Blossoms’ hopes dashed

Blooming Prairie had its title hopes dashed by Goodhue 38-33 in sub-section semi-final girls basketball on Tuesday, March 3. 
The game at Rochester featured some frantic defense by both teams, as the Wildcats took their second win of the season over the locals.
“We know that referees let the teams play in tournaments and Goodhue is adept at bumping and scratching for the ball on defense,” commented Coach John Worke. “Our defense also stood out, but a few too many turnovers and some poor shooting proved our undoing.”
BP took an early lead on two three-pointers by Madison Worke, but Goodhue took a first lead at the 11-minute mark and then outscored the Blossoms 17-5 in the next seven minutes. The Blossoms trailed 21-13 at the half, making just three field goals in the first 18 minutes
A 13-6 run to open the second half got the Blossoms back into the game. Worke hit two jumpers, and Taylor Hagen counted two rebound baskets and a jumper. Hannah Ahrens made a pair of free throws to make the score 28-27, and Worke’s two free throws at the six-minute mark gave BP its first leads of the game.  
With BP trailing 33-32, Hagen missed two free throws, and in the ensuing possession, Shelby Hinsch, a thorn in the Blossom defense all night, swished two charity tosses to put the Wildcats up by three. Maddy Miller and Worke traded a pair of free throws, and McKenzie Ryan made another pair of free throws with just 13 seconds left.  BP didn’t get another shot off, and Goodhue crushed the Blossoms’ hopes of advancement.
“Sometimes, when you have to expend so much energy to get back into the game it is difficult to maintain any kind of pressure,” continued Coach Worke. “We didn’t shoot well, we got into foul trouble, and we had too many turnovers.” 
Worke led the scoring for the Blossoms with 17 points, and Hagen added 12. Ahrens and Nicole Inwards had two points each, but no other Blossoms could score in the game. Hinsch had 12 for the Wildcats, and Rachel Watson added eight.   
BP made just three of 20 shot attempts in the first half and shot just 24 percent for the game. Goodhue didn’t fare much better, masking 28 percent on 13 of 41 tries.
“When one puts that much effort into a game, good results should happen. But when the opposition plays that rough, aggressive style of play, it does not fit our style, and turnovers become too frequent,” concluded Coach Worke. “I feel sorry for the girls, especially the seniors, but that is the way it goes.” 
Besides her 12 points, Hagen pulled down 13 rebounds, blocked four shots, had two assists and had four steals. Worke added two assists and seven steals in the game, and Ahrens dished out two assists, had a steal and pulled down seven rebounds. Team rebounds finished dead even as both teams pulled down 28 in the contest. BP turned the ball over 19 times, 13 of them coming in the second half.  The Wildcats had just nine mistakes in the game. 
As Coach Worke concluded, “It certainly wasn‘t the ending to the season that we had envisioned, but the loss shouldn’t diminish the excellent season the girls had. They played hard in every contest, and they prevailed in just about every ball game, despite having some poor shooting nights along the way.”
The team finished undefeated in the conference at 12-0, and the overall record was 22-4.