Section 8 Champs Win-E-Mac upsets Mountain Iron-Buhl in Class A Quarterfinals 73-62

Win-E-Mac, Erskine (29-2) pulled the second straight upset in the MSHSL Class A quarterfinals, topping #3 Mountain Iron-Buhl (28-3) 73-62 on Thursday evening at Mariucci Arena in Minneapolis.

The Patriots will play fellow Cinderella Mankato Loyola as two unseeded teams advance to the Class A Semifinals on Friday, March 21 at 2 p.m. at Williams Arena.

The Patriots took control with a 28-15 lead late in the first half, going into the break up by 11, 33-22.

Senior forward Shelby Kaster led the charge with 13 points and nine rebounds in the first half, getting to the foul line 11 times (9-11). She finished with game-highs of 25 points and 12 rebounds, adding four assists, three blocks, two steals and didn't commit a turnover. She finished 7-12 from the field and 11-15 at the stripe.

While the Rangers cut the lead to 11 at the break, Win-E-Mac pushed it back up to 37-24 early in the second half and had a 50-36 lead with under 12 minutes remaining.

Mountain Iron-Buhl continued to push, however and made its run with three consecutive three-pointers by underclassmen, the first two by seventh grader Allie Negen followed by freshman Mya Buffetta.

The trio of three-pointers by the Ranger youngsters cut the margin to a point as Win-E- Mac's lead was cut to 59-58 with 5:11 to play.

The Patriots found the momentum again, scoring five straight points to reclaim control with four minutes left.

From there, the defense clamped down and held MIB to just four points the rest of the way to preserve the win.

Three other Patriots reached double-figures to join Kaster as sophomore guard Madison McKeever had 15 points and seven assists along with three blocks and senior guard Korbyn Ross had 10 points and 11 rebounds.

Team: http://mshsl.org/mshsl/schoolactpage.asp?school=508&actnum=403

Buffetta led the Rangers with 21 points including three three-pointers, four assists and just one turnover but she was the only one in double-figures on hte squad.

Win-E-Mac's held Mountain Iron-Buhl to 24.1% (7-29) shooting in the first half before the offense erupted in the second half with a 60.0% (15-25) shooting line in the final 18 minutes. The Patriots also held a decisive rebounding advantage, 45-30.