The Sleepy Eye girls basketball Cinderella story continued Monday night with a come-from-behind, 60-56, win over number one seeded BLHS to win the Section 2A North championship and the right to play for a section title.
The #7 seeded Indians have been on a roll of late, first knocking off #2 MVL on a last second shot. They followed that up with a thumping of the #3 seed New Cathedral. And now the #1 seed Mustangs are sent packing despite holding a 10-point leads in both halves of the game.
SE got off to a good start, jumping to a 20-10 lead at the 6:33 mark of the first half. BLHS then went on a 17-1 run to close out the half.
“We got out to an aggressive start but then had multiple mental mistakes,” said coach Ryan Hulke
“At our practice Saturday we talked about not taking quick shots, and how BLHS was going to gamble on reversal passes and in our last seven minutes we completely forgot about those keys and let them back in the game,” explained Hulke. “Lucky we had a 10-point lead so that we went in (at halftime) only down six (27-21).
Sleepy Eye got the first basket of the second half but the Mustangs continued to dominate with their inside game, building another 10-point lead.
“We talked at halftime about trapping their ball screens to make (Jessica) Kalenberg get rid of the ball. Well we trapped but got no help on the roll for the first 10 minutes of the second half, and we were still down 10,” explained Hulke.
The Indians finally got things cranking.
“We continued to trap the ball screen but we finally got help from our other girls and that took BLH out of anything they tried to do,” said Hulke. “And then Sydney Remus and Claire Krumbach took over.
Remus hit back to back threes. Krumbach rolled in a pair of shots. Remus hit another off the inbounds pass.
Justine Gonzalez tied up the game at the 5:22 mark. BLHS would hit a shot to tie it back up with 5:08. That would be the last time the Mustangs played with a lead.
Krumbach grabbed an offensive board and put it in, 49-49. Remus made a steal and laid it in, 51-49.
With more than three minutes to play Hulke made the decision to pull the ball out and force the Mustangs to foul. Carissa Hillmer hit one of two. Remus added two more from the charity stripe. The score stood 54-49 with 1:23 to go.
BLHS hit a quick shot, 54-51, and called time out.
Krumbach was quickly fouled. She made one of two. The Indians led 55-51.
Hillmer and Krumbach closed things out from the free throw line, 60-52.
The Mustangs sank a shot at the buzzer to make the final 60-54.
“This group has battled for five straight games and refuses to lose right now,” said Hulke. “This is such a great experience for these girls, and I have been telling them every day to soak it all in because it could be a once and a lifetime experience.”
The Indians move their record to 18-10 and will now face Springfield for the Section 2A championship which will be played Friday at Gustavus College in St. Peter.
