MINNEAPOLIS - One Esko title will have to be enough this season.
Poor shooting and difficulty handling their opponent’s inside presence doomed the Eskomos girls basketball team in a Minnesota Class AA high school state tournament semifinal against Kenyon-Wanamingo on Friday night.
The Knights scored seconds after the opening tip and forced their way inside the lane for their initial seven field goals en route to a 60-36 victory at Williams Arena.
Kenyon-Wanamingo (31-1) advances to today’s 2 p.m. final against defending champion New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva (30-0), which won its 60th consecutive game in an 87-58 victory over Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted in the other semifinal.
The season concludes at noon today for Esko (26-6) in a third-place game against Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted (28-3) at Concordia-St. Paul. The girls team was hoping to duplicate the boys team, which won its first state title a week ago, but can still place higher than any other team in school history and equal the school record for single-season wins.
Siri Sviggum sprinted downcourt after the opening jump ball and gave the Knights a lead they never relinquished. Quick baskets by Brittney Flom and Audra Clark made it 6-0 in the opening 20 seconds.
“The girls always have some nerves for that first game on TV and playing in Williams Arena,” Knights coach Brent Lurken said. “And to jump out to that lead and hit those shots and make a big steal, that really gave us momentum and got the confidence going in the girls.”
A 6-0 lead turned into 11-3 and 15-6 before Esko briefly rallied.
The Eskomos made three early 3-point shots, but failed to do any damage in the paint. Despite making only 4 of 19 field goals, the Eskomos stayed within four points at 17-13 on shots from behind the arc by Erika Shady, Bailey Mudek and Judy Wagemaker and the team’s only inside basket of the half by Kailee Katt.
But the Knights closed the half on a 15-1 run, helped by two more inside buckets, 6-for-6 free-throw shooting and their only 3-pointer of the half by Sviggum. The senior forward scored 12 of her game-high 18 points in the first half for the Section 1AA champions.
“We didn’t shoot well or execute our offense the way we could have,” Esko coach Scott Antonutti said. “We lacked help-side defense against a lot of those lob passes.”
The second half was more of the same as 3-pointers by Katt and Wagemaker were Esko’s lone highlights. Wagemaker, a freshman forward, led Esko with 15 points. The Eskomos shot just 22.9 percent (11-for-48) from the field and 6-for-31 (19.4 percent) from 3-point range.
“I can’t think of a bad shot, they just didn’t fall for us,” Antonutti said.
Next up for the Knights is a matchup against NRHEG and senior guard Carlie Wagner, who will play at Williams Arena next season with the Minnesota Gophers. Wagner broke Janet Karvonen’s 37-year state tournament career scoring mark after a 41-point effort Friday. Wagner’s total of 335 points surpassed the former New York Mills star’s previous record of 329. She owns the top two single-game scoring marks of 53 points set in this year’s quarterfinals and 50 in last year’s championship game.
“It’s going to be a challenge,” Lurken said. “You start with Carlie Wagner, and you’re never going to be able to stop her, but you have to try to keep her from getting some easy layups and runouts. If we can do that and play some half-court basketball, we put ourselves in a good position.”
The Minnesota State High School League also recognized Wagner as the state’s all-time scoring leader with 3,921 points, though her opponent in the 2013 final, Braham’s Rebecca Dahlman, scored more than 5,000. That total is considered unofficial until the MSHSL is provided documentation.
Kenyon 32-28-60
Esko 14-22-36
Kenyon-Wanamingo - Meg Clark 2, Audra Clark 8, Siri Sviggum 18, Brittney Flom 8, Megan Quam 12, Mara Quam 10, Savannah Bleess 2. Totals 22-44 14-15 60.
3-point goals - Sviggum, Mara Quam.
Esko - Erika Shady 2, Bailey Mudek 1, Kailee Katt 8, Ashley Bergerson 2, Karlie Kulas 2, Judy Wagemaker 15, Hailey Salo 1. Totals 11-48 8-15 36.
3-point goals - Wagemaker 2, Katt 2, Shady, Mudek.
