The season came to a heartbreaking end for the Montevideo girls basketball team in a 40-39 loss to Lac qui Parle Valley in the semifinals of the Section 3AA North tournament Tuesday at Redwood Falls.
Lac qui Parle Valley (11-13) will meet Yellow Medicine East (12-12) for the Section 3AA North championship Friday at 6 p.m. at Redwood Falls.
YME defeated top-seeded Minnesota Valley Lutheran (14-11) 51-45 in Tuesday’s first semifinal game at Redwood Falls behind 16 points from Angie Scheffler and 15 from Aimee Johnson.
LqP Valley 40, Monte 39
It should have surprised no one that the third meeting between the Thunder Hawks and Eagles this season would go down to the wire.
The Eagles won the first meeting of the two neighboring rivals 48-45, and Montevideo returned the favor, winning 59-58 in their second meeting.
A scoreless stretch of more than six minutes to open the second half proved to be Montevideo’s undoing.
The Eagles opened up a 28-20 lead before Elissa Christensen hit a three-point shot with 11:28 remaining.
The Thunder Hawks finally pulled even when Karrissa Larson grabbed an offensive rebound and fed Ashley Rodeberg for a layup and a 34-all tie with 5:00 left.
Neither team scored again until Jordan Halvorson put the Eagles ahead with 1:18 to go. Montevideo quickly tied the score again on Brooke Tastad’s driving layup.
The Eagles went ahead by four points when Micaela Erickson hit an 18-foot jumper and Kacey Struxness made a pair of free throws.
Beka Schwendemann pulled Montevideo within one point with a three-point shot with 24 seconds to play.
Montevideo, which finished the season with a 12-13 record, got the ball back with 14.7 seconds left after the Eagles missed a one-and-one attempt, but their potential game-winning shot came up just short.
Montevideo’s defense did a good job on Erickson, holding the area’s second-leading scorer to 15 points — five below her average, but Erickson’s teammates contributed some crucial points.
A telling statistic was on the boards, where the Eagles held a 34-22 advantage.
Schwendemann led the Thunder Hawks with 15 points, finishing her career with 1,125 points. Barnes added 10 points.
Scoring by halves
LqP Valley 22 18 — 40
Montevideo 20 19 — 39
LqP Valley — 13-48 FG; 11-16 FT; 34 rebounds; 6 fouls. Scoring: Micaela Erickson 15, Amanda Broin 4, Jordan Halvorson 4. Kacey Struxness 8, Jen Kack 2, Kiona DuFrane 7. Rebounds: Erickson 8, Halvorson 7. Assists: Struxness 5. Steals: Erickson 4, Struxness 3. 3-point FG: 3-8 (Erickson 2, Struxness 1).
Monte — 15-52 FG; 2-6 FT; 22 rebounds; 14 fouls. Scoring: Brooke Tastad 4, Beka Schwendemann 15, Shelby Monahan 3, Ashley Rodeberg 2, Jaci Clauson 2, Elissa Christensen 3, Amber Barnes 10. Rebounds: Karrissa Larson 11. Assists: Rodeberg 3, Larson 3. Steals: Schwendemann 3. 3-point FG: 5-15 (Schwendemann 3, Monahan 1, Christensen 1).
