Photo by Paul Trende
The first time they met, Grand Meadow’s girls beat Lanesboro 56-44. A re-match, this time counting for SEC standings, was a battle that went down to the wire. Each team employed a zone. Scoring was difficult. At the half, Lanesboro led 18-17. In the second half, the Burros used long inside players Kaci Ruen and Jessie Schreiber, who combined for nine second-chance-points, to inch ahead. A Schreiber rebound-putback made it 34-29 Burros with just over two to go. The teams then went back, forth, and back again. A Lexy Foster three-point play pulled GM with two (34-32), only for a Ruen basket to stretch the Burro lead back for four (36-32), only for River Landers to pull GM within two (36-34) with 0:47 left. GM then got a turnover but missed a transition lay-up. Jensyn Storhoff, back from injury, made two clutch free throws to give the Burros a 38-34 lead (0:21). Foster replied by hitting a free throw line jumper (0:07) making it 38-36 (0:07). On the Burros in-bound, Foster got a steal, and the ball ended up in Kendyl Queensland’s hands. She hit a shot, counted as a three just before the buzzer to propel GM to the crazy 39-38 win! Was it really a three? Well, let’s just say, if there was replay, there would have been overtime! Foster (14 pts, 7 rebs) and K-Queensland (12 pts, 6 rebs) led GM. K-Ruen (19 pts, 12 rebs) and Schreiber (13 pts, 9 rebs) paced the Burros. Neither team topped 30% from the field or 25% from deep. GM went 9 of 11 (82%) at the line. Lanesboro went 9 of 15 (60%). The win was GM’s 20th and fifth straight (11-2, 20-6). They beat M-C 56-24 and AC/G-E 64-30 earlier in the week. See “Girls Basketball” for more. The Larks are 1A’s 3-seed and will host L/P or W-K. The Burros (10-3, 17-8) are 1A’s 4-seed and will host 13-seed M-C (5-8, 8-18).