By Skip Hunter –

And the dream died. It was not a red ribbon and a runner-up plaque that brought the SWC girls’ basketball team to Marshall last Friday night, but that is what they came home with. It was not for a lack of effort as evidenced by Madyson Fey and Ana Veldkamp’s collision as they went for the ball in the waning seconds of the game. The girls did not give up, but lost, nonetheless to Minneota by the score of 60-51.

The red blossomed quickly as Veldkamp lay on the floor in one direction and Fey the other. The agony in Fey’s face was evident as she stood and headed back to the bench. After being tended to, Veldkamp gamely got up and also went back to the bench under her own power holding bandaging material over the gash on her head. She made her way out to the awards ceremony still holding the bandaging material.

The Eagles scored first with Kierra Binford feeding Makena Moss in the low post for 2 points. MHS went ahead with 2 buckets before Moss found Fey open for a deuce. The Vikings went ahead 11-4 before Jocelyn Barron got the ball to Lindsey Fick for 2 points. After a small 5-0 MHS run, Barron stuck a jumper, but Minneota scored again to make the count 16-8 with 12:02 showing on the clock.

The Eagle defense stiffened and SWC went on a 10-0 run spanning over 4 minutes. Makenzie Pap got the ball to Veldkamp for a deuce, Moss scored with her left hand, Veldkamp swiped the ball and scored, Fey hit a trey using a Veldkamp assist, and later Fey went 1 of 2 from the line to lead 18-16 with 7:51 left in the half.

After MHS scored twice, Fey made a low post move to tie the score at 20. MHS scored 6 quick points, but Fey scored twice using passes from Pap and Moss. Moss scored again in the low post, was fouled, and added the and-1. The Vikings scored again before Pap made a nice cut and received a Moss pass. Moss then fed Veldkamp for a trey which left the score 32-28 Eagles at the halftime break.