The Faribault Falcon girls basketball team had a lead at the half and were tied with the Waseca Bluejays with just a few minutes to go, but Waseca went on a 9-0 run to finish the game and won 54-45 in Waseca on Wednesday night.

It was the opening round of the Section 1 Class AAA playoffs, and man did the three-win Falcons put a scare in the 21-5 Bluejays. In the end, it appeared the senior-dominated Waseca team stepped it up against the Faribault team without a senior on the roster.

What doomed Faribault was turnovers. I tallied 24 for the Falcons and 11 for Waseca. The Bluejays also scored four more points at the free throw line. The future definitely looks bright for Faribault if they can cut down on those nasty turnovers. Many came on inaccurate passes or trying to dribble through a zone.

Two freshmen led the scoring for Faribault and were our Faribault State Farm Insurance agents Faribault players of the game. Rachel Hanson, 5-foot-1, connected on four threes for 12 points off the bench and 5-foot-8 Breanna Bresnahan tallied three three-point shots and also finished with 12 points.

Faribault led 28-27 at the half and extended that lead to start the second half. It was a see-saw affair until there were just under three minutes to go in the game. The Falcons finished their season with a 3-24 record while the birds from Waseca are now 22-5 and advance to semifinal action Saturday afternoon in Rochester.

Waseca was led by 5-foot-8 senior point guard Mikayla Rolling's 14 points, and 5-foot-11 senior post Kirstin Simmons collected 13.  Eighth-grader Madison Gehloff, 5-foot-8, added 10 off the bench for the Jays.

Faribault started much of the season with two freshmen, two juniors and a sophomore, and the top three off the bench were freshmen. Falcons head coach Bill Bardal was proud of his young team but added, "After a season under their belt, we can't say they're young any more."

In other Section 1 Class AAA games Wednesday night, top seed Kasson-Mantorville downed Stewartville 84-47, fourth-seeded Austin nipped Byron 40-37 and Winona just got by Albert Lea 47-35.

Waseca plays Winona at 2:45 Saturday afternoon at the Mayo Civic Center Arena; at 1 p.m. it's Austin and Kasson-Mantorville. The championship is next Thursday night.

This was my view for the game.
This was my view for the game.
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