The Sleepy Eye’s girls basketball storybook season continued Friday night when they pulled off their fourth consecutive upset to earn the right to play in the Minnesota State High School Girls State Basketball Tournament.
The experts say it’s tough to beat the same team three times in the same season, the #7 seeded Sleepy Eye team threw that myth right out the window. The local girls also created havoc with the section seeding by beating Section 2A South champ and #2 seeded Springfield 53-48 to win the Section 2A Championship and send an Indians girls team to the state for the first time.
Sleepy Eye entered the championship game not only playing their best ball of the season but also playing with a great deal of confidence after knocking off #2 MVL, #3 New Cathedral and #1 BLHS. Their composure showed from the tip off.
The Tigers scored the first point of the game but the Indians worked the ball well to take a 19-13 advantage by the midway point of the first half. Springfield made a run, as SE knew they would, tying the game at 19-19 with 5:14 to go. The local girls got a cold hand the rest of the way but still managed to maintain a 25-24 lead at the intermission.
Sleepy Eye slowed the pace down a bit in the second half and got great looks early but couldn’t get the ball to fall. The Tigers took their first lead since early on, 28-27, when they scored a bucket with 13:43 on the clock. That woke the Indians up. They went on a 6-0 run to go up 33-28. That lead would increase to 40-33 at the seven minute mark.
Sleepy Eye’s offense pulled the ball back at the six minute mark and patiently waited for a good shot. The Tigers took advantage of a pair of missed free throws and a charge call on Carissa Hillmer with 3:39 to go after she made a basket. Her points were erased. Springfield went down and hit a pair of free throw to go up 41-40.
Indian teams of the past would have folded, not this team. Justine Gonzalez sank two free throws at the 3:22 mark. Ten second later Jessica Busch made a steal and was fouled. Busch canned both her shots. SE 44, Springfield 41.
Another Busch steal and two more free throws, 46-41.
Springfield pulled to within three at 46-43 but again the determined Indians took charge. Gonzalez sank a shot from within the paint. Then Carissa Hillmer hit 5-8 in the final minute from the charity stripe to secure the contest.
“We were definitely prepared for what Springfield was going to do defensively,” said coach Ryan Hulke. “The nice thing about the way our schedule was set up this year, was Springfield played every team we played the game before us. So if I was going to scout an opponent it was always against Springfield.”
“They have played a triangle and two very successfully for the last month, so I was about 85% sure we were going to see it early in the game,” explained Hulke. “Luckily we are not a team with just one or two scores. Jessica Busch and Justine Gonzalez put a quick end to the triangle and two by hitting shots when left open.”
“Defensively we were pretty good once again,” added Hulke. “To hold a team like Springfield to less than 50 points is really tough; they run about three different motion offenses, 7 sets, and 6 out of bounce plays. We were prepared for most of them and how we were going to cover them and the girls made minimal mistakes while defending those sets.
“This has been our biggest benefit throughout the playoffs,” concluded Hulke. ” The girls have been at every practice mentally and they are seeing the advantage of knowing the other teams’ offenses and defenses.”
The Indians record stands at 19-10 and they will now face off against Mountain Iron-Buhl (29-1) in the quarterfinal round. Game time is 11 a.m. at Williams Arena on the campus of the University of Minnesota.
