43-point effort upstages Braham and Dahlman

The only thing flashier than Rebekah Dahlman's bright yellow shoes Wednesday night wasn't her scoring touch. It was her opponent.

On a night Dahlman became the state's all-time career scoring leader in girls' basketball, New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva sophomore Carlie Wagner stole the spotlight. She seemed to score at will, certainly more than enough to keep her team's record perfect after a 75-45 Class 2A quarterfinal victory over defending champion Braham at Target Center.

"I wasn't expecting this at all," she said.

Wagner dazzled, scoring 19 of her team's first 21 points on long jumpers and reverse layups en route to 43 points. The total was four off the single-game tournament record.

"Carlie didn't realize how good she was herself until she dabbled in it and took the ball a few times to the hole," said New Richland coach John Schultz, whose team improved to 31-0.

It was billed as Dahlman's night, and the junior came through with 29 points to give her 3,895 for her career. It eclipses the previous mark of 3,888 set by Minneapolis South's Tayler Hill from 2005 to 2009.

Twelve minutes remained in the game when Dahlman made a jumper from just outside the lane to pass Hill's mark. But the basket was merely a hailstone dent in New Richland's cavernous lead.

Dahlman sought out Wagner after the game.

"She told me to go win state," Wagner said.

The cordial meeting between the stars came after a stellar show in which the two attempted 55 total shots, capped when Wagner scored her final points on a fast-break layup.

Fans marveled at her performance much like the wide-eyed Wagner did at all the postgame attention on her rather than the new all-time record holder.

"[Dahlman] really proved herself but I think we came out stronger and had a lot better defense they weren't expecting," Wagner said.

"That's for everybody else to decide," she said.

BRIAN STENSAAS

Sauk Centre 65, Worthington 51 Strong outside shooting in the first half paced the Mainstreeters and assured a berth in the Class 2A semifinals for a second straight season.

Sauk Centre made six three-pointers in the first 18 minutes at Target Center to guide it to a nine-point halftime lead it never relinquished. Krista Primus (11 points) connected three times while Kali Peschel made a pair en route to a team-high 14 points. Macy Weller (13) and Ashley Gruber (12) also finished with double digits.

The Trojans' Mackenzie Gerber finished with a game-high 18 points.

Providence Academy 60, Minnehaha Academy 33 Providence Academy (26-4) wore down undermanned Minnehaha Academy at Williams Arena.

Rarely taking shots that weren't wide open, the Lions had a marvelous field goal percentage of 57.1. They turned the ball over only 13 times and outrebounded the smaller Redhawks 33-18.

"One sound bite that has stuck with me was that the object of the game is to get more better shots than the other team," coach Ray Finley said. "That means defense and rebounding and not turning the ball over."

After taking a 15-5 lead, Providence was the least bit fazed by Minnehaha Academy's lone spurt, an 8-2 run that pulled the Redhawks (20-9) to within four at 17-13. The Lions responded with a 13-0 run and a 30-15 halftime lead. After that, it was just a matter of settling on a final score.

"These are such intelligent, disciplined students I've been blessed with," Finley said. "They're used to studying three, four hours a night. If they make a mistake, they learn from it and say 'Well, I'd better not do that again.'"

JIM PAULSEN

Pequot Lakes 57, Zumbrota-Mazeppa 46 Mattie Lueck, a senior guard with more than 1,600 career points, scored 18 of her 20 points after halftime, leading Pequot Lakes (20-11) to its first state tournament victory since finishing as Class 2A runner-up in 2005.

Lueck played only six minutes in the first half at Williams Arena, hitting one of six field goal attempts before going to the bench with three fouls.

In her absence, the Patriots struggled to find their shooting touch, making only seven of 29 field goal attempts. The second half told a different story as Pequot Lakes, with Lueck finding her range, shot 50 percent (11-for-22) from the field. The Cougars (17-12) couldn't keep up.

"I was so disappointed in myself," Lueck said. "I felt lucky to get the opportunity in the second half to go out and play my game."