Vikings push past YME into North Section 3A finals
Minneota's offense was a little like novocaine Tuesday night. It takes time to take effect — but when it does, it can numb the other team.
After a slow start, the Vikings opened up the middle in the second half with Lydia Sussner scoring 10 of her 15 points to lead the Vikings (23-4) to a 57-39 win over Yellow Medicine East.
They will play Lac qui Parle Valley in the Section 3A North finals at 8 p.m. Friday at SMSU in Marshall. The Eagles (25-3) were a 65-49 winner over Wabasso (23-4).
The winner will play for the Section 3A crown on Friday, March 9.
“We got better movement the second half. We split them out so we could get movement inside,” said Coach Chad Johnston.
The Vikings' outside shots weren’t falling, so Yellow Medicine East stayed in a tight ring around Sussner.
They didn’t need her much in the first half, after running up an 11-0 lead after Morgan Kockelman stole the ball and went the length of the court to score. At 14:49, it looked as though The Sting were in trouble.
But when Madison Hinz banked in a three-pointer, it seemed to lift the lid on the bucket and YME started scoring.
The Vikings led 18-5 after their second run — this time they outscored YME, 7-0.
But the taller YME squad got a second three-pointer from Hinz, then a third and another from Meeghan Dahlager and they pulled within 20-19 with a 14-2 run of their own.
Suddenly it was a ball game again. “They did a nice job of taking things away (from us),” Coach Johnston said.
“This was a good team,” he added. But Kockelman hit a three-pointer, then another and the Vikings were able to stretch out to a 29-22 halftime lead.
“We talked about getting the ball inside at the half,” the coach said.
Once Sussner was able to rid herself of Dahlager and Mackenzie Dyrdahl (both 5-10), she was able to penetrate and score enough to loosen things up for Lizzy Gillingham and Morgan Hennen from the outside.
Slowly, the novocaine took affect as Minneota took the stinger away from the Sting and went from a 33-28 lead to a 52-34, an 18-point bulge.
Coach Johnston called for his team to slow the ball down with 2:57 to go.
They weaved and passed, missed just one shot, got the ball back and pretty much wasted about two and a half minutes.
“There was no reason to push the issue,” he said.
Sussner ended up leading with 15 points and 11 rebounds; Gillingham scored 12 with four rebounds and Kockelman had 10 points.
Morgan Hennen got nine and Abby Hennen was held to just five for the Vikings.
Ann McCosh and Hinz each scored 11 for Yellow Medicine East, which finished the season with a 17-8 record that included three losses to Minneota.
MINNEOTA (2’s, 3’s, FT, F, TP) Lizzy Gillingham 4 0 4-5 1 12; Abby Hennen 1 1 0-0 3 5; Morgan Hennen 3 1 0-0 4 9; Morgan Kockelman 2 2 0-0 3 10; Natalee Rolbiecki 0 1 0-0 0 3; Abby Rost 1 0 1-2 0 3; Lydia Sussner 7 0 1-2 1 15. Totals 18 5 6-9 12 57.
YELLOW MEDICINE EAST (2’s, 3’s,FT, F, TP) Sam Anderson 1 0 1-2 1 3; Meeghan Dahlager 0 1 0-0 1 3; Mackenzie Dyrdahl 1 0 6-6 0 8; Madison Hinz 1 3 0-0 1 11; Anna McCosh 4 0 3-4 2 11; Lauren McCosh 0 0 0-0 0 0; Kaitlyn Mortenson 0 1 0-0 2 3. Totals 7 5 10-12 7 39.
Score by Halves
YME 22 17 — 39
Minneota 29 28 — 57
Statistics:
SHOOTING: Minneota (2’s 18 of 39 for 46 percent; 3’s 5 of 21 for 24 percent; overall 23 of 60 for 38 percent; YME (2’s 7 of 27 for 26 percent; 3’s 5 of 16 for 31 percent; overall 12 of 43 for 28 percent.
FREE THROWS: Minneota 6 of 9 for 67 percent; YME 10 of 12 for 83 percent.
REBOUNDS: Minneota 33 (Sussner 11, A. Hennen 6, M. Hennen, Rost 5 each, Gillingham 4, Rolbiecki 2). YME 19 (Dyrdahl 6, Mortenson 5, A. McCosh 4, Hinz, Dahlager 2 each).
TURNOVERS: Minneota 10; YME 16.
STEALS: Minneota 9 (Sussner, Rost, Kockelman 2 each, Gillingham, A. Hennen, M. Hennen 1 each); YME 1 (A. McCosh).
ASSISTS: Minneota 15 (A. Hennen 6; M. Hennen 3; Rost, Sussner 2 each, Kockelman, Gillingham 1 each); YME 6 (Hinz 3, Dahlager, Dyrdahl, Mortenson 1 each).
BLOCKS: Minneota 4 (Sussner 3, Rost 1); YME 1 (Dyrdahl).