Bulldogs Extinguish Fire in State Quarterfinal

Yesterday, KFIL was live at Mariucci Arena for the State AA Girl's Basketball Tournament. The first of the four quarterfinal games featured our local Section 1 Champion Plainview-Elgin-Millville. The Bulldogs, ranked and seeded #1 for the tournament, faced off (have to put the hockey terminology in for Mariucci Arena- home of the MN Hockey Gophers) against unseeded, 16th-ranked Holy Family Catholic- the Fire.

As usual, it was a slow start as the girl's got accustomed to the wide open arena. After HFC hit a couple free throws to make it 7-5 PEM, the Bulldogs clamped down and ran. An 18-3 run put PEM in front 21-8, a double-digit lead that they never relinquished. PEM attacked the basket hard on offense, and had tremendous balance in scoring. The Bulldog defense was stifling throughout the game, suffocating the Fire. PEM lead by 17 at the half, 32-15, and HFC would get no closer than 15 the entire second half, even as PEM's shooting dropped off. For the game, PEM held HFC to 18% shooting. PEM shot 36 percent, but only 26% in the second half.

The Bulldogs scoring was a complete team effort. Hayley Dessner led with 12, followed by Chloe Holtz (11), Sarah Hart (10), Tessa Hubbard (9), and Morgan Shindelar and Emmaline Polson each with 8. Awfully hard for opposing coaches to decide who or what to stop!

Our award winners: Player of the Game for HFC was junior guard Brooke Bowlin, the niece of Winona Cotter head coach Pat Bowlin. She tied for a team-high 11pts, and grabbed 8 rebounds for the Fire. I went with co-POG's for PEM with their effort, and it was tough! I settled on two senior guards- Chloe Holtz (11pts, 5 reb. 5-7 FT) and Tessa Hubbard (9pts, 8 reb, 4 stls, 2 blocks). I thought their attacking the basket early was key in getting things rolling for the Bulldogs. The Game Ball went to Sarah Hart, who may be one of the best passers in the state (according to many, including Bill Bentson). Sarah had 7 assists, 8 rebounds, and 2 steals to go along with her 10 points.

The Bulldogs' next opponent is the Roseau Rams, seeded 4th and ranked 6th in the final MN Basketball News poll. Broadcast time for the AA Semifinals is set for 5:45 Friday evening on KFIL & kfilradio.com. Other Quarterfinal scores: Roseau 78, Pequot Lakes 65; Sauk Centre 70, Norwood Young America 51; New London-Spicer 58, Minnehaha Academy 44.

Photo credit: Rick Madonik, Getty Images