Morgan Mathiowetz captained the Knights to the tune of 41 points, despite facing heavy attention from Mayer Lutheran, especially in the second half.

“A lot of teams do what they can to keep the ball out of my hands,” Mathiowetz said. “But that’s to our advantage, especially in the second half. We’re able to find our open shooters and they’re able to hit open shots. Trust in each other and trust in our offense and letting other people hit shots and make plays.”

The Knights advance to the semifinals, where they will play Central Minnesota Christian at 2 p.m. Friday at Williams Arena. CMC defeated Kelliher/Northome 82-69 in the quarterfinals Thursday.

Mathiowetz added eight rebounds, four assists, six steals and three blocks, while Olivia Schieffert had 8 points, five steals and three rebounds. Brynne Ibberson had 6 points and four assists, and Audra Hoffmann had 6 points and nine rebounds.

Staff photo by Ari Selvey Sleepy Eye St. Marys’ Audra Hoffmann looks to pass the ball away while guarded by Mayer Lutheran’s Ada Hahn during the first round of the Class A State Girls Basketball Tournament Thursday at Maturi Pavilion in Minneapolis.

Hallie Hunter led Mayer Lutheran with 18 points, while Isabella Keaveny had 13 points.

Another big key for St. Mary’s was its team rebounding, not allowing the taller Mayer Lutheran team to get extra chances on the offensive glass.

“That was one of our big keys coming in here,” St. Mary’s head coach Bruce Woitas said. “I thought they did a really good job rebounding and boxing out and limiting those second opportunities and that was a big part of this game as well.”

Mayer Lutheran started the game with a 6-0 lead, turning the Knights over for some easy baskets in transition, but a timeout sorted out St. Mary’s as they responded to get back into the game.

“Just really, really proud of this group,” Woitas said. “We added some tough nonconference opponents … That really helped us prep for this. We had the experience coming back, we only had one senior last year … Really impressed with how they showed up today, the jitters didn’t get to them. Obviously Morgan kept us in after we got down 6-0 before we got going, you have to give her credit.

“I thought our defense was really good — we had a little bit of trouble with their flex offense in the first half, but in the second half we did a much better job of defending that.”

Mathiowetz scored 18 of the first 20 points for the Knights, getting into her bag with multiple step-back 3s and shots from the mid range. A Mathiowetz step-back 3 gave the Knights their first lead of the game, 15-13, and by the end of her run, St. Mary’s was up 20-15.

Pelzel continued the momentum with a push shot and a 3 for a 27-19 lead. The Knights stayed balanced, with shots from Mathiowetz, Schieffert and Ibberson making it a 38-24 lead, and Mathiowetz added a mid-range jumper and a putback in transition to earn 28 first-half points and a 43-33 halftime lead.

Mayer Lutheran began showing more doubles to Mathiowetz in the second half, especially on drives and when she brought it up the court. However, she remained effective as her teammates stepped up.

“I just know that when they throw that double and are aggressive with that double, you can get downhill and take advantage of that,” Mathiowetz said. “And then also it’s going to be four people with three defenders, and there’s going to be someone open and they’ll find the open spot and trusting them to shoot.”

Staff photo by Ari Selvey Sleepy Eye St. Marys’ Brynne Ibberson dribbles the ball to the lane during a Class A State Girls Basketball Tournament quarterfinals game Thursday at Maturi Pavilion in Minneapolis.

Ibberson scored the first 3 points of the second half as she made a putback and split a pair of free throws for a 45-33 lead. Mayer Lutheran pushed back with a pair of layups from Hallie Hunter to make it a 9-point lead, but a 6-0 run by St. Mary’s, with Hoffmann scoring 4, to make it a 52-37 game. Mayer Lutheran pushed back once more to cut the lead to 54-45, but a 3 from Natalie Fischer stabilized the Knights, followed up by a driving layup from Mathiowetz for a 59-45 lead as St. Mary’s called a timeout with 9:12 to play.

St. Mary’s followed that with a 9-0 run, with Mathiowetz scoring 7 and Schieffert adding a layup after a steal, for a 68-48 lead, the largest of the game. St. Mary’s called another timeout with 3:06 to play, and while Preslie Hunter made a corner 3 for the Crusaders, Mathiowetz added her final few points on free throws in the bonus to wrap up the game.

Staff photo by Ari Selvey Sleepy Eye St. Marys’ Olivia Schieffert prepares to take a shot during a Class A State Girls Basketball Tournament quarterfinals game Thursday at Maturi Pavilion in Minneapolis.