Winona stops KoMets short of state

As the days led into the Section 1AAA final between Kasson-Mantorville and Winona, there was a feeling that this was a showdown between two of the top girls basketball teams in the state. Despite the level of competition, only one of the two teams could make it to this week’s state tournament.

This year, it was the KoMets who are left sitting out as they fell in a 49-45 game in Rochester on March 10. The loss was the second to Winona this year and snapped a 19-game winning streak that began after the Winhawks defeated K-M on Dec. 30.

The latest installment was the KoMets’ fifth straight appearance in the section championship. Although K-M had some experience on their side, they played sloppy and found themselves in an early defecit. However, Winona couldn’t pull away as they too had issues with turnovers and found themselves in foul trouble midway through the first half. Those struggles on offense for both sides were surprising as both teams battled to the half tied at 24.

“These were two of the top scoring teams in the state at about 70 points a game,” K-M head coach Ryan Haraldson stated. “From early on, you saw it was going to be a defensive battle. It was going to come down to who got the last rebound or made the final free throw.”

Rebounding was a challenge for the KoMets in this one as Winona crashed the boards to a 26-19 advantage. The real key was on the defensive side of the glass for the Winhawks as they only allowed seven offensive boards for K-M – a far cry from their average of 13 per game.

With the rebounding becoming more of an issue, Winona went on an early run, but K-M shot back to take their first lead of the game at 37-36. However, the KoMets’ offensive issues proved to be costly as they never held a lead by more than a point.

As both teams headed down the stretch, it felt like a game of Hot Potato as both teams couldn’t capitalize on their opportunities to blow the game open or take the lead. As the game went to triple zeroes, Winona was the last team standing and earned a spot in the state tournament.

Although she was slowed by a leg injury against Northfield, junior Kristin Scott lead the team in scoring with 24 points including a 6-for-6 effort at the free throw line. Maddie Worden added nine points for the KoMets and Bailey Berge picked up seven from the backcourt.

While Worden, Scott and Berge helped get buckets to stay in the game, the balanced scoring the team has produced on a nightly basis was absent in this game. Perhaps the strangest occurrence was that both teams produced just one bench point from the evening which came from K-M’s MiKayla Grant.

The loss was a disappointing end to a fantastic season for the KoMets as they compile