Mar. 17—MINNEAPOLIS — The Goodhue girls basketball team wanted more.

"It hurts to not advance," Wildcats coach Josh Wieme said.

It was Albany that put a stop to Goodhue's championship aspirations, ending them behind a stellar and towering zone defense led by 6-foot-3 center Alyssa Sand.

Goodhue is a team that averages 63 points per game. Against the Huskies, except those provided by sophomore forward Kendyl Lodermeier, there were no offensive outbursts.

A team built on fast breaks and scoring runs was stifled, Goodhue ultimately falling 48-45 to No. 3 seed Albany in the state Class AA semifinals at Williams Arena.

This is Goodhue's first state tournament appearance in Class AA, having previously been in Class A until 2020.

That dropped the 28-4 Wildcats into Saturday's noon third-place game where it will meet No. 5 seed Minnehaha Academy at Concordia University in St. Paul.

"When we are in a game in the 40s, that is not a game that is going to work to our advantage," Wieme said. "It isn't that we can't play defense, because we can. But we thrive on scoring runs and transition basketball. Against Albany, we had to work hard for every shot we got, much less every basket that we got."

Goodhue has two primary scorers. They are junior point guard Elisabeth Gadient and senior forward Tori Miller. Gadient averages 19 points per game, Miller 15.

Against Albany, a defensive juggernaut that permits just 37 points per game, Gadient managed just nine points while Miller was held scoreless. The drives that Miller is used to getting and converting, weren't available. And the fast breaks that she so often blazes down the court on and converts, were also non-existent.

Albany saw to all of that.

"We needed some more scoring," said Wieme, whose team actually led by five points following an inside basket and free throw by Jade Scheele with 7:13 left in regulation. "But Albany has a lot of length. Every time we'd go inside; there was Sand, all 6-3 of her and with long arms. We just needed to hit some more outside shots against their zone."

The Wildcats did have one big and consistent scorer Friday. That was 5-11 forward Lodermeier. She had a team-high 19 points, doing it behind stellar 9-for-15 shooting. Grinding and powerful center Scheele was next highest with 12 points. Those two also combined for 15 rebounds, Scheele with nine of them. Miller had six boards.

"I had a lot of opportunities because we were moving the ball around and my teammates were finding me," Lodermeier said.

It wouldn't have been Wieme's guess that Lodermeier would score 19 points and his team would lose.

"I thought Kendyl was just tremendous today," Wieme said. "It's a shame that she had this kind of a game and we were not able to pull it off."

After looking like they might just wind up winners, owning that 38-33 lead with 7:13 left following Scheele's three-point play, Albany gradually took over.

They did that especially behind some dagger 3-point shots. Tatum Findley had two of those, part of a 13-point night for her. Albany ended a stellar 6-for-11 on treys, while Goodhue struggled all night from there, going 3-for-17.

Eva Schwenzfeier put Albany ahead 45-43 with a 3-pointer with just under 2 minutes left. Lodermeier tied it with a 10-foot shot before Findley provided the final dagger, another 3-pointer with 1:06 showing, giving her team a 48-45 lead.

Neither side would score again.

Complete box score:

https://www.mshsl.org/sites/default/files/2023-03/2023%20GBB%20AA%20SF%20Alb%20Good.pdf