Winona, Holy Angles to meet for Class 3A state title

Winona players are used to coming to the bench during timeouts and hearing coach Tim Gleason say the same words.

With four minutes left in a close Class 3A semifinal game Thursday against Becker, they got that message, but this time with more intensity.

"Coach always says, 'Play the next four minutes,' " guard Eden Nibbelink said. "So Coach said, 'We only have four left, this is when we go win it.' "

That's what Winona did, holding Becker (20-10) scoreless in the final three minutes to earn a hard-fought 37-33 victory at Williams Arena and advance to the championship.

"Winona really clamped down there at the end, and we just didn't get a good look," Becker coach Paul Lindsay said. "When we did, we missed it. … We fell one possession short."

Winona switched between a 2-3 zone and a man-to-man defense, locking down shooters on the perimeter to hold Becker to a 27.1 shooting percentage and forcing 17 turnovers.

Winona (25-6) didn't fare too much better offensively, succumbing to Becker's slow pace. The Winhawks, playing much of the game without injured point guard Jayne Emerson, shot 34.2 percent. Nibbelink was the game's only player to reach double figures, scoring 11 points.

This game wasn't Winona's prettiest victory of the season, but … "It's the state semifinals," Gleason said. "There are no ugly wins."

Holy Angels 55, Thief River Falls 42: With his team down 10-0 to the Prowlers, Holy Angels coach Dan Woods called timeout and made his message clear:

Shoot the ball.

On the second possession after the timeout, guard Megan Thompson hit a three-pointer, and the typically quiet guard let out a roar.

That shot woke up Holy Angels, which tied the score less than two minutes later. And once the Stars went ahead, they never looked back in defeating Thief River Falls to advance to the Class 3A championship.

Thief Rivers Falls (26-4) played a box-and-one defense designed to stop the Stars' Laura Bagwell-Katalinich from scoring inside. It also left the perimeter wide open, hence Woods' timeout message.

Once Holy Angels (24-5) started shooting, it started scoring. The Stars finished 7-for-12 from three-point range and debunked a myth in the process.

"Most people think that we are not as talented, that we may only have a couple players," Woods said. "They know now that we have more players than you may think."

Kylea Praska led Thief River Falls with 14 points while Jenna Tadych had 10 points and 11 rebounds, but Holy Angels' balanced scoring effort ended the unseeded Prowlers' title run.