Class 2A girls' basketball: Dover-Eyota dominates Sauk Centre at end

Dover-Eyota wrote a template for future girls' basketball teams making their state tournament debut.

The Eagles were excited but never overwhelmed. They respected opponents but never played in fear. Those attributes, coupled with tremendous play inside, earned them a championship.

No. 2 seed Dover-Eyota beat top-seed Sauk Centre 71-58 in the Class 2A title game played Saturday at Williams Arena. The Eagles (31-2) ended a 29-game Sauk Centre winning streak and forced the Mainstreeters (31-2) to accept runner-up for the second time in four seasons.

"We weren't really star-struck by the moment," Eagles junior center Megan Hintz said. "We enjoyed it. But we wanted it."

With four fouls, Hintz teetered on the edge of disaster. But she stayed until the end, scoring 24 points and grabbing a game-high 17 rebounds. Senior guard Brandi Blattner led all scorers with 25 points and added 14 rebounds. Junior guard Madison Nelson had 15 points and 15 rebounds.

Down 55-51 with 5:44 left, the trio combined for every point of the ensuing 13-0 Eagles' run.

"We had the same situation happen in the section final," Nelson said. "We got down by 10 to Plainview-Elgin-Millville but ultimately we knew we could do it. We had to find it in ourselves. "

"I told the girls in the locker room that I feel real terrible we lost the game, but I just thought [Dover-Eyota] wanted it," said Sauk Centre coach Scott Bergman, whose team fell short of its first state title. "They did the things they needed to do down the stretch of the game."

Sisters Maesyn (23 points) and Mauren Thiesen (14) led Sauk Centre in scoring. They combined for five of the team's seven three-pointers. A Mainstreeters team that thrives on the deep ball shot just 7-for-30.

Dover-Eyota gathered most of the missed shots, outrebounding Sauk Centre 71-32. The Eagles had a 42-14 advantage in points in the paint and an 18-7 edge in second-chance points.

"That's kind of our game," Hintz said. "We usually put up quite a few points and rebounds."