Maple Grove buzzer-beater sinks Panthers
One couldn’t overcome a rough start. The other suffered through about the most deflating ending imaginable.
So it went for two South Suburban Conference teams on the first day of the state girls basketball tournament.
Rosemount fell behind defending Class 4A champion St. Michael-Albertville early, then made several runs at the Knights before losing 68-57 in Wednesday’s quarterfinals at Williams Arena. Earlier in the day, Maple Grove ran an inbounds play to perfection for the winning basket at the buzzer as the Crimson defeated Lakeville North 56-55.
Lakeville North and Rosemount move to the consolation semifinals Thursday morning at Concordia University in St. Paul, with North (24-6) playing White Bear Lake (21-8) at 10 a.m., and Rosemount (22-7) facing Andover (24-5) at noon. The winners play for the consolation championship at 6 p.m. Friday, also at Concordia University.
Rosemount committed turnovers on its first six possessions, allowing St. Michael-Albertville (23-7) to unleash its transition game and take a 9-0 lead three minutes in. The Irish had a nine-point run of their own later in the first half, cutting STMA’s lead to 25-23. The Irish made it a one-possession difference a couple of other times, but never got the lead.
Although the Irish outrebounded the Knights and made more three-pointers, turnovers killed them. They had 23 to STMA’s 10, and the Knights had a 25-3 advantage in points off turnovers.
Rosemount coach Chris Orr praised his team’s effort in getting back into the game after the bad start.
“Especially against a great team. They’re defending state champs for a reason,” Orr said. “All year we’ve been down and battled back, so it’s nothing we weren’t used to, in a sense. Today, they just made more plays than we did.”
Amisha Ramlall had 15 points and Avery Moeller 13 for Rosemount. Ashna Ramlall added 11 points, Ava Thompson had nine points, seven assists and four steals, and Ayelishka Teko-Folly grabbed 12 of the Irish’s 28 rebounds.
Lakeville North held the lead for only a few minutes of its game against Maple Grove, but for a while it looked like the Panthers would be ahead when it counted. Elayna Boe’s rebound basket with 27 seconds left gave North a 54-55 lead.
Maple Grove (25-4) called timeout with 11 seconds and two seconds remaining. Lakeville North then called its own timeout to set up its defense.
Once the strategy sessions were finished, the Crimson ran a play that allowed forward Claire Stern to loop behind a screen and get open for a layup at the buzzer. Bella Hanna made the inbounds pass.
It was a crushing loss for the Panthers, who hadn’t gotten past the state quarterfinals since 2018 and had a goal of doing so this year.
Lakeville North senior center Trinity Wilson had a double-double with 17 points and 15 rebounds, and also had six assists. Boe and Gabby Betton scored 13 points each. Junior forward Aduke Ojullu finished with six points and five rebounds, and the Panthers had a plus-17 point differential when she was on the court.
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