high schools

Pipestone lived on the edge throughout the Class 2A girls' basketball state tournament.

The Arrows (25-4) won their first game at the final horn, their second in overtime and their third game -- for the state championship -- on Steph Kocourek's three-pointer with 16 seconds left. Her biggest basket of many in this tournament gave Pipestone a 50-49 upset victory over Albany on Saturday at the Target Center and the school's first basketball title.

In the final frantic seconds, the No. 2-rated Huskies lost the ball on a turnover at midcourt on one possession and then Jennie Noreen, Albany's leading scorer, missed a rushed 25-footer at the buzzer.

"I don't know where you go from here," Pipestone coach Jay Johnson said. "I'm glad basketball is over because I just want to savor this moment for a while."

Junior guard Faith Tinklenberg led unrated Pipestone with 21 points -- she was 4-for-6 on three-point attempts -- while Kocourek added 14 points and made just that one three in two tries.

A replay of Kocourek's shot on the scoreboard during the postgame awards ceremony indicated her foot might have been on the white, high school three-point line. Albany fans booed with gusto when they saw it.

But tournament officials said the shot was not reviewable by instant replay because it was not at the end of the game.

"I didn't see the replay," said Jon Noreen, Albany's coach and Jennie's father, "but with the fan reaction that says a lot. But you know, a game isn't lost on a last-second shot."

This was Kocourek's second game-winning shot in three games. Her basket with three seconds left enabled the Arrows to beat Caledonia 40-38 in the quarterfinals.

Albany, down 27-19 at halftime, came back to take 48-46 lead with 1:53 left.

Kocourek, a 5-8 senior forward, said falling behind did not worry her. "All through this tournament, we have been behind," she said, "so it's not rattling us anymore. We knew we could come back."

Only three players for Albany (29-2) scored points. Taylor Voss had 20 points, Noreen 15 and Sam Larsen 14.

"In a state tournament against good teams like that you can't start slow because you have to work, work, work to get back into it," Jon Noreen said.

Roman Augustoviz • raugustoviz@startribune.com