Ireland Stassen and the Minneota Girls Basketball team are heading back to the state tournament.

Viking girls back to state; open Thursday against Mt. Iron-Buhl

The defending Class A champion Minneota Vikings are headed back to state.

The Vikings (26-5) will open against top-seeded Mountain Iron-Buhl at 11 a.m. Thursday, March 17 at the University of Minneota's Maturi Pavilion.

In other quarterfinal matchups, No. 4 Cass Lake-Bena plays Hayfield, No. 2 Mayer Lutheran plays United Christian, and No. 3 Hancock takes on Nevis.

Discounting two years they played in Class AA in 2016 and 2017, the Vikings (26-5) have now qualified for 10 straight Class A state tournaments; the last five and the previous before the two Class AA seasons.

After a low-scoring first half that left the teams in a 17-17 halftime deadlock, Minneota seemingly pitched a tent and camped at the free throw line in the second half.

The Vikings made only two field goals in the second half, but cashed 23 free throws en route to a 44-33 victory over Tracy-Milroy-Balaton in the Section 3A championship before a large boisterous crowd Friday night at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall.

This wasn't anything like the last time the two teams met when the Panthers built a 27-point lead in the first half and then withstood a furious comeback attempt by the Vikings and won 50-46.

The 17 points over the first 18 minutes was a season-low for each team, who both average over 60 points per game.

The team's top scorers, Jordyn Munson of TMB and Natalee Rolbiecki of Minneota, were held to just four points in the first half as they were the focus of each team's shutdown defense. Rolbiecki finished with a game-high 10 points and Munson had a team-high seven points.

Munson sprained her ankle her ankle with 10 minutes left in the game and the Panthers trailing by seven points. She returned with three minutes remaining but was limited in her mobility and unable to rally the Panthers.

Minneota Superintendent Dan Deitte announced on Saturday that there will be no school on Thursday, March 17 and Friday, March 18 so students and staff can attend the tournament.

See this week's Mascot for more on the game and the upcoming state tournament.

(Minneota 44, Tracy-MB 33)
Tracy-Milroy-Balaton........................................17 16 - 33
Minneota..........................................................17 27 - 44

Team Statistics
Field goal shooting (good-attempts-pct.): Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 14-for-38, 36.8 percent. Minneota 9-for-33, 27.3 percent ... 3-point shooting (good-attempts-pct.): Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 2-for-16, 12.5 percent. Minneota 2-for-13, 15.4 percent ... Rebounds: Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 21, Minneota 26.

TMB Individual Statistics
Scoring (total points): Kiarra Danielson 1-4 0-0 2, Jaysa Davis 2-3 1-1 5, Camille Dolan 3-4 0-0 6, Margaret Dolan 2-4 0-0 4, Maddi Langerock 1-2 2-2 5, Sheridan Ludeman 0-3 0-0 0, Jordan Munson 3-9 0-0 7, Jasmine Timmerman 0-4 0-0 0, Madison Timmerman 0-1 0-0 0 ... 3-pointers: Munson 1, Langerock 1 ... Rebound leader: Munson 4, Davis 4 ... Assist leader: Langerock 2, Munson 2 ... Steal leader: Langerock 4.

Minneota Individual Statistics
Scoring (fgm-fga ftm-fta points): Natalee Rolbiecki 2-6 6-6 10, Jeren Rost 1-3 4-8 6, McKenzie Tolk 2-6 4-7 8, McKenna Yost 1-7 5-6 7, Ireland Stassen 1-6 5-8 7, Grace Hennen 1-2 0-0 3, Kennedi Jurrens 0-0 0-0 0, Kenadi Arndt 0-1 0-0 0, Dakoda Hennen 1-2 0-0 3, Faith Myhre 0-0 0-0 0 ... 3-pointers: G.Hennen 1, D.Hennen 1 ... Rebounds: Stassen 8, Rost 6, Yost 5, Rolbiecki 4, Arndt 2, Tolk 1 ... Assists: Stassen 2, Yost 1, Tolk 1 ... Steals: Rolbiecki 3, Yost 3, Stassen 2, Arndt 1, G.Hennen 1, Jurrens 1, Rost 1.

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