By Mike Drooger and Skip Hunter – 

Last Friday night a good portion of Edgerton and the surrounding environs made its way north to the RA Facility on the campus of Southwest Minnesota State University. The Edgerton High School Flying Dutchmen and the Southwest Minnesota Christian High School Eagles headed to Marshall to face each other in the South Subsection 3A championship game.

It took close to 2 minutes until EHS’s Elliott Fleischman knocked the ice off of one bucket as she hit a deuce. The Eagles thawed out the other bucket when Makenzie Pap scorched the twine with a trey assisted by Kierra Binford. SWC scored again with a Makenna Moss pass to Binford for a short shot. Moss got in the scoring column with a deuce abetted by Madyson Fey. Ana Veldkamp joined the scoring parade with a drive to the hoop. Jocelyn Barron added a deuce with a nice low post move to make the score 10-2 with 14:25 showing on the clock.

The Dutchmen got their second bucket and first trey with a bucket by Kya Voge. The Eagles came back with a Barron to Fey collaboration for a deuce. Brenalyn Smit set up Fleischman for another EHS score, but it was quickly answered when Fey passed down low to Moss. On the Eagles’ next possession Moss found a wide-open Myah Vander Maten for 2 points. The Eagle twin towers scored 14 (Moss) and 13 (Barron) points in the game. Moss was fouled while shooting and made both charity tosses to make the score 20-7 with 10:49 showing on the clock. Savannah Schultz then scored for EHS.

The Eagles quickly scored with another Pap trey assisted by Veldkamp. Miriam Ockenga scored in the low post using a Fleischman pass. On a subsequent inbounds play, Pap tossed the ball to Barron for two points. Kierra Binford scored a trey using a Pap pass to make the score 28-11. Voge splashed home another 3-ball to cut into the Eagles’ lead. Lindsey Fick swiped the ball from a Dutchman, and went to the other end to score. Smit added to the Dutchmen total with a putback shot. Fey scored in the low post followed by a Kinsie Nelson trey using a Binford feed. Fey went 1 of 2 from the line to make the score 36-16 with 5:19 left in the half.

The Eagles began to work the low post. Moss scored a deuce, Barron made 2 free throws, and Moss 1. After Mateya Gilbertson used a Schultz pass to drain a 3, Fick fed Moss for 2 points. Alyda Vande Griend got the ball to Fleischman for a deuce, but SWC countered with a Moss low post move and later a free throw.

The Dutchmen scored the last 6 points of the first half. Reese Vande Griend hit both ends of a 1 and 1. Sister Alyda made her first bucket with 29.4 seconds showing on the clock. Coach Drooger employed a “gnat” defense against Alyda. First Binford pestered her all over the court; when she tired it was Fick’s turn to buzz around Vande Griend. Vande Griend scored the final bucket of the half using a Fleischman pass.

While the Eagles led 46-26 going into the locker room, few in the stands expected them to run away with the game in the second half. In fact it was a hard slog for both teams getting through the final 18 minutes of playing time. The Dutchmen got the score down to 13 at one point, but mostly the count stayed around 15 or 16 points. Fleischman scored first for the Dutchman using a Schultz assist. Fey scored twice from the charity stripe. Then EHS scored twice; first, A. Vande Griend fed Ockenga for 2 points; then Vande Griend made a nice twisting drive to the hoop for a deuce. Veldkamp responded in kind to make the score 50-32.

The Vande Griends collaborated for a trey scored by Reese; Alyda followed that up with another deuce for 2 points to cut the SWC lead to 13. The Dutchmen were clogging up the middle and it took a desperation heave in the lane by Fey for SWC to score. Barron went 1 of 2 from the line. Pap fed Veldkamp to add 2 to the Eagles’ count. A. VandeGriend grabbed a teammate’s miss for a bucket. The Dutchmen were staunch on the boards and especially on the offensive end all night. Gilbertson hit 1 of 2 free throws, and after a Nelson trey, assisted by Fick, returned her own missed shot to the hoop to make the score 58-42 with 8:08 left on the clock.

Fick fed Barron for two points, but that was answered by a Smit score. The Dutchmen were pressing the Eagles all over the court causing numerous Eagle miscues. A. Vande-Griend and Gilbertson each were fouled and made 1 of 2 free throws. Free throws were one of the Dutchmen’s Achilles heels all night as they only made 9 of 21 from the charity stripe.

The Eagles decided to take the air out of the ball. They went 3 minutes between buckets with Moss scoring on a drive. Gilbertson again went 1 of 2 from the line before Nelson made a nice drive to the hole and dished the ball off to Barron for 2 points. The Dutchmen’s final 3 points were scored from the line with A. Vande Griend making 1 of 2, and Smit ending the game and her career by hitting both ends of a 1 and 1. Barron intersected the trips to the line with a bucket assisted by Binford. The horn ended the game giving the Eagles a 66-50 advantage and sending a long line of cars back south along Highway 23.

For the Dutchmen, A. Vande Griend led the way with 12 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, and 5 steals. Gilbertson had 7 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals. Fleischman chipped in with 8 points and 2 assists.

*Photo credits to Tanya O’Leary and Jill Fennema