The Lady Owls basketball team overcame top-ranked Ada-Borup in a big 66-52 win in the Class A state semi-finals Friday afternoon at the Target Center. After leading 37-26 at halftime, they expanded to lead to as many as 17 points before the Cougars (29-2) cut it down to a nine-point game. The Lady Owls ran their flawless motion offense nearly the entire second half and stretched the final margin out at the free throw line.
They now face defending Class A champion Fulda (29-3), who won their semi-final game 65-31 over Badger-Greenbush-Middle River (27-5). B-G-MR lost in their regular season finale' 68-44 to Ada-Borup, a small comparison of how Fulda and Hancock could match up.
The Class A state championship game will be held at 12:00 Noon on Saturday, March 17, at the Target Center in Minneapolis.
Tara Thielke's three-pointer gave the Lady Owls their first lead of the game at 4-3 early on. For the next three minutes, the Ada-Borup Cougars went on a scoring spree with a 12-0 run while showing their state tournament experience from 2006.
Shortly after a Hancock timeout, with 12:57 on the clock, Jenny Noordmans hit a three-pointer after great ball movement by the Lady Owls. They were in business.
On the very next sequence, Noordmans snared a defensive board. Moments after that, on an inbounds pass, Bree Holleman hit a wide open paint shot, taking advantage of the defense sagging to the left side.
Only 45 seconds later, a fearless Stacie Cunningham drove the lane against much taller defenders and was sent to the free throw line, where she cashed two buckets.
Holleman hit two free throws 40 seconds later, followed a minute and a half after that by a rebound shot in the paint by Thielke.
Thielke was on her way to hitting five buckets in a row for the Lady Owls. The senior wing was unstoppable with a pullup jumper, a turnaround shot down low, a drive of the left wing, and a drive that split the paint defense that made it a 24-23 game with 6:22 on the clock.
One minute later, Holleman would drain a three-pointer on a decoy play to put the Lady Owls back on top 26-24.
In the next minute, there was no let up as the Lady Owls' pressure defense earned them a couple two-on-one breaks, leading to a nice paint shot from Chelsea Voorhees and then a layup from Holleman to give them a two-possession lead, 30-24 with 4:45 left before halftime. Their defense had just fueled a 13-2 run.
In the final minutes of the first period, the Cougars seemed to wilt under the pressure. Noordmans was having a monster game on the defensive boards, while their guards were flowing to the basket with two more driving layups from Thielke and Holleman. Noordmans added to the effort with two midcourt interceptions, as the former junior high football running back had an eye for the ball on their press.
Halftime score: Hancock 37, Ada-Borup 26. The Lady Owls ended the first period on an incredible 20-4 run in the last eight minutes.
While being interviewed before going into the locker room, Coach Holleman cited the 110% effort of the team, while they were also having a great deal of fun running plays and dishing out pressure with their press. She also mentioned their kneepads, with all players diving at various times for loose balls.
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