For the first time in recent memory, the Mankato Loyola girl basketball team won a Section 2A tournament game, but the victory came in a most unusual way as the Crusaders rallied from an 18-point deficit to eliminate Alden-Conger/Glenville-Emmons 65-62 Monday night at Fitzgerald gym.
Loyola, which played without injured post and lone senior Jackie Fraze, couldn’t buy a basket through first 24 minutes and was down 46-28 when the Knights’ Maddison Mattson hit a 3-pointer with 12:37 to go.
However, freshman guard Amelia Speckels drilled a 3 and junior forward Maddie Huiras put through a trio of interior hoops, helping the Crusaders trim the deficit to 50-38.
“It was pretty difficult to feel hopeful at that point, but you just have to keep going on to the next play,” said Huiras, who ended up with a team-best 20 points and eight rebounds. “We made our first few shots of the second half and then we started going off that. We started being more aggressive on defense, and then our shots started going in.
“When they started getting flustered with our press, you could see our confidence going up. It was like a switch got turned on when we started pressuring them. This was huge for us to get that first playoff win.”
After 5-foot-10 senior post Cearra Grunzke tallied a short banker to put the Knights (9-17) in front 55-40 with 8:33 remaining, junior guard Gabby Bemmels right-wing 3-pointer ignited a 13-0 surge which pulled the Crusaders within 55-53 on junior guard Sammy Kann’s layup off a turnover. Bemmels added an 18-footer and layup in the surge, while Huiras tallied two close-range hoops.
“We made a decision right then and there to turn it on,” Bemmels’ said of the final 10 minutes. “We came out and put in a big effort, especially on defense to get those turnovers and create offense. This team has found itself in a lot of situations where we’ve been down by quite a bit and come back so knew we could do it. It was always there for us and when we got three steals in a row I thought to myself that yes, we’re going to do this.”
Grunzke, who led the Knights with 23 points and 11 rebounds, ended Loyola’s run before Huiras’ follow-up and Kann’s left-side triple put Loyola ahead 58-57 with 4:22 left.
Junior guard Rachel Ammann, who hit a trio from beyond the arc in totaling 10 points, then fired through a left baseline 3-pointer before Huiras’ fastbreak tally sealed things.
Speckels scored 11 points while Bemmels and Kann chipped in 10 apiece.
“We just needed to cut it down one possession at a time and one step at a time,” Loyola coach Air Chantharak said. “We were shooting horribly, and I told them to keep shooting because they would fall. They started to fall and we got some confidence. We began cutting and moving better.
“ When the ball goes in the hole, the defense gets better, your movement is better and the confidence builds. … We’ve been resilient all year and again tonight we just kept gutting it out.”
Freshman guard Courtney Bakkedahl nailed four 3-pointers in scoring 16 points for the Knights, while teammate Macy Mattson added 14 points.
Loyola, which committed fewer turnovers 27-13 and was outrebounded 39-34, connected on 26 of 68 for 38.2% compared to the Knights’ 22 of 46 for 47.8%.
Loyola (15-12) faces top-seeded Granada-Huntley/East Chain/Truman/Martin Luther in the subsection semifinal on Thursday at St. Peter.