Championship Saturday: Results from the girls state basketball tournament

All of the top seeds have reached the state championship round of the girls tourney.

Author:
Bring Me The Sports
Updated:
Mar 16, 2024 11:02 PM EDT
Original:
Mar 16, 2024

It's Championship Saturday of the girls basketball state tournament and Williams Arena will be packed for all of the action, starting at 12 p.m. and running deep into the night.

We'll be providing live updates during each of the games, which will be televised on KSTC/45TV. Follow along below.

Class A: No. 1Goodhue vs. No. 2 Mountain Iron-Buhl

Final: Goodhue 70, Mountain Iron-Buhl 65

Preview: The top two seeds are in the title game and will be meeting for the second time this season. Back on Dec. 29 they met in the Granite City Classic in St. Cloud and Goodhue left with a 69-62 victory over the defending 1A state champions. The game tips off at 12 p.m.

Live updates:

Goodhue with three 3-pointers to take a 9-0 lead in the opening minutes of the first half.
24-17 lead for Goodhue in a fast-paced first half. Elisabeth Gadient red hot to start with 15 of 24 points for the Wildcats.
Gadient with a DEEP 3-pointer – her fourth of the first half – to give Goodhue a 35-25 lead.
Gadient beats the buzzer at with a runner off the glass. She has 20 points and Goodhue leads by 10, 39-29 at the half.
Mountain Iron-Buhl cuts the deficit to 48-44 before Gadient attacks and scores again. Kendyl Lodermeier comes back down and a hits a 3 and the lead is back to nine for Goodhue, 53-44 with 12 minutes to play. Gadient has 24 and Lodermeier has 19.
Back come the Rangers, now trailing 53-48 with 9:21 to go.
Gabby Lira with a bucket to get Mountain Iron-Buhl within three at 62-59 but Goodhue answers with back-to-back 3s from Natalie Thomforde and Gadient. Wildcats lead 68-59 with 2:19 left.
Goodhue, led by 31 points from Gadient, wins the Class A state championship, the school's third in the past nine years (2016, 2017).

Class 2A: #1 Providence Academy vs. #2 Albany

Final: Providence Academy 81, Albany 78

Preview: Maddyn Greenway and Providence Academy have lost four games all season. Three were against Class 4A powers Hopkins, Maple Grove and Minnetonka and the other was a 72-70 loss against Albany on Dec. 19. Albany was runner-up to Providence Academy in last year's state title game. This one tips off around 2 p.m.

Live updates

Albany leads Providence Academy 55-44 at the half. Albany has three players in double figures, led by a really strong first half from Alyssa Sand, who has 20 points. Kylan Gerads has 14 points, and Savanna Pelzer has 11. Maddyn Greenway is leading the charge for Providence Academy with 15 points, while Brooke Hohenecker and Ari Peterson have nine points apiece.
Providence Academy starting to cut into the deficit. Albany leads 57-50 with about 14 minutes remaining in this one.
Providence Academy is making it a game and is only down three now at 57-54 with 11:47 remaining in the game.
Albany hanging on to a 76-73 advantage with under two minutes to play.
Gerads with a couple big free throws that give Albany a 78-74 lead with 53 second remaining.
Huge 3 from Greenway! Albany leads 78-77 with just 45 seconds remaining.
Albany gets possession of the ball after a lengthy review. Initially it was ruled out of bounds off Albany after it got a block on defense. They'll get the ball up one with 24 seconds remaining.
Greenway grabbed a rebound and went coast to coast to give the Lions a 79-78 lead, their first of the game, with 8.4 seconds remaining. Wow! What a game.
Albany gets a shot off close to the hoop but it comes up short. The Lions get the rebound. No time on the clock, but officials are talking. Looks like Providence Academy is going to win, but still some late drama to sort out.
Hope Counts is shooting free throws for Providence Academy with 0.4 seconds left on the clock. Makes both. The Lions are going to be state champions barring a buzzer beater here.
And that's it! Providence Academy is the Class 2A champion!

Class 3A: #1 Benilde-St. Margaret's vs. #2 DeLaSalle

Final: Benilde-St. Margaret's 81, DeLaSalle 58

Preview: Benilde is riding a 23-game win streak after starting the season 3-5 while five-star forward Olivia Olson was out with an injury. Olson did not play when DeLaSalle defeated the Red Knights on Dec. 22. Regardless, the Islanders have won 26 of their last 27 games. The game starts at 6 p.m.

Live updates

The Red Knights are off to an 11-7 start. Olivia Olson has five points so far, including a transition layup just before the timeout. There's 15:01 left to play in the first half.
Red Knights lead 18-17 with 11:16 left here in the first half. Olson has 10 points now for Benilde-St. Margaret's. Madayln Blaylark hit a pair of 3s and leads the Islanders with six points.
Olson just made a pair of free throws to give the Red Knights a 32-30 edge with 5:27 left here in the first half. She's up to 18 points now. Blaylark hit another 3 on the other end before that, which had tied the game at the time. She has 11 to lead the Islanders.
And that's a half. Red Knights lead 44-39 at the break. Olson has 21 of those 44 points, while Pressley Watkins has 11, nine of which came from the 3-point line. Blaylark leads the Islanders with 11 points, while Jordyn Johnson has eight.
Islanders call their first timeout of the half down 48-43. There's 15:50 left to play in this game.
Red Knights gaining some separation. Sydney Friedly's layup puts Benilde-St. Margaret's up 57-46 with 12:21 left in this one. She has nine points now.
The Red Knights are in the midst of a 15-0 run. They're up 63-46 with 8:41 left to play.
Islanders timeout with 1:59 left to play. The Red Knights are well on their way to the title. They lead 77-56. Olson has 30 points.
Click here for full recap.

Class 4A: #1 Hopkins vs. #2 Minnetonka

Final: Minnetonka 64, Hopkins 56

Preview: Hopkins is 27-3 and two of its three losses are to teams that aren't even located in Minnesota. Their only loss to a Minnesota team this season came in the regular-season finale, a 64-61 loss to Minnetonka. Minnetonka, meanwhile, is 28-2 and their only losses came against Hopkins and Wayzata in back-to-back games Jan. 30 and Feb. 1. This game tips off around 8 p.m.

Live updates

The Skippers lead 27-23 here early. Aaliyah Crump with 12 points.
The Skippers close the first half on a 12-5 run. They'll go into the break with a 39-30 lead. Crump leading the way with 14 points, while Victoria McKinney has 12. Liv McGill has 11 points for the Royals, with teammates Lauren Hillesheim and Erma Walker posting nine and eight points, respectively.
The student section is bouncing around a beach ball on the Hopkins side of the stadium. The Skippers lead 45-37 with 13:10 left to play in this one. Crump has 18 points.
Technical foul on the Skippers. McGill made 1 of 2 free throws for the Royals. They're down 45-38 but have the ball.
It'll be Skippers ball after the timeout. They lead 47-38 with 11:58 left to play.
McGill's layup makes it a 53-42 Skippers lead with 7:53 to play. She has 16 points for the Royals.
The Royals are right back in this one. Hillesheim's layup makes it a 58-52 game with 3:45 left to play. McGill has 16, Walker has 14 and Hillesheim has 13 for the Royals.
McGill's runner makes it a 58-54 game! Just over two minutes left to play.
London Harris' layup for the Royals makes it a 59-56 game. 1:32 to play.
Skippers call timeout. Royals have the ball down 59-56. There's 55.7 seconds left in this one.
There seems to be some confusion as to whose ball it is. It seemed like they initially ruled it Skippers ball, but it's now Royals ball. Minnetonka must've called for a review. It'll stay with the Royals.
Skippers calling a timeout now.
Clock has also changed. There's now 56.6 seconds left.
Lots of drama late. Click here for a full recap.