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Girls basketball: Owls crank up the 'D' to slow down the KMS Fighting Saints

joe brown, west central tribune, willmar, minn.
·4 min read

Mar. 7—GLENWOOD — Whenever the ball moved for the Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg offense, expect a parliament of Owls to flock into the passing lanes.

Led by a stout defense, top-seeded Hancock is headed back to the Section 6A final after beating the second-seeded Fighting Saints 53-42 in the South sub-section championship at Minnewaska High School.

"Defense won that ball game," said Owls head coach Chad Nuest. "We thought we had a really good scout on them. They don't play a lot of section games so we don't see them a lot. But the girls did great; they executed the game plan and followed what we wanted them to do."

The defending Class A state champion Owls take on Underwood for the section championship at 7 p.m. Friday at Fergus Falls. The Rockets won the North sub-section with a 56-47 win over Henning on Tuesday in Perham.

KMS knew a tough battle was on tap against the reigning champs.

"To be the best, you have to beat the best," said Fighting Saints head coach Justin Johnson. "We weren't going to back down and our girls didn't back down all night long or all season long. We knew it wasn't going to be easy."

KMS' offense revolves around sophomore post Madelynn Luft, whether that's taking shots in the post or setting up others along the perimeter. Hancock's plan from the onset was to alter any pass going Luft's way.

That helped the Owls build a 26-15 halftime lead. Up 11 with less than 10 minutes to play, Hancock held the Fighting Saints without a field goal for 6 minutes, 5 seconds, allowing the Owls to pull ahead 44-29 with 3:51 to play.

"They did what we expected," Johnson said of Hancock's defense. "We just have to be stronger with the ball. We had a lot of youth out there, too."

The Fighting Saints' defense gave Hancock its own problems. Having a 6-foot-1 anchor in Luft can alter any game plan.

"It was a little bit of a grind," Nuest said. "We would have loved to get (Misti) Zempel established down low but a (6-1) girl makes that difficult."

But with the game in hand, the Owls executed from the free throw line, going 16 of 21. Kaitlyn Rohloff led the team with 20 points, followed by 11 from Kaitlyn Staples.

"We didn't shoot it well," Nuest said. "But it was enough. In these games, that's all you're really looking for."

Luft was the only KMS player in double figures with 11 points. Josie Gjerde and Acelynn Hacker followed with nine and seven points, respectively.

The Fighting Saints lose three senior starters — Julia Carlson, Elsa Gjerde and Josie Gjerde — but the returning crop of players has Johnson intrigued for the team's future.

"We'll miss these seniors but we have a strong nucleus coming back for years to come," Johnson said. "We're excited about the future and what we did this year."

KMS (22-7) 15 27 — 42

Hancock (23-4) 26 27 — 53

KMS — Scoring: Madelynn Luft 11, Josie Gjerde 9, Acelynn Hacker 7, Julia Carlson 6, Mamie Luft 4, Elsa Gjerde 3, Sophia Oerter 2 ... 3-point shots: E. Gjerde 1, J. Gjerde 1 ... Rebound leader: Mad. Luft 12 ... Assist leaders: Elsa Gjerde 1, Mamie Luft 1, Mad. Luft 1 ... Steal leaders: E. Gjerde 1, Oerter 1 ... Block leader: Mad. Luft 4

HANCOCK — Scoring: Kaitlyn Rohloff 20, Kaitlyn Staples 11, Misti Zempel 8, Brooke VerSteeg 7, Autumn Hubbard 5, Kaylynn Christianson 2 ... 3-point shots: Rohloff 3, Staples 2, VerSteeg 1, Hubbard 1 ... Rebound leader: n/a ... Assist leader: n/a ... Steal leader: n/a ... Block leader: n/a

Top-seeded Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa locked up a spot in the Section 5A championship after beating third-seeded Walker-Hackensack-Akeley in the West sub-section championship game at Wadena.

The Jaguars face East sub-section champion Barnum for the section title at 7 p.m. Friday at a site to be determined. The second-seeded Bombers beat fourth-seeded Upsala 44-42 Tuesday in Hinckley.

BBE's defense limited the Wolves to 10 first-half points. The Jaguars had 12 steals, led by six from Tiyana Schwinghammer.

Abby Berge scored 29 points for the Jaguars on 9 of 12 shooting from the field and 8 of 10 from the free-throw line. Berge, a Minnesota State-Moorhead recruit, also had 11 rebounds and five assists. Brooklyn Fischer added 20 points and seven boards.

W-A-H (21-8) 10 16 — 26

BBE (24-4) 35 30 — 65

W-A-H — Stats not available

BBE — Scoring: Abby Berge 29, Brooklyn Fischer 20, Tiyana Schwinghammer 9, Anna Jaeger 3, Bree Thieschafer 2, Adley Hagen 2 ... 3-point shots: Fischer 2, Jaeger 1, Berge 1 ... Rebound leader: Berge 11 ... Assist leader: Berge 5 ... Steal leader: Schwinghammer 6 ... Block leader: Schwinghammer 5