Recent history was repeated at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall Friday.
SMSU was the site of the South Section 3A Girls’ Basketball Tournament championship game between Hills-Beaver Creek and Southwest Christian for the third straight year.
Unfortunately for the Patriots, it’s where their season came to an end after taking a setback from the E-Gals for the third consecutive year.
Top-seeded H-BC sported a six-point lead in the game’s first half and led by five points with 4:11 remaining in the game, but No. 2 SWC rallied late in the contest to pull out a 50-47 victory.
The loss ends H-BC’s 22-3 campaign.
H-BC defeated the E-Gals twice in the regular season, but that didn’t seem to matter Friday.
SWC survived every challenge the Patriots offered and pulled out a three-point win to extend its season.
H-BC received three-point shots from Joslyn Birger and Taryn Rauk in the first 2:01 of the game to open a 6-0 cushion before SWC reeled off 10 consecutive points to move in front 10-6 at the 11:04 mark of the first half.
H-BC senior Whitney Elbers tied the score at 10 with a field goal at the 9:59 mark of the half, and the score was knotted at 12 moments later.
SWC, however, gained some separation by going on a 12-2 run to sport a 24-14 advantage with 4:26 remaining in the opening half.
The E-Gals were unable to maintain their comfortable lead as the Patriots went on a 13-5 run in the final four minutes to trail by two (29-27) after Kenadie Fick canned a three-point shot one second before the intermission.
Points were hard to come by for both teams in the early stages of the second half.
H-BC trimmed the difference to one point at two different occasions in the first 5:52 of the stanza before Rauk knotted the score at 33 with a three-point shot with 11 minutes left.
The teams exchanged leads over the next six minutes before the Patriots reeled off six consecutive points to open a 45-40 cushion when Fick buried a three at the 4:11 mark.
H-BC led 47-45 with 2:52 left to play, but the E-Gals scored the final five points of the game in the final 2:30 of the contest to secure the win.
Rauk (15 points) and Fick (11 points, three assists and three steals) led H-BC offensively.
Elbers blocked 14 shots and collected six rebounds for the Patriots, while Abby Knobloch charted five rebounds and three steals.
Box score
Fick 1 3 0-2 11, Rauk 2 3 2-4 15, Birger 0 1 0-0 2 3, Bos 1 0 0-0 2, Knobloch 2 0 4-6 8, Moser 1 0 0-0 2, Elbers 3 0 0-0 6.
Team statistics
H-BC: 17 of 46 field goals (37 percent), six of 12 free throws (50 percent), 25 rebounds, 23 turnovers.
SWC: 19 of 64 field goals (30 percent), six of seven free throws (86 percent), 20 rebounds, 13 turnovers.
E-Gals deny Patriots again
By
John Rittenhouse