Photo by Jake McNeill New Ulm’s Brooklyn Lewis puts up a shot in the paint during a Section 2AAA girls basketball quarterfinals game on Saturday at Gustavus Adolphus College,

Courtesy of Jake McNeill

sports@marshallindependent.com

ST. PETER — Despite some big scoring performances from Maggie Joyce and Brooklyn Lewis, the No. 3 New Ulm girls basketball team wasn’t able to come out on top in its Section 2AAA semifinals matchup against No. 2 Jordan, Saturday at Gustavus Adolphus College. The game was tight throughout, with 13 lead changes over the course of the night, but the Jaguars came out on top with the 82-74 win.

Jordan’s lead teetered between 2 and 6 points for most of the second half, but New Ulm made a run at the lead late. Brooklyn Lewis came up with a pair of steals and turned both into layups to cut the deficit to 2 points, and she answered another Jaguar basket with an and-one to trim the gap to 66-65 with five minutes to play.

After the Jaguars called a timeout, Addie Campion converted a layup through contact, along with the ensuing free throw, to give Jordan a 4-point cushion. Maggie Joyce did the same on the other end for New Ulm, but Jordan pulled away from there and led by as many as 12 points in the final two minutes.

Maggie Joyce’s hot shooting hand was a big part of New Ulm’s success on the day as she finished the game with 33 points. Lewis stuffed the stat sheet in a number of categories as well, finishing with 22 points, seven assists, five rebounds and six steals.

“It just brings everybody’s confidence up when somebody’s shooting like that,” New Ulm head coach Mitch Lewis said. “For Maggie to break out like that today was phenomenal. We needed her to do that, and she did. She shot the ball great, she shared the ball, it was a nice way for her to end her season.”

New Ulm had met earlier in the season in Jordan, when the Jaguars ran away with an 83-57 win. The Eagles’ ability to make it anyone’s game this time around showed plenty of growth from the New Ulm athletes.

“They’ve really believed in themselves. From the last time they played until today, they put in the work at practice, they believed in the game plan and they worked at it,” coach Lewis said. “They played for each other, and that’s what got us to what we are today.”

After trailing by a pair of points at halftime, Leah Brustad gave New Ulm the lead on the first possession of the second half with a 3, though Jordan rallied right back ahead with a pair of free throws and a Jordan Staloch 3.

Maggie Joyce got a layup through contact to go down on the other end and the Eagles continued to battle from there until Lewis got a steal and an and-one, and then drew a pair of free throws on the next possession to give New Ulm a 51-50 lead with 12 minutes to play.

The two squads were deadlocked in a 54-all tie for two minutes before Riley Wilson cut to the basket for a go-ahead layup.

Fynboh showed off some fancy footwork in the post for a tying up-and-under, and she scored off an outlet pass the next trip down the court to give Jordan a 58-56 lead that it maintained for the remainder of the game. The go-ahead basket was also Fynboh’s 1,000th career point.

Lewis cut to the paint for the game’s first points, but Jordan answered with 7 unanswered to set the tone early.

New Ulm slowly cut into the deficit over the next few minutes. A pair of 3s and a fadeaway jumper from Maggie Joyce made it a 2-point game, and Betsy Joyce got a layup to go down to tie it up at 12-all with 12:30 to play. Still, Morgan Staloch answered with a 3 for Jordan before Joyce drove into the paint to cut the gap back to a point.

The Eagles’ tenacious defense forced its third tie-up of the game, and Betsy Joyce capitalized in the low post to give New Ulm a 16-15 lead with 11 minutes to play, marking its first lead since the game’s opening points.

“Brooklyn brought it up in our pre-game that, if we get down, keep your heads up, we can fight back together,” coach Lewis said. “We’re a good team and we stick together. They play for each other, and that’s what was special about this team is that no one was out there for themselves, they always were for each other. That just gets us through these tough times and when we’re down.”

Betsy Joyce and Leah Brustad came up with a pair of blocks on the same possession to keep New Ulm’s narrow lead intact. The Eagles weren’t able to score on the next possession, but after getting another stop, a trailing Jordan Boettger grabbed a rebound after a Lewis transition layup was blocked and Boettger converted on the second-chance opportunity.

Brustad then followed up with a steal to set up a Maggie Joyce layup, prompting a Jordan timeout trailing 20-15 with nine minutes left in the first half.

New Ulm got its largest lead of the half when a Lewis free throw brought the score to 23-17. The lead held until, trailing 36-30, the Jaguars scored 7 unanswered points to take the lead, capped off by Morgan Staloch coming up with a steal and then rebounding her own miss for a putback basket.

Jordan and New Ulm each made back-to-back shots to trade the lead before Campion hit a free throw to give Jordan a 42-40 lead heading into halftime.

New Ulm finishes its season with a 19-9 record and had won four straight games prior to Saturday’s loss. The Eagles graduate five seniors in Lewis, Wilson, Boettger, Betsy Joyce and Lexie Goff.

“This senior group has stuck with us all these years. I mean, I’ve coached them since they were in kindergarten,” coach Lewis said. “It was kind of cool, and it’s kind of sad for me because I’ve been with them for so long. They were a really good group of leaders. Kids looked up to them, they were great with the younger players. Hopefully, that shows for the younger kids coming up the positive role models that they can be.”