Cass Lake-Bena girls creep by Fertile-Beltrami in thrilling 65-60 double overtime win

Cass Lake-Bena girls creep by Fertile-Beltrami in thrilling 65-60 double overtime win

Will play Warren-Alvarado-Oslo (#4) on Friday, March 11, 2022 in Sectipn 8A Championship: Winner advances to Minnesota State Tournament

Thief River Falls, MN — Instant classic. That’s the best way to describe Monday night’s Girls Section 8A East Sub-Section Championship between the Cass Lake-Bena Panthers and Fertile-Beltrami Falcons.

The Falcons were the ones who jumped out to a hot start early on. Josie Iverson, who made five 3-pointers in the quarterfinal round versus Fosston, drilled three more in the first half and four for the game. The interior offense for the Falcons came up big. Between Tori Erickson, Marin Roragen, Kasia Wilson and Jacelyn Pinske they combined for 42 points. Even more importantly though, they held Cass Lake-Bena Senior Forward Amira Laduke to only a single first half basket after she dropped 23 in the quarterfinal against Kelliher/Northome. The Falcons took a seven point 32-25 lead into the half.

Fertile-Beltrami did a good job of handling the Panthers pressure and trapping defense in the first half but in the second they committed nearly the same amount of turnovers in the first four minutes as they did in the entire opening 18 minutes. Cass Lake-Bena took advantage and used a 24-8 run to start the second half and eventually grab a 49-40 lead. But Fertile-Beltrami would not back down and eventually tied the game up at 55-55. The Falcons then had an opportunity at the final shot but were unsuccessful allowing Cass Lake-Bena to transition the other way and Senior Taryn Frazer got fouled with only 2.6 seconds remaining. The Cass Lake-Bena Panthers Girls all-time leading scorer would step to the line only needing one free throw to win the game with very limited time remaining. But Frazer missed them both sending the game to overtime.

In the first overtime, either team could only muster two points each and overtime number two would start with a 57-57 tie. In the second OT Fertile-Beltrami had some excellent looks at the basket but were unable to convert when Cass Lake-Bena would and the Panthers would hang on to win 65-60 in a game that could be considered one of the best games in tournament history.

The Panthers will now play the West Sub-Section Champion, the Warren-Alvarado-Oslo Ponies for the Section 8A Championship at 7 p.m. at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Thief River Falls on Friday.

Cass Lake-Bena Panthers Stats

Taryn Frazer 28 pts 6 rebs

Amira Laduke 11 pts 8 rebs

Gabby Fineday 10 pts 2 rebs

Krisalyn Seeyle 10 pts 2 rebs

Mya Reyes 3 pts 5 rebs

Antavia Bowstring 3 pts

11 Turnovers

11 of 22 FT’s – 50%

Fertile-Beltrami Falcons Stats

Tori Erickson 17 pts 3 rebs

Josie Iverson 13 pts 4 rebs

Kasia Wilson 12 pts 4 rebs

Marin Roragen 11 pts 11 rebs

Taylor Miller 3 pts 3 rebs

Brooklyn Strem 2 pts 3 rebs

Jacelyn Pinske 2 pts 3 rebs

21 Turnovers

9 of 19 FT’s – 47%

From the Cass Lake Times: Cass Lake Bena Lady Panthers are sub-section champions 2 years in a row after a nail biter, 2OT win, 65-60! They will play again Friday at 7 p.m. vs Warren Alvarado Oslo in Thief River Falls! The winner goes to state! GO LADY PANTHERS!!

8A Girls Brackets: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vTCviRc4yrnCAPbC0WccIhO8OG7RdsmPMg31NkgkzI2Xm732Nu0I8DUmZ2121okF0EDMK6abp_rXPbw/pubhtml