Girls basketball: Second half dooms NLS Wildcats

Mar. 15—MINNEAPOLIS — After a competitive, physical and even first half, things quickly went down the tubes for the New London-Spicer girls basketball team.

Minnehaha Academy went on a 17-2 run to start the second half, enabling the Redhawks to beat the Wildcats 50-28 in the state Class AA quarterfinals at Williams Arena.

"They play with really high intensity on defense and they pressure the ball really well," NLS senior guard Avery Rich said of the Redhawks. "So it was hard for us to find our passes and that made us force some passes that weren't really open."There were no easy baskets. I think that's the main thing that happened."

Fourth-seeded NLS (28-2) plays Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial (29-2) in the consolation semifinals at 6 p.m. Thursday at the University of Concordia-St. Paul.

Minnehaha Academy (23-7) plays top-seeded and No. 1-ranked Providence Academy (28-2) in the Class AA semifinals at 6 p.m. Friday at Williams Arena. Providence beat Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial 78-40.In other Class AA quarterfinals, No. 2 Goodhue beat Crosby-Ironton 67-59 and No. 3 Albany defeated Perham 51-38. Goodhue and Albany play at 8 p.m. Friday at Williams Arena.

Class A quarterfinals commence at 11 a.m. Thursday. Fifth-seeded Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa plays No. 4 Underwood at 1 p.m. at the Maturi Pavilion on the University of Minnesota campus. No. 3 BOLD plays United Christian Academy at 5 p.m. at Maturi.

NLS led 20-19 at halftime in which teams played their kind of defense. For the Wildcats, that's their tenacious 2-3 zone that the Redhawks admitted to having trouble dealing with. And for Minnehaha Academy, it was a tough, aggressive man-to-man that made everything NLS tried to do difficult.

"We weren't shocked by anything that was thrown at us," Minnehaha Academy head coach Matt Pryor said. "I think a lot of it was a young team getting used to the environment."

Both teams struggled offensively. NLS shot 29.7% from the field, making 11 of 37 attempts. The Wildcats were 1-for-11 from 3-point range, 9.1%. And, 3-point shooting is usually an NLS strength.

"Our offense was maybe a little better (in the first half)," said Rich, who finished with 11 points. "And maybe we got a little tired toward the end, too."

Fourth-seeded NLS made its first shot of the first half, then got another basket from Dakota Rich about five minutes later at 12:06. In between, it was all Minnehaha Academy. The fifth-seeded Redhawks built a 36-24 lead by the 10:04 mark of the second half. NLS got the deficit down to 36-28 on an Avery Rich drive with 7:03 to go. That's as close as it would get as the Wildcats were held to eight second-half points.

"They just play really aggressive man defense and that just forced us to play faster than we really wanted to," Avery Rich said. "That really didn't go our way towards the end."

Sophomore guard Addi Mack led the Redhawks with 21 points.

"She's really quick," NLS head coach Mike Dreier said. "She's real similar to (Mya) Monahan at Glencoe(-Silver Lake). She's got another gear that makes her explosive."

Junior guard Angel Hill had 15 points and seven steals for Minnehaha Academy, which shot 39% (16 of 41) from the field and out-rebounded NLS 30-26.

"They have really good players," Dreier said. "You've got to stay mentally tough and not let down at all and we let down a few times."

Minnehaha Academy (23-7) 19 31 — 50

NLS (28-2) 20 8 — 28

MINNEHAHA ACADEMY — Scoring: Addi Mack 21, Angel Hill 15, Amina Allen 5, Sinae Hill 3, Cupito 2, Aniyah Reuben 2, Isa Griefenhagen 2 ... 3-point shots: Mack 2, S. Hill 1, Allen 1 ... Rebound leaders: A. Hill 6, Allen 6 ... Assist leader: A. Hill 3, Allen 3 ... Steal leader: A. Hill 7 ... Block leader: Allen 1

NLS — Scoring: Avery Rich 11, Ellary Peterson 6, Jaden Coahran 4, Dakota Rich 5, Ava Carlson 2 ... 3-point shots: D. Rich 1 ... Rebound leaders: Coahran 10, Peterson 7 ... Assist leader: Hanson 4 ... Steal leaders: D. Rich 2, Carlson 2 ... Block leader: Peterson 1