×

Cathedral girls advance in 2A playoffs

Staff photo by Steve Muscatello New Ulm Cathedral’s Heidi Hoffman (15) launches a shot as two Renville County West defenders look on during the first half Friday in New Ulm. For more photos of this event go to cu.nujournal.com

NEW ULM — No. 7-seeded New Ulm Cathedral was able to play its way into a meeting with BOLD at 7 p.m. on Tuesday after knocking off No. 10 seed Renville County West 50-38 in 2A girls’ basketball playoff action on Friday night.

Becca Schwarz led the Greyhounds with 16 points, eight blocks and six rebounds, while Heidi Hoffman added 11 points and three steals. Jenna Helget had 8 points, four boards and four assists for Cathedral, while McKenna Miling added 6 points.

“We haven’t had a playoff game here for a really long time and even if it’s a play-in game, we really tried to pick up the energy,” Schwarz said. “I think the crowd was in it, and I think people were definitely excited about it.

The Greyhounds did pick up the energy in the second half, but both squads struggled to get things going offensively in the first half. The Greyhounds took a 6-2 lead on a jumper by Hoffman, which forced an RCW timeout with 11:54 left in the half.

A steal and layup by Lauren Wulf cut the RCW deficit to 10-9 later on, but Schwarz got a bucket back inside on the other end to give the Greyhounds a 12-9 lead with less than six minutes to go in the half.

A 3 by Aleah Zieske put RCW ahead 13-12 and the Jaguars led 16-15 at halftime.

Cathedral took the lead back early on in the second half and after a putback bucket by Schwarz, the Greyhounds led 21-18. After a pair of RCW free throws with 10:44 to play cut the deficit to 24-23, Hoffman knocked down a 3 to put the Greyhounds back up by 4.

Hoffman again knocked down a 3 with a little more than five minutes to go to give the Greyhounds a 34-27 lead.

Hoffman has been a spark plug off the bench for the Greyhounds, especially recently, and she knocked down some key shots when her team needed her most against RCW. She said that although she felt extra pressure during the game, she shook it off and made the most of her time on the court.

“Starting out, I definitely had a lot more pressure on me,” Hoffman said. “But once I got into the game, it went away pretty quick and I was just able to get back into the swing of things. And I think we were all able to work as a team and really communicate with each other.”

Schwarz continued creating tough shots inside for RCW with her strong defensive play, especially in the second half.

A pair of free throws by Helget gave Cathedral its largest lead of the game, 47-34, with 52.2 seconds to play, and the Greyhounds moved on in 2A playoffs with the win.

Schwarz knows how tough it’s going to be on Tuesday against No. 2-seeded BOLD but is hoping the added experience throughout the year leads to victory.

“The first time we played them here, we lost by a sizable amount, but we’ve definitely enhanced our performance lately,” Schwarz said. “And we have grown as a team, and I feel like we have a lot more connection together than we did at the beginning of the year. That’s really helping us out.”

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper?
   

Starting at $4.38/week.

Subscribe Today