Sports
Visitation Girls Hoops Win First Class AAA Playoff Game
After three years in Section 4AAA, Blazers top St. Paul Johnson to claim first postseason victory since moving up from Class AA.
It took three seasons, but the Visitation girls basketball team claimed its first postseason victory in Class AAA by topping St. Paul Johnson, 91-73, in opening game of the Section 4AAA Tournament on Wednesday night at St. Thomas Academy.
"Our kids played real well," Visitation coach Brian Kramer said. "They played hard and did well."
After losing by double-digits to Johnson in last season's playoffs, the fourth-seeded Blazers took a prompt 6-0 lead in the first minute against the No. 5 seed Governors.
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However, Johnson rallied to knot the score and the two squad remained knotted until Visitation pulled ahead for good at 13-11 just over five minutes into the contest.
The Blazers' advantage ebbed and flowed to as high as 14 points and to as little as one over the remainder of the first half before Visitation headed to the locker room with a 47-37 edge.
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The second half opened with the lead fluctuating between eight and 10 points over the first three minutes of the interval before a 10-1 run pushed the Blazers edge to a game-high 19 points at 61-43 with 13 minutes to play.
Johnson would not go quietly into the off-season, however, and rallied to draw to withing eight points at 65-57 as Kramer called a time-out.
"I just told them that we were fine," he said. "I didn't feel like we couldn't handle it, we just needed to put the ball in the basket."
Which is exactly what they did, as Visitation quickly rebuilt its lead to 15 points with five minutes to play and cruised through the remaining span en route to an 18-point victory.
"We knew we just needed a couple of baskets to fall and everything would be alright," Kramer said. "That's what happened."
After scoring 20 points by halftime, Blazers guard Haley Housh tallied a game-high 34 points in the victory, with backcourt mates Meredith Lawrence and Taylor Smith recording 13 and 12 points, respectively.
The victory advances Visitation (11-13 overall) to an unenviable matchup against No. 1 seed—and the top-ranked team in Class AAA—Hill-Murray in the sectional semifinals.
The Blazers and Pioneers are scheduled to tip-off at approximately 7:45 p.m. Saturday night at St. Paul Washington (formerly Arlington) High School.
"It will be a challenge," Kramer said. "I'm just glad we won this playoff game so for at least the next couple days around school these girls will be the cat's pajamas."