For a second time, Adam Wilder’s girls proved, that on any given night, they can beat anyone in the sub-section. Mabel-Canton can now lay claim to knocking off the two schools that brought home section 1A hardware last year. At the second annual TRC versus SEC set of holiday games featuring FC, Kingsland, M-C and Houston, the Cougars sprung. They knocked off last year’s 1A East runner-up, the Knights. The half-court minimal-possession defensive battle of similar teams (mostly quick guards) saw neither team lead by more than four. With Kingsland up 31-27 with under six left, Cougar sophomore Lexi Thorson hit three’s on back-to-back possessions, producing the games sixth tie (33-33). An eight-footer by 8th grader Kenidi McCabe put M-C up 35-33 (2:16). Two Coranda Vickerman free throws made it 37-33 (0:49). Knight Courtney Schmidt then hit a driving floater (0:39). Cougar Courtney Graves followed with two free throws (0:26). Down two possessions (39-35), Kingsland couldn’t score quickly. They missed a three with under ten seconds left. M-C toughed out a good 39-35 victory. They own a win over defending 1A champ Rushford-Peterson also. M-C hit 3-of-5 second half trifectas, 4-of-10 for the game. Kingsland was 1-for-8. The Cougars did the same thing to the Trojans, hitting 5-of-7 three’s after intermission. Vickerman (15 pts, 6 rebs, 3 assists), Graves (9 pts, 6 rebs), and Thorson (9 pts, 3-4 three’s) led the way. Gracie Schmidt (8 pts) led Kingsland. C-Schmidt, Kailey Link, and Lauren Buchholtz each added six points.
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