Albany girls basketball wins first state tournament game against Rochester Lourdes

MINNEAPOLIS – The Albany girls basketball team is in the Class 2A semifinal for the fourth consecutive season.

The Huskies won their first-round matchup in the state Class 2A tournament Wednesday against Rochester Lourdes 58-41. Albany (29-1) will play Minnehaha Academy (27-3) at 8 p.m. Friday in Minnesota’s Williams Arena for a chance at the state title game. The Redhawks beat Waterville-Elysian-Morristown (19-12) by a score of 75-39 after Albany’s game in the Maturi Pavilion.

“I don’t know much about them as far as their ability to get out and run and gun,” Albany coach Aaron Boyum said of Minnehaha. “They have (junior guard) Addi Mack and the Hill girls (senior guard Angel Hill and sophomore guard Sinae Hill) that can really get after it and they can light up the scoreboard in a hurry.”

The last time Albany played Minnehaha, the Redhawks beat the Huskies by a point in the 2022 third-place game.

Usually not a problem for the Huskies, scoring was difficult in the first half against Rochester Lourdes (21-10). Albany rarely got into an offense and when it did, the Husky ballcarrier had several travels and other turnovers. Star senior forward Alyssa Sand had just four points at half and other Albany players looked out of sorts. Fast breaks resulted in blown layups and despite playing good defense, Albany trailed at the break 21-20.

“I think the game said a lot of things about our team and our ability to overcome adversity and get after things,” Boyum said. “Hats off to Rochester Lourdes, they came in and played really well. Defending and they really crashed the offensive glass.”

Sand said she was surprised by the Eagles’ defensive pressure, but once in the flow of the game, the team’s anxiety lessened.

“Thinking team-wise we just need to stick to our game,” Sand said. “We knew shots weren’t falling and we weren’t getting as many calls as we would like, but we’re a second-half team we like to say.”

Albany outscored the Eagles 38-20 in the second half. The Huskies busted out a zone that gave Lourdes fits and transition buckets started to fall for Albany. The defensive set resulted in several Eagle turnovers. Junior Natalie Blonigen was brought in to play D block to block and senior Sand and Gerads said the 6’1” center was probably the biggest difference for the team on defense in the second half.

“We felt like defensive rebounding was really key,” Boyum said. “When we can get defensive rebounds, then our transition game, our up and down game can kind of go. Natalie coming into the game provided a little more length and ability to extend on the perimeter and really cause problems for them.”

Albany was also more aggressive on offense, the team’s star forwards Gerads and Sand taking over to grow their lead to double digits.

“We exerted a lot in the first half and that took its toll in the second,” Eagle coach Todd Greguson said.

He said he was proud of the way his team played defense in the first half, especially holding Sand to as few points.

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Gerads was solid the entire game, ending with a game-high 26 points and adding five rebounds, two assists and five steals. Lourdes sophomore Lauren Hust led her team in scoring, the guard knocking down 22 points in the game on 10-22 shooting. Hust also led her team in rebounds with 11 and steals and blocks with four apiece.

Sand ended with 20 points, an assist and four steals. She also had a huge contribution of 15 rebounds.

During the regular season, Albany beat three other state tournament teams, No. 1 Providence (26-4), No. 4 New London-Spicer (28-3), and No 5 Crosby-Ironton (25-6).

“I think (our experience) helps so much,” Gerads said. “At lot of times if a team is down at halftime, it starts to panic. But since we have the experience, it helps us a lot to stay calm and know that we have a whole half.”

Senior guard Savanna Pelzer had increased minutes against Lourdes than in recent games. She’s been recovering from a knee injury and working back into the rotation. She had four points and three rebounds against the Eagles and backcourt classmate Tatum Findley had a quiet game with just four points and three boards.

“They have five seniors,” Greguson said. “We have one senior, some freshmen, a sophomore and a junior. That’s a battle-tested team. They’ve played together for a long time. That’s a good team, a very good team.”

Rochester Lourdes’ senior Caroline Daly said the Eagles were feeling the pressure of the basketball game and said nerves were likely the reason for many of Lourdes’ missed shots.

Greguson said Rochester Lourdes’ goal moving forward is to win out.

“If we go two and three, we’ll have won as many games as the third-place team,” he said.

Contact reporter Reid Glenn at rglenn@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: Albany girls basketball wins 2024 state tournament game over Rochester Lourdes