alecia Fruechte scored five points and had six rebounds and one steal.
Cassie Gran scored six points, had one assist and grabbed two boards.
Aly Meyer had a rebound. Libby Augedahl led the team with 13 points.
She also had eight rebounds and one steal.
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