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.
The Sleepy Eye girls basketball team pulled off a miracle Tuesday night to beat MVL 50-48 in the opening round of the Section 2A tournament.
The contest was close throughout with neither team leading by more than six points at any time. Down the stretch the Indians committed three consecutive free throws to allowed the Chargers to go up 46-42.
Sydney Remus pulled off a steal, laid the ball in and was fouled. With the free throw the scored stood 46-45. With 45 second to play Remus then canned a three pointer to give SE a two-point advantage. MVL tied things up with a pair from the charity stripe with 33 second to play.
The Indians wanted to go for the last shot but got a bit anxious and fired much too early. It was off target. Now it was the Chargers who wound the clock, hoping for a last second win. Carissa Hillmer put that thought to rest when she made a steal with 3.3 seconds to play. Sleepy Eye set up a play on their end of the court but the ball went off Remus’s hands into an MVL players paws. Instead of hanging onto the ball, she attempted to make a pass to a teammate. Instead the ball went right into the hands of Jessica Busch who was standing in the paint just inside the free throw line. Busch immediately got a shot off, the buzzer sounded as the ball swished.
“Obviously we got a little lucky on the last play. But the girls deserve so much credit for battling all night,” said an excited Ryan Hulke. “I really thought it was over when we went down four with 2:30 to play and just gave them the ball after another turnover. But then our seniors stepped up big time recording 3 steals in MVL’s last four possessions.”
“I could talk about each girl and the great things all of them did Tuesday to earn that victory,” said Hulke, “but I really comes down to our seniors taking pride and earning earning that win. ”
“Finally this group of seniors gets out of the first round of playoffs. This was such a huge win for them, it really means so much to beat a team we lost to twice, but yet competed with twice until the end,” continued Hulke. “They knew they could win this game, and they battled all night to earn it.”
“Now Friday- it’s a complete opposite of Tuesday. New Ulm runs a flex offense with only a couple sets, and minimal out of bounce plays. They have some personal tendencies we have noticed on film, but nothing like MVL. Tuesday we wanted to slow the game down, but Friday we need to make it a 94 foot game. New Ulm is so long and athletic that we need to make sure we rebound, use our speed, and not give them easy opportunities with turnovers,” said Hulke about their upcoming battle Friday night at New Ulm Cathedral. “The girls have never played in a game like this before. It’s going to be so loud in that little gym, communication will be a problem. We had a great fan base Tuesday and it’s only going to grow Friday night so we need to make sure we are communicating with another with set calls and match ups.”
