Loading ...Playoffs in Full Swing
What a difference a year makes. The Rush City Lady Tigers won just four games during the 2008-2009 campaign, but their growth was on full display during Wednesday’s 62-57 win over Pine City in the first round of the playoffs.
“It’s the players who come in and put in a little bit of the extra time in tournaments and the summer,” said Head Coach Mark Henrich. “That’s what shows me they are into it and that they want to move on and that they want to do something.”
Rush City (15-9) took a three point lead into halftime, but Pine City stormed out of the locker room to take control. The Tigers never lost their composure and regained the lead midway through the second half. They never looked back. Junior Jami Friday scored 15 of her 19 over the final 18-minutes and Sophomore Danica Schellbach scored a game-high 25 points to lead the Tigers who have won three in a row.
“It was kind of a battle,” said Schellbach. “We just said, ‘we are not going to let them get the lead ever again.’ And we just played together and no one was a ball hog, and we were all passing together and we all connect. I hope we go far.”
Rush City moves on to play Esko at the University of Minnesota Duluth on Saturday at 6 p.m. The Eskimos beat Aitkin by 19 on Wednesday. Hear Saturday’s game on Cool Country 100.9 WCMP-FM.
Also moving on are the Braham Bombers. The Bombers took care of business at home against Hinckley-Finlayson with a 89-26 win. They will face Mora who beat Moose Lake-Willow River, 56-36, in the first round. The Bombers and Mustangs will also play Saturday at UMD in a rematch of the regular season finale in which Bombers beat the Mustangs by 32.
Hear Braham and Mora WCMP-FM on Saturday at 2:45 p.m.
Thursday, on WCMP-FM, two seed Cambridge-Isanti will try to get to the second round when they host Coon Rapids. The Bluejackets are 20-6 on the season and have won seven of eight, with their only loss coming to St. Michael Albertville in double overtime. Tip off is at 7 p.m.
In Wisconsin on Thursday, hear Webster take on Prescott on Classic Hits 105.7 WXCX. The Tigers are the three seed, but Prescott comes in dangerous. They are the seven seed and pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the first round knocking off Glenwood City. Other games on Thursday include Siren on the road against top seed South Shore and Frederic goes to Clayton.