But it was all smiles for Mathiowetz as she headed to the bench with just over a minute to play in the Class A State Girls Basketball Tournament championship game against Mountain Iron-Buhl Saturday at Williams Arena. By that point, the Knights had built a 78-57 lead, and as Mathiowetz hugged the other players on the bench, the rest of the St. Mary’s starters soon joined her as the Knights captured their first-ever state girls basketball championship with a forceful 80-63 victory.

“It’s just really special to be able to do this with this group,” Mathiowetz said. “I’ve been playing basketball for as long as I can remember, and this has always been a dream. It’s a dream come true to even be here and then to win the state championship. There’s so many people that have that same dream, and they don’t get to say it in the end that they get to accomplish it. Just really exciting and I wouldn’t want to do it with anybody else by my side.”

For St. Mary’s senior Natalie Fischer, it was a moment to be treasured.

“It’s extremely special,” she said. “After the game, I was in the locker room, and I was just telling my teammates how grateful I am to get to do it with them with our hard work throughout the season and practices and Sunday nights. We all come together and work hard, and it all paid off today. We kept our composure and stuck together today, and it means the absolute world to get to do it with these guys.

Staff photo by Ari Selvey From left to right, Sleepy Eye St. Marys' Kiara Murphy, Taylor Mathiowetz and Brynne Ibberson help up Olivia Schieffert (2) after she scores a bucket through a foul during the Class A Girls Basketball Tournament championship game against Mountain Iron-Buhl Saturday at Williams Arena.

“It’s just super special. Not everybody gets to be in these shoes in their senior year. I’m just very grateful to win a state championship this year.”

St. Mary’s was able to take the extra step this season after falling in the semifinals round last year.

“Last year we came up a little bit short, so we wanted our revenge this year,” Fischer said. “We knew we could do it. We battled back all year, and it was our end goal to get into this game, and we did it. I’m very proud of my teammates and how we battled.”

St. Mary’s has had a strong girls basketball program under head coach Bruce Woitas, but this is the first team that was able to take the final step in its fourth state tournament appearance.

“It’s their dedication and their passion,” Woitas said. “They come to practice every day to get better. When you have a good team and good players, sometimes they go through the motions, this group of kids doesn’t do that. They come to practice to get better. They’re diving on the floor for balls in practice. You don’t see that a lot in other programs where they’re diving in practice. Just a credit to them. Just the one senior last year, two this year, so over the last two years, this group of kids has put together a 62-5 record. Just a credit to how they approach the game and how they come in and want to get better and keep improving.

Staff photo by Ari Selvey Sleepy Eye St. Marys' Kylie Pelzel (far left) and Morgan Mathiowetz (next to Pelzel) celebrate with St. Mary's fans after winning the Class A Girls Basketball Tournament championship game against Mountain Iron-Buhl Saturday at Williams Arena.

“That will be the challenge we have again next year. Everybody says, ‘Oh, you’ll be back for next year, this team is coming back next year.’ They’ve got to earn it. And this group will do that. They know it’s not an automatic ticket to this stage. They’re going to work hard to try to get back here.”

Woitas is also the St. Mary’s baseball coach, a program that has won four state titles, but he said coaching for his first girls basketball championship meant something special.

“Basketball is a tough sport to win in, because there’s so many variables that come into play,” he said. “Just an outstanding credit to these kids. I was a little bit emotional, and you should be. Just so proud of them and so happy for them and for our school and our program. Getting that first basketball championship is really special.”

The Knights’ victory came largely on the back of its dominant first-half performance, where the Knights took the first 14 points of the game and ended the half with a 26-point lead.

“We’re a very good team, and we’ve had a lot of strong first halves all year,” Woitas said. “So I think when that gets going, it’s a benefit to us. But in a state championship game, we didn’t expect that. I give credit to the way we played defense in that half and the offensive flow. We knew they were going to bring a lot of pressure and we had to handle that pressure, and I thought we did that.

“We got a lot of good looks at the rim and we were very unselfish in that first half. Our team basketball was superb. Those extra passes, we got the layups and stuff like that. Just a credit to these guys and how they played the game and how they love the game. The passion this year and the experience with each other. They’re unselfish and they get the best shot.”

Mathiowetz led the team with 27 points, nine rebounds and four assists, but was closely followed by Olivia Schieffert, who had her best game of the tournament with 25 points, five rebounds and four assists.

“My teammates and I, we have such an amazing group dynamic,” Schieffert said. “All of us are so confident in each other, and we can all learn and move off each other. We move really well, so just having the confidence to go out there and play our best is what really helped us.”

Schieffert said the MIB defense was giving her looks that she was used to taking advantage of.

“Morgan’s obviously a great player, so I knew they were going to key in on her,” Schieffert said. “And also their press opens up the floor, which is good for me, because I’m very dominant when I can drive. I think just having the confidence in myself and knowing my teammates are confident in me. Just needing to lead my team and help contribute in any way I could.”

Also for St. Mary’s, Audra Hoffman had 7 points and three rebounds, while Brynne Ibberson had 6 points and two assists. Fischer had 6 points and three rebounds, Kylie Pelzel had 5 points and six rebounds, and Sydney Tauer had 4 points and three rebounds.

St. Mary’s could do no wrong in the first half, starting the game with a 14-0 run, with Mathiowetz, Schieffert, Tauer and Ibberson all getting in on the scoring.

“For any team, it’s hard to get out of a hole like that,” Mathiowetz said. “Especially in this game, there’s a lot of nerves, there’s a lot of anxiety going into it. I think knowing that we had that solid start that we didn’t have to be nervous about it, we just had to go out and play and continue to do what we were doing in the first half in the first couple of minutes. Trusting each other and just knowing that if we played the basketball we had planned to play, good things were going to happen throughout the rest of the game.”

MIB got its first bucket on a layup from Sami Warwas, but St. Mary’s continued to push, going up 21-6 on a pair of free throws from Pelzel. A free throw from Mathiwoetz gave St. Mary’s a 20-point lead, 30-10, as the defense continued to overwhelm the Rangers. St. Mary’s closed out the half with an 8-2 run, as Mathiowetz hit a pair of free throws, Hoffmann made a layup, Fischer split her free throws and Mathiowetz closed out the half with a 3-point make for a 42-16 lead. In that first half, all seven players who entered the game for St. Mary’s scored, and the Knights outshot the Rangers 53.8% to 20.0%, making four 3-pointers to MIB’s zero of 15.

But MIB reminded everyone why they were the top-seeded team in the tournament, making a pushback in the second half.

“I’m proud of these guys for not quitting in the second half,” MIB head coach Jeffrey Buffetta said. “I don’t think things could have gone any more south in the first half if we tried. Nothing went our way, and I don’t know how often we’ve been 0-15 from the 3-point line. Just not getting anything to go. We had good looks early, and when those don’t go and the other team is capitalizing on them, we just couldn’t rebound from it. It’s not the way you anticipate these things going, but it wasn’t for lack of effort.

“Mathiowetz is so talented on the other side, and her other players, they came to play with her today. They were moving, they were scrapping, they were getting to the 50-50 balls more than we were. I think we were just playing on our heels too much with that poor start.”

A 3 from Anna Neyens cut the lead down to 46-25 to close out a 7-0 run, and another 3 from Anna Holmstron made it a 52-35 game. St. Marys’ offense, though slower, continued to put up points, however, with a mid-range jumper from Schieffert and a pair of free throws from Fischer helping the Knights to keep pace. MIB made a quick 6-0 run to cut the lead down to 56-45, but St. Mary’s responded with a layup through a foul by Schieffert and a corner 3 from Fischer for a 63-48 lead. MIB’s Aniya Thomas responded with a 3 of her own, and a layup from Farrah Thomas made it a 64-53 game, but the gas went out from the Rangers as St. Mary’s reestablished itself. Mathiowetz scored 5 points herself with a floater and an and-one, then Schieffert and Mathiowetz each made layups for a 71-55 lead. A layup from Farrrah Thomas wasn’t enough to slow down the Knights, as Mathiowetz and Ibberson both made layups in transition, with Schieffert tacking on a free throw and a putback, for a 78-57 advantage. While Mathiowetz picked up her fifth foul shortly after, the junior guard drew applause from the St. Mary’s crowd as she headed for the bench for the final time this season and the Knights closed out the win.

“It just means absolutely everything,” Fischer said. “When you work so hard at that for so long, and you show up to practice every single day and work hard, it’s so rewarding at the end knowing you get to take home the title. So many other people here are challenging for the same goal, and we did it.”

Additional photos will be available in Tuesday’s edition of The Journal.