Buffalo Stops St. Michael-Albertville's State Dreams with Huge Second Half Spurt

St. Michael-Albertville's hoop dreams came crashing down in the second half of Saturday night's tilt with Buffalo in the Section 8-4A title game. And that's being quite literal.

Carlyn Anderson, a senior guard and one of the team's leading scorers, crashed to the deck with about 10 minutes left in the game, tweaking her already injured knee. She wouldn't return, and the Bison added insult to the injury by going on a huge run to close the game and pull away with a 53-39 win. 

"I thought it would be a positive for us, because we've had girls go down before and someone always steps up. I thought the girls kind of saw it that way, too," said Knights head coach Kent Hamre. "But they got the bigger run at the better time. They're just a great team." 

Buffalo (25-3) advances to the State Class 4A tournament next weekend. The Knights (23-5) end their season as Mississippi 8 runners up, Section 8-4A runners up and about nine minutes from a trip to Minneapolis. 

"It hurts right now. But we really over-achieved all season. This was a team that did so much. I'm so proud of them. They're great girls on and off the floor, and they're people that our younger girls in the community can look up to," Hamre said.