aselvey@nujournal.com

MANKATO – With just 27.7 seconds to play in the Section 2A Girls Basketball Tournament Finals, Sleepy Eye St. Marys’ Morgan Mathiowetz drove through the BOLD defense, made a layup through a foul and hit the free throw to go up by a point.

“I just saw it through and heard the and-one,” Mathiowetz said. “I knew I had to make my free throw for us to be up by 1. I just knew my teammates had my back and we needed to get a stop on defense. Zoning back in, knowing that the game’s not over yet, and really digging down on D and getting a stop.”

The Knights did get that stop, with Mathiowetz making two free throws after getting a rebound. St. Mary’s went on to win the game 57-54 at Bresnan Arena to advance to the Class A State Tournament, returning to state after a three-year hiatus.

Staff photo by Ari Selvey Sleepy Eye St. Mary's senior Amelia Schwartz holds up the Section 2A girls basketball championship plaque following the Knights' win over BOLD on Friday at Bresnan Arena.

“I’m super proud of my whole team,” St. Mary’s senior Amelia Schwartz said. “We work day-in and day-out, and it’s everything you want as a team.”

Mathiowetz said that getting to the state tournament has been the team’s goal all season.

“It’s a dream come true,” she said. “I think every team wants to get to this point, but not everybody gets this opportunity. For sure never taking it for granted, and you never know, we might not be able to get back. You never know what happens.

“This group of girls is really special where they never take anything for granted and having a great time and creating more memories with the team is going to be really fun.”

Mathiowetz has had game-winning shots before in her career, but none with as much weight as this one.

Staff photo by Ari Selvey The Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s student section celebrates with the girls basketball team after a win over BOLD Section 2A Girls Basketball Tournament finals against BOLD Friday at the Taylor Center at Minnesota State University.

“There’s been times that that’s happened, but nothing to this extreme,” she said. “It’s just exciting that we get this opportunity to get to the state tournament. It’s kind of what we’ve been working for all year. It’s really cool to see it all fall into place.”

Mathiowetz finished the game with 21 points, five rebounds, three steals and two assists, while Olivia Schieffert had 16 points, seven rebounds, five assists and two steals. Brynne Ibberson added 10 points and six rebounds.

St. Mary’s last went to the state tourney in 2021 and return as the fifth-ranked team in the state.

“It’s obviously a goal that we had at the beginning of the year,” St. Mary’s head coach Bruce Woitas said. “We felt like we had an opportunity to do that with bringing everybody back from the previous year and having a good year. They got themselves to that point where we just had to win this one game to accomplish that goal, and it was a dogfight for 36 minutes.

“Just happy for these kids. They work hard every single day in practice and they come and want to get better. Now we get an opportunity to show up at the state tournament what Section 2 basketball can be like.”

Staff photo by Ari Selvey Sleepy Eye St. Marys’ Morgan Mathiowetz looks for an opening in the defense during the Section 2A Girls Basketball Tournament finals against BOLD Friday at the Taylor Center at Minnesota State University. Mathiowetz led the Knights with 21 points and scored the go-ahead layup in the final minute.

St. Mary’s initially had a slow start to the game offensively, scoring just 23 first-half points, but good defense meant that the Knights found themselves down just 25-23 at halftime.

“In the second half, we rebounded a whole lot better,” Woitas said. “Our defense was for the most part good all game. First half we had some lapses there defensively and they got some easy buckets. But the kids just gutted it out. They played with their heart and got it done.”

The Knights were able to pick things up offensively in the second half, starting with a 3-pointer from Fischer.

Schwartz said that the defensive intensity helped when it came to the other side of the ball in the second half.

“We talk about how our defense leads to our offense, and we really try to emphasize that,” she said. “Because then we get turnovers and transition points, and that’s big for our team, because we’re not the largest out there. We’re just quick, and that helps us a lot.”

Staff photo by Ari Selvey The Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s student section celebrates a 3-ponter during the Section 2A Girls Basketball Tournament finals against BOLD Friday at the Taylor Center at Minnesota State University.

However, as the Knights’ offense picked up, so did the Warriors’, as the game stayed within 4 points for the entirety of the second half. St. Marys found itself up 51-50 with 2:31 to play in the game. BOLD’s Kya Elfering made a layup to take a 1-point lead, and Schieffert split a pair of free throws with 1:07 to play to tie the game at 52.

Elfering drew a foul on the other end on the following possession, hitting both free throws to take a 2-point lead with 37.6 seconds left in the game. Inside of 30 seconds, Mathiowetz drove to the basket from the right, getting the layup to drop through contact to tie the game. Mathiowetz sunk the free throw, and St. Mary’s defended and rebounded well for the final two possessions to take home the win.

St. Mary’s improves to 29-2 and awaits seeding for the state tournament, which will begin Thursday at the Maturi Pavilion at the University of Minnesota.