Photo by Kate Myers Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart celebrates after defeating Underwood for third place in the Class A state girls basketball tournament Saturday at the Gangelhoff Center in St. Paul.
ST. PAUL — The Buffalo Lake Hector Stewart Mustangs shut down the lights at the Gangelhoff Center Saturday morning and held a double-digit lead at the half to earn a 66-49 win over Underwood and the Class A state girls' title. He took 3rd place. basketball tournament.
BLHS head coach Jesse Wike said the team responded well after starting 0-2 and continued to persevere throughout the season. The team regrouped after losing to Mountain Ironbuhl in Friday's state semifinals.
“The way the season started for us, that 0-2 record, I've told the girls so many times, it's still the best thing that ever happened to us.” Wike said. “Then we looked back at our season records, the teams we played, and the final result and finished the year with a 29-2 record. That's probably the biggest thing I'm proud of overall as a coach.
“After all the ups and downs and dealing with yesterday's loss, I could have packed my bags and quit, but I came back and played very well and to be honest, I still played well enough. I think we can do it.'' Any type of game in Class A, against any team in Class A. ”
The Mustangs made 15 of 26 shots from beyond the arc in the win. This 3-pointer's party also tied his single-game program record for most made 3-pointers and led the Mustangs to his third-place state trophy and his 29-4 record to finish the season. It led to a great celebration.
Lily Hubin led the Mustangs with 23 points on 4 of 3s and also added 3 steals. Elaina Bergstrom also made four threes and had 16 points and three steals.
“It's something we've definitely been working on and making every practice a priority, not just this season, but the last 10 years we've been playing.” Bergstrom said of his team's 3-point shooting. “During the season and in the offseason, we work on it. And sometimes when the Twins or Rielly are hitting, it feels like you don't have to take those shots. Maybe they're not going to go in or something. is.
“But before the game started, I was thinking in my head, ‘Okay, this is the last game I’m going to play with these kids.’ I think Christie gave me the pass on the first corner 3. .And I thought, “Okay, I'm going to put this in.'' After that, it snowballed. They didn't protect me very well there, so they just kept passing the ball to me and I put it in the hoop. ”
For BLHS, Rachel Kottke finished with 11 points, and her twin sister Kristy Kottke had the other seven points, eight assists and four rebounds. Elisabeth Obitt had nine points and Jamie Novotny had 10 rebounds and four assists.
Elizabeth Lucken led the Rockets with 20 points (28-5), Karin Grove had 17 points and seven rebounds, and Ezra Baker had eight points, eight rebounds, five assists, and four steals.
The Mustangs never trailed in Saturday's game, taking an early 11-0 lead.
After consecutive 3s, one by Rachel Cocke and one by Hubin, an Underwood turnover prompted a quick timeout from Underwood. The Mustangs went on an 11-0 lead by the timeout, going on a run after Rachel Kottke hit a mid-range shot that hit the glass for a 3-toe drop. Grove hit a three to stop the run and put the Rockets ahead.
“I think that's how we started our first game at state. We started really fast and aggressive.” Rachel Kottke said. “We wanted to set the tone right away. Talk about starting green. If you think about stop lights being green, yellow, red, you can start with yellow, but obviously start with red. If you don't want to, you probably won't win the game. But even if you start out a little timid, that's not how we want to start, we want to be green and start out as invaders. It is.”
The Rockets then got within one point at 1,20-19 on a shot by Lucken in the paint, but Hubin made two free throws and three from college range to end the Mustangs' run at 13-0. They started the game and finished the first half with 33 points. 19.
A Bergstrom 3, an inside Hubin basket, and an Ovit 3 finished off a 13-0 run.
Bergstrom pushed the Mustangs' lead to 35-19 with a mid-range jumper, then Lucken answered with a bucket.
The teams then traded 3s, with Bergstrom hitting a 3 to take a 38-21 lead, and Ezra Baker answered with a 1 to make the score 38-24. Three straight threes, this one from the corner by Obitt, gave the Mustangs a 41-24 lead.
The Mustangs got three more points from Hubin to take a 51-34 lead and forced a timeout on Underwood with 9:45 remaining. Bergstrom's three points gave the Mustangs their largest lead of the game at 64-40. The Rockets went on a 9-0 run in the final minutes, with Bergstrom's runner in the paint leading to the winning score.
Christie Kottke didn't have her best shooting performance of the season (2-of-10 shooting from the floor), but she more than made up for it with her defense, finding teammates and seeing the basket well.
“I feel like on our team, we go into every game knowing that everyone is going to do their part, but we don't necessarily know what that's going to look like. Hmm, because we're all pretty good at sharing,' but we're also all pretty good at shooting. ” Christy Kottke said. “When I saw other people hitting, I kind of knew that my shots weren't going in as well as they did, so I would drive and get attention and then kick out and let other people hit. I wanted to be able to shoot more.”
The Mustangs would have loved to have hoisted the championship trophy above their heads on Saturday, but finishing as the No. 3 team in the state in Class A is nothing to scoff at.
Saturday's game was also the final high school game for BLHS seniors Kottke Twins and Bergstrom.
The Kottke family will continue their basketball careers together at St. Cloud State University next winter, while Bergstrom will play basketball at Ridgewater College in Willmar.
Editor's note: An expanded version of this article with additional comments and photos will be available online Tuesday morning and in Tuesday's issue of the journal.
