Sports
Benilde-St. Margaret's Girls Knock Off Undefeated Minnetonka
Coughlin's 23 points leads Red Knights to a 55-48 win over third-ranked Skippers.
With four of their first four games against ranked teams, the girls basketball team is getting used to playing tough competition this season.
That showed Tuesday, as the Red Knights knocked off previously undefeated Minnetonka (No. 3 in Class 4A) by a 55-48 count.
Minnetonka rolled into Tuesday’s game with six straight wins to start the season and had throttled Class 3A seventh-ranked New Prague 66-36 in its last game. BSM’s poise and experience proved to be the difference down the stretch.
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Seniors Josie Dillon and Khadijah Shumpert and sophomore Grace Coughlin are all tournament tested, having started on last year’s 23-6 state tournament team. This group has the potential to be as good, Shumpert said.
“I think we’re there,” Shumpert said. “I think we’ll be there by the end of the season.”
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Minnetonka led 26-19 at the half and was still in command at 42-35 with 9:13 to play. But BSM (No. 2 in Class 3A) roared back with eight straight points to take a 44-42 lead with 6:03 left. The Red Knights outscored Minnetonka 17-4 in a key eight minute span of the second half, eventually moving the lead to 52-46.
“I think we swung the ball around more,” Dillon said. “We executed our offense better than we did in the first half and in the first half of the second half.”
Minnetonka’s last best chance to climb back in the game ended when a close block/charge call went against the Skippers with 18 seconds left. A possible 3-point play would have made it a 1-point game. Instead, BSM’s Abby Minea went to the other end and sank two free throws to clinch the win.
Coughlin led the Red Knights with 23 points. Dillon had nine points and Shumpert added eight.
“They’re a good 4A team,” Dillon said of the Skippers. “We’ve got a few more (tough) games coming up. We’ve got Hill-Murray on Thursday and I think we needed that boost to know we can be the best we can be.”
BSM improved to 6-1 on the season, the team’s only loss a 1-point defeat to Eden Prairie, ranked No. 2 in Class 4A.
The Red Knights host Hill-Murray (4-2), ranked No. 5 in Class 3A, Thursday in a game starting at 6 p.m.
