Milaca played Royalton on Tuesday night.
The Wolves headed back to Claire Lynch Hall on the campus of the College of St. Benedict for their section semi final matchup. A site where only three days ago they beat Spectrum to to get to this game.
Both teams took some time to get themselves settled into the game, not that either team was playing poorly, but maybe just going a tad too fast. It seemed like the team to settle into the game first was the team who was going to have the best chance at winning. The Wolves seemed to find their rhythm sooner than the Royals and this helped give them the lead. Their defense also helped out creating turnovers and keeping pressure firmly on the opposition. But the Royals talent was able to shine through and keep their deficit under 10. As they half drew near the Wolves had swung what seemed like all momentum in their favor but the Royals closed in on that and the lead was only one. Milaca was able to score the final basket before half to take a 26-22 lead.
The 2nd half began with Milaca suffocating Royalton with their defense, this lead to a plethora of turnovers many of which Milaca turned into points. This pressure also forced Royalton to commit early fouls and thus they had to dial back their defensive play. The Wolves had quickly jumped out to a 13 point lead. But when you play defense as aggressively as Milaca does, fouls are bound to happen. And as well as they played sadly the fouls piled up and saw not one but two of their starters grab their 4th with plenty of time left. The Royals were able to take advantage of the Wolves being forced to back off defensively and cut into the lead. Milaca knew they couldn't shift away from their style of play too long and with their lead shrinking switched back to being aggressive. This unfortunately lead to one of their young starters fouling out. This seemed to be a shift in momentum as the Royals saw a chance too attack and they did. Slowly and methodically they marched back and as they game drew closer to its end the were only down two. The Wolves knew their opponent was in foul trouble and forced them to foul more. This sent Milaca to the free throw line but the Wolves struggled to hit one, they hit three earlier in the half but hadn't hit one since. With under 30 seconds to go they were able to get a much need free throw converted and now lead by three. Royalton had one last chance to try and tie the game to send it to OT, they inbounded got the shot off, but missed! And the Wolves would come away with the win 56-53!
The Wolves will now advance to the section championship! They'll play Sauk Centre on Friday at Halenbeck Hall at St. Cloud State at 6pm!
Scoring
Milaca:
Ashley Droogsma 15
Bella Sahlstrom 13
Annabelle and Madison Gothmann 11
Willow Hunt 6
