The Lady Dragons traveled back to St. John's University on Tuesday night, as they played in the semi final game against Albany.
It all came down to this a win and you're in the section championship game. Although this would be the Dragons toughest test on the season, they knew their difficult schedule had prepared them for this very moment.
It got off to a great start for Pine City, Summer Thieman fired off a 3 which glided through the basket and they had the quick lead. But soon Albany answered and not long after took the lead themselves. After taking the lead the Huskies never looked back. They were able to find ways inside to grab the easy shot under the basket. Pine City soon fell behind by double digits but they were not about to sit back and let Albany run away with it. The Dragons battle back and cut their deficit down to 11 points late in the half. The offense had found a rhythm but unfortunately the defense couldn't prevent the Huskies from answering. Pine City trailed at half 41-28.
After the half Pine City looked to quickly turn things around a erase the Albany lead. Sadly, the Huskies just couldn't miss and their defense had suffocated the Dragon offense creating plenty of turnovers and scoring off of them. This lead to Albany leading by 20. But this Dragon team has never backed down for a tough situation and were up for the task. They managed to get the offense some open looks and began to get on a little bit of a roll. But every point they scored was answered back by Albany. Unfortunately for the Dragons the clock was working against them and the Huskies had pulled out to a 20+ point lead. With only a couple minutes left in the game Pine City worked in some younger players to grab playoff experience. The Dragons fell 73-47.
The Dragons finish the season 22-7! They also were Great River Conference champs, it was the fourth year in a row they finished their conference schedule undefeated!
Congratulations to Pine City on a great and entertaining season!
Congratulations and good luck to the seniors Ella Sell, Sophie Lahti and Kloey Lind!
Scoring
Pine City
Sophie Lahti 14
Kloey Lind 11
Summer Thieman and Karly Jusczak 8
Ella Sell and Piper Mettling 3
Photo Credit: Four Seasons Photography