P-E-M GBB State Recap

The high is wearing off, and the evenings are much less cluttered. The 2015-16 winter sports season at KFIL is all completed!

Last week, I had the pleasure of covering the P-E-M Bulldogs at the Class AA State Tournament. The Bulldogs were ranked #1 in the state rankings from the MN Basketball News since December 1st. After their win over last year's state champion Dover-Eyota in the Section 1 Championship, they had the chance to prove their ranking at the state tournament. They did just that by stringing three great wins together, culminating in a totally dominant performance in the title game to bring the championship trophy to Section 1 and the Three Rivers Conference for the second year in a row.

I'm asked all throughout the season my thoughts on the best area teams. I answered many times this year that this P-E-M team may very well be the most complete girls team I've ever covered. They had it all. Size, speed, balance, shooting, defense, depth... a considerable luxury for a small school. They needed almost every bit of it in the three games at the state tournament.

The Bulldogs took care of Holy Family Catholic, another first-time entrant, 59-38 in the quarterfinal round. The defense was outstanding beginning to end, which helped counter a below-average shooting performance in the 2nd half of the game. They held HFC's leading scorer Molly Smith to 11 points on 3-19 shooting. The 'Dogs attacked the basket time after time, with Chloe Holtz and Tessa Hubbard knifing through the Fire's defenders. PEM lead 32-15 at the half, and weren't threatened much at all. Six Bulldogs scored between 8-12 points. Balance you just don't see in many teams at all, regardless of class.  Hayley Dessner 12 points & 6 rebs, Chloe Holtz 11 points & 5 rebs, Sarah Hart 10 pts, 8 rebs, & 7 assists, Tessa Hubbard 9 pts, 8 rebs, & 4 stls, Emmaline Polson 8 pts, 13 rebs, & 7 blocked shots, Morgan Shindelar 8 pts & 4 rebs.

The semifinal round brought Roseau. D-E defeated the Rams in last year's semifinals, and the Rams brought most if not all their players back. P-E-M used balance, size, and depth to outscore Roseau 87-78. The Bulldogs lead by just two at the half, increased the lead to 13 in the second, only to have the Rams trim it all the way to two again before a final push sent the 'Dogs to the title tilt. Roseau couldn't quite handle both Emmaline Polson and Hayley Dessner in the post, as PEM rolled up 48 points in the paint. The Bulldogs had four in double figures, and used the depth as foul trouble creeped in as Roseau was making their rally. Hayley Dessner had 23 pts & 12 rebs (10 off. rebs), Chloe Holtz 20 pts, Sarah Hart (who fouled out with 3:45 to go) 14 pts & 7 rebs, Emmaline Polson 12 pts 9 rebs, & 3 blocks. Roseau has three sisters named Borowicz, who will all be back and most likely all be starting. Kiley (a junior this year) had 35 pts, Kacie (freshman) 23pts, and Katie (7th grader, and a non-starter this year) 4 pts. They are tremendous scorers and fearless!

In the state championship game, versus New London-Spicer, defense was the key again. NL-S was at state for the 16th time, but the experience they had this year was not a pleasant one, other than playing in the state title game. P-E-M was relentless in the first half, building a 39-14 halftime advantage. The Bulldogs forced the Wildcats to take a lot of shots from further out, and held NL-S to 26% shooting for the game. The size and speed of PEM was superior in all facets of the game, as the Bulldogs cruised to the state title in their first appearance by a final of 72-42. Every player was able to step foot on the Williams Arena floor as the final 4 minutes ticked on the way to the celebration. Emmaline Polson led the way with 22 pts, 10 rebs, and 3 blocks. Sarah Hart had 13 pts, 7 assists, and 5 rebs. Baighley Standinger, Chloe Holtz, Tessa Hubbard, Morgan Shindelar, and Hayley Dessner all scored between 4-10 points, adding to the stable of balance and depth PEM had.

For the tournament, PEM averaged only 11.6 turnovers, 72.6 points, 17 offense rebounds, 7 blocked shots, and 13 assists. The Bulldogs had four named to the All-Tournament team, which is fairly rare- Emmaline Polson, Chloe Holtz, Hayley Dessner, and Sarah Hart.

Thank you to all the sponsors and fans for eing a part of our long run of coverage. Congratulations to the team, coaches, parents, and entire P-E-M community on your state championship from KFIL/KVGO Sports!!

Photo courtesy of Minnesota State High School League