Sports
VIDEO: St. Michael-Albertville Girls Celebrate Title, Trip to State
The girls basketball team captured the Section 8-4A title Friday night in Collegeville, topping Buffalo 58-55 in overtime. Now, they'll head to Target Center for the State 4A Tournament.
simply found a way this time, which is something they couldn't do the first two tries against Buffalo.
Coach Kent Hamre slapped a full-court press on the Bison twice, and the Mississippi 8 Conference champions looked like they were knocked out of their system. The Knights capitalized, scoring some quick buckets and, more importantly, keeping Buffalo off the board to build, at one point, a seven point lead.
"There are kind of things we know we have to do that we maybe haven't tried yet," Hamre said before the contest. "That last game against them, especially, it was like both teams weren't tipping their hand, knowing that it would come down to this."
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There were a couple of big factors in the win: First, Christine Thorn, who was held to five points at home, her lowest output of the seaosn, against the Bison, got her shot by taking the ball to the rim and scoring.
Second, the Knights beat the Bison at their own game: defense. STMA forced 16 turnovers, many during that crucial stretch.
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"We have some great athletes on this team," said Natalie VanWyhe. "We knew that if we got another shot at them, we'd have to take advantage."
And though Buffalo found ways to tie it, twice, at the horn, the Knights never seemed out of control.
"Really, a big thanks goes to our fans who made it up to St. Johns. They were awesome. And it helped us a ton to see and hear the support," Hamre said.
The Knights open State 4A Tournament play at noon Wednesday at Target Center vs. Eastview. The game will not be televised or webcast by Channel 45, so we will keep STMA fans up to date here on the site. It will be webcast by Minnesota Sports Network, with an audio-only feed.
Stay tuned for coverage information.
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