MIB avances to play Goodhue Saturday for the state championship.

“I think the biggest thing overall is the multiple players they have that can shoot the 3 at a very high rate,” BLHS head coach Jesse Weick said. “Then their number 3 and 4 on their team [Hali Savela and Jordan Zubich] were able to drive to the rim and help everyone else out. That’s the toughest factor for us on defense. Offensive-wise, they’re able to go eight people deep. They’re able to put pressure on you. That’s one of the biggest things we struggled with today.”

Zubich led the Rangers with 31 points, six assists, four rebounds and three steals, shooting 5 for 12 from 3-point range. Savela added 13 points, six rebounds and four assists. The Rangers were white hot from the field, shooting 44.4% from the field and 40% from behind the arc as a team.

BLHS, on the other hand, was 17 of 52 (32.7%) from the field and 7 of 30 (23.3%) from 3-point range.

Photo courtesy of Kate Maiers Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart’s Rachel Kottke (2) and Jamie Novotny (24) defend against Mountain Iron-Buhl’s Gabby Lira (10) during the semifinal round of the Class A Girls Basketball State Tournament Friday at Williams Arena. The Rangers defeated the Mustangs 69-50 in the game to advance to Saturday’s championship game at Williams Arena. The Mustangs fall to a third-place game Saturday morning against Underwood.

The Mustangs were led by Lily Hubin with 18 points and eight rebounds, while Rachel Kottke had 13 points, five rebounds and four assists and Kristi Kottke had 13 points, six rebounds and five assists. Both Kottkes fouled out in the final minutes of the game, helping MIB pull away for the 19-point win.

Along with their high foul count, BLHS also struggled with turnovers, racking up 17 to MIB’s nine.

“Turnovers, usually when you look at a stat line, whoever wins the turnover battle is usually on the happier side of the game,” Weick said. “That definitely didn’t go our way like we wanted it to. Obviously foul trouble makes a huge difference when you’re only able to go six, seven deep. The one thing that I am proud of is the way the girls that had to step up that may not have been used to playing that many minutes did the best job that they could. I’m proud of that.”

The Mustangs kept it close in the first half, opening up the game with a 3-pointer by Hubin, who had four in the game, before Zubich took the lead with two straight layups and a free throw.

While the Rangers maintained that lead throughout the remainder of the game, BLHS hung around in the first half, making a push late in the period. With the score at 35-23, Rachel Kottke made a 3-pointer cut the lead to single digits. MIB’s Gabby Lira made a layup to extend the lead once more, along wit ha free-throw by Zubich, but a pair of free throws by Rachel Kottke and a converted and-one by Hubin helped cut the lead to 38-31. Zubich ended the half with a long runner to put the score at 40-31.

Much like the first half, the second half started with a 3 by Hubin, cutting the lead to 6 points. MIB quickly responded with a 3 by Aniya Thomas and held the Mustangs at arms length. With the score at 62-46 with five minutes to play, Rachel Kottke picked up her fifth to foul out of the game, followed by Kristi Kottke fouling out with 2:44 left to play. From that point on, BHLS was outscored 7-1 as MIB pulled away for the win.

BHLS returns for a third-place game against Underwood at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Gangelhoff Center.

“Our biggest thing is being able to put what happened today behind us,” Weick said. “And then being able to respond to a new team, as long as we stay together and we don’t let what happened today fall into tomorrow, I think the girls are ready for the next opponent and we’ll spend some time looking over specifically what they do. They’re probably in the same boat that we’re in, that they didn’t really know who to count on to play, so they have to do their part as well.”