MINNEAPOLIS — The Caledonia High School girls basketball team positioned itself for a memorable comeback victory on Wednesday night, but one too many cold shooting streaks and a little too much Addi Mack stopped it from advancing to the semifinal round of the MSHSL Class AA state tournament.
The sixth-seeded Warriors clawed their way back from a 14-point deficit late in the first half to tie third-seeded Minnehaha Academy midway through the second, but Mack scored 10 of her game-high 34 points over the final eight minutes in the Redhawks’ 68-63 quarterfinal victory at the Maturi Pavilion.
Caledonia (27-4) moves to the consolation round on Thursday and plays seventh-seeded Barnesville (22-7) in an 8 p.m. start at the Gangelhoff Center. Minnehaha Academy (21-9) plays second-seeded Crosby-Ironton (31-0) at the Williams Arena on Friday night.
“We battled and didn’t give up when could have been sulking and pouting,” Caledonia coach Scott Sorenson said. “We took the attitude of, ‘We’re gonna keep fighting here.'”
The Warriors evened the score for the first time since the opening minutes at 52 when senior Josie Foster was fouled as her team trailed 52-49. Foster made the first free throw and missed the second, but senior Sienna Augedahl tipped the ball back in the basket to knot the score with 7 minutes, 57 seconds remaining.
The score remained tied until Mack converted a turnover into a layup for a 54-52 Minnehaha lead with 5:30 on the clock. Between those plays, the Warriors missed a couple of 3-pointers and weren’t able to make good on a couple of offensive rebounds.
“We battled so hard to get there,” Sorenson said of forcing the tie. “The miscues we made on those possessions were crucial, but then we also gave them some opportunities, and they got back to the free throw line.”
Caledonia attempted 13 free throws in a physical game. Mack made 16 of her 19 attempts for the Redhawks.
“I feel good about it,” Sorenson said of his team’s defense on Mack, who has scored more than 4,500 career points and will play for the University of Maryland. “She shot well down the stretch, and we let her get away a few times,” Sorenson said. “She got to the line for 19 shots and is a very good free throw shooter.
“We denied her, and I wish we would have played a little more physical with her and got her off her rhythm, but Nicole Banse and eighth-grader Ashlyn Reinhart really stepped up and took it to her defensively.”
The Warriors faced their biggest deficit at 32-18, but a quick scoring burst capped by a 3-pointer from junior Aubrie Klug with 15 seconds left in the first half had them within 34-26. But Mack closed out the half with a three-point play that gave Minnehaha a 37-26 halftime lead.
The Warriors struggled with turnovers, but that didn’t stop them from getting back in the game during the second half.
Sophomore Elsa Blum made a 3-pointer to get Caledonia within 50-49 with 9:40 left as it pushed for its first lead since a 7-5 advantage.
But after Augedahl’s tip tied the game, Mack scored the next six points, and the Warriors went more than four minutes without a point. Kensey King’s basket with 3:06 left had the Warriors within 58-54, but they couldn’t get any closer.
Klug finished with a team-high 25 points and grabbed eight rebounds. She made 3 of 8 attempts from the 3-point line and played effectively after picking up her fourth foul with 9:01 on the clock.
Banse added 15 points and Foster 10 points and 11 rebounds for Caledonia, which is making its first state appearance since 2019.
