A pep rally Tuesday morning honoring the first Waconia girls' basketball team to reach the state tournament started at 10:41 a.m., one minute behind schedule.
For a program that waited 48 years to celebrate the accomplishment, a 60-second delay didn't matter. For current players, the clock really began ticking last March after a one-point loss in the section final.
"We were all just devastated because we were one basket away," senior guard Tess Johnson said. "Coming back this year, we knew we had to get to the other side."
Waconia (19-10) opens Class 3A state tournament play at 4 p.m. Wednesday against No. 3 seed Red Wing (26-2) at Maturi Pavilion on the University of Minnesota campus.
Students and parents sent off the team with a pep rally in the gymnasium. Hanging on the wall among its purple and gold counterparts was the girls' basketball banner. The years of seven conference championships are listed, soon to be joined by "2020" under the section champions heading.
Dusty Neibauer, in his first year as head coach after 13 years as an assistant, shared his excitement with the crowd after the Wildcats were "achingly close" last season.
Waconia fell 52-51 to Cooper in the Section 6 final. A move to Section 2 this season didn't seem to be the cure. The Wildcats lost 79-75 on Feb. 8 at section foe Marshall, but it was a setback Waconia's players didn't fret.
"We knew we could have won that game, and it helped us a lot that we did lose," Johnson said. "We had to prove it to them."
