Staff photo by Jeremy Behnke Sleepy Eye’s Kaydence Hesse drives to the basket as Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s senior Madison Mathiowetz defends on the play during Monday’s Section 2A, South Subsection championship game at St. Peter High School. The Knights won 65-46.

ST. PETER — Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s advanced to the Section 2A title game after defeating crosstown rival Sleepy Eye 65-46 on Monday during the Section 2A, South Subsection championship game at St. Peter High School.

The Knights (27-2) will face the No. 1 seed from the North Subsection Mayer Lutheran at 6 p.m. on Friday at Minnesota State University, Mankato.

The Indians end their season at 23-6.

St. Mary’s was led by Madison Mathiowetz, who poured in 26 points and had seven rebounds. Allie Labat had 17 points.

Kadence Hesse led the Indians with 24 points and six rebounds, while Kaydince Thoms and Brooklyn Moldan each had 8 points.

The Indians got off to a 10-5 lead, but an 8-2 run by the Knights, highlighted by 3s from Natalie Fischer and Labat, made it 13-12 St. Mary’s with less than 12 minutes left in the half.

The Knights later went up 20-16 on a basket inside by Liz Schwint and a 3 from Mathiowetz put St. Mary’s ahead 29-20 with 4:50 left in the first half.

Scwhint had 10 rebounds and added 6 points for the Knights.

After Hesse hit a 3 to make it 32-23 St. Mary’s, Reagan Severson responded with a 3 of her own for the Knights to make it 35-23. Severson finished with 11 points, three rebounds, three assists and three steals.

Schwint’s basket inside put St. Mary’s up 39-23 with 1:28 left in the half and the Knights took a 39-28 lead into halftime after Hesse scored the last 5 points of the half for the Indians.

St. Mary’s got an early 3 from Labat in the second half and later, a layup by Mathiowetz put the Knights up 50-36 and forced the Indians to call a timeout with 10:25 left.

The Indians weren’t done yet, however. Down by as many as 16 in the half, they cut it to 50-41 on a basket inside from Hesse before the Knights scored 6 straight points.

The Knights pulled away late, going up 65-46 on a pair of free throws from Labat with less than 3 minutes left. At that point, the Indians weren’t able to make another run as the Knights moved on to Bresnan Arena.