Stinging loss ends fine season for Braham girls basketball

The Braham girls basketball team saw a fine season come to a bitter end in the Section 5A title contest.

The Bombers claimed the East Subsection title in a 90-62 romp over Great River Conference rival Ogilvie on Wednesday, March 6, before losing 67-63 to Walker-Hackensack-Akeley in the section championship, which was played at St. Cloud State’s Hallenbeck Hall two nights later.

“The sting is still there,” Braham coach Zach Loy said after Friday night’s loss to Walker-Hackensack-Akeley. “But it was one of the most entertaining, and most fun, basketball games I’ve been involved with in five years here.”

It was an unhappy ending to otherwise impressive 24-6 season.

The Ogilvie win

Ogilvie and Braham met twice during the regular season, with each team claiming a close road win.

“Ogilvie is a very familiar opponent for us, and we had two tight games against them this year,” Loy said. “It’s a situation where they know everything about us, and we know everything about them. There are a not a lot of surprises.”

What may have been a surprise was that Braham quickly built an early lead in the rubber match, then easily pulled away.

“Right out of the gates we got out in transition, hit some shots, and built an early lead,” Loy said. “And we were able to ride that out.”

“Ride that out” is an understatement: The Bombers rolled to a lopsided 28-point victory.

“We were more locked in and ready than in any other game we’ve played this season,” Loy said. “It was a night where we could have called out any play, and our girls would have executed it really, really well.

“That’s a lot of fun to see, and a lot of fun to be a part of.”

What also made the night fun was that Braham got scoring from a number of different players. Senior Nickole Duvernay led the way with 19 points, while junior Olivia Heikes was close behind with 17.

But there was more: Junior Alex Rysdam finished with 14, while her freshman sister Morgan scored 11, and two others, senior Arin Zimpel and sophomore Avery Shockman, nearly hit double figures with 9 apiece.

“That just shows that the whole team was locked in for that game,” Loy said. “We didn’t ride one person to victory. Everybody showed up – and that was really fun to watch.”

The WHA loss

The Bombers’ contest against Walker-Hackensack-Akeley was close throughout before the Wolves scored on seven of their last nine possessions to earn a 67-63 victory and clinch a berth in the Class A state tournament.

Loy made it clear that his team played well enough to win, but Walker-Hackensack-Akeley made key plays down the stretch to claim the victory.

“Our girls should be incredibly proud of the game they played,” he said. “They poured their hearts out, and they gave everything they had.

“They can look in the mirror and know they did everything they could to win.”

The game was tied 26-26 at the half before Braham used a quick 7-point spurt to lead 38-31 and force a Wolves timeout at the 14:21 mark. Walker-Hackensack-Akeley came out of that timeout and quickly got back into the game by scoring the game’s next 8 points.

“Give them a ton of credit: It would have been easy for them to say, ‘The sky is falling because Braham is making a run,’ but they stayed true to what they do,” Loy said of the Wolves. “They got some shots to fall. …

“We had a couple of possessions where we got good ball movement and got some good shots. They just didn’t fall.”

From that point, it was a back-and-forth contest that saw five ties and five lead changes before the Bombers held a 55-53 lead with a little more than three minutes to play. The Wolves scored on three straight possessions to lead 59-55 before Heikes sank a 3-pointer; Walker-Hackensack-Akeley responded with a 3, then made five of its final seven free throws to close out the victory.

“When I get the courage to watch the film of this game, I’m sure there will things that pop out – for example, [missing] free throws hurt us,” Loy said.

Heikes led the Bombers with 22 points, while Morgan Rysdam scored 14 and senior Madison Davis added 10.

A fine season

Despite having its year end with a loss, Loy was quick to point out that his team enjoyed a very successful season.

“There were some ups and some downs, but there were a lot more ups than downs this year,” he said. “We challenged ourselves with some difficult competition throughout the year, and that helped prepare us for the tournament.

“But our girls also responded well. Our seniors should look back and be proud of it, and our underclassmen could be proud as well – while taking some of the lessons we’ve learned and using them going forward.”

The three seniors – Madison Davis, Zimpel and Duvernay – served as captains and leaders of this year’s squad.

“You could tell, every time they stepped on floor, how much the game meant to them. And how much this team meant to them,” Loy said. “That emotion, that passion, led us to a number of big victories and amazing moments.”

All three seniors will be hard to replace not just because they are seniors, but because they were important parts of the program for a number of years.

“All three of them have played on the varsity since at least their freshman year, and some of them played as eighth graders,” Loy said of the seniors. “Their experience helped us be successful. They’ve been there and seen everything there is to see; they weren’t going to be rattled by big situations or tough teams.

“Their experience was just as valuable to this team as was their talent.”

But don’t cry for the Bombers: They return a number of key performers from a varsity roster that used a nine-player rotation.

“We had a very deep team,” Loy said. “We had at least five or six underclassmen who played significant minutes for us, and they’re going to form our core going forward.

“On top of that, our JV team had a phenomenal year – I believe they went 24-2 this season. We have a number of freshmen and sophomores who, if they were at other schools, could have been varsity players.”

Generally Braham’s starting lineup included the team’s three seniors along with Heikes and Morgan Rysdam. Off the bench Alex Rysdam, along with sophomores Shockman, Emily Davis and Jenna Beck, also saw significant minutes.

“Give it about a week, and [knowing we have so many players coming back] will take away some of the sting of that loss,” Loy said. “We lose three important seniors, and we’re grateful for our seniors.

“But we played in a great environment at St. Cloud State against a really good team. Hopefully we can (get) back to this point, and now we’ll have a number of young players ready to step forward and fill roles for us. I’m really, really excited to get back to work to get ready for next year. …

“Maybe not this week, because it still is going to sting. But give it a little time.”