Goodhue Girls Dominate for Section 1A Championship

The Goodhue Wildcat girls basketball team left no doubt Saturday night they were focused to continue the tremendous winter experienced by the Goodhue community.

The boys are playing for a state championship Saturday and the No. 1 rated girls lived up to their name while pouncing on Rushford-Peterson with their press and getting turnover after turnover.

Goodhue just got after it on defense, with the Trojans committing 27 turnovers, and the Wildcats had a 49-27 lead at the half.

There would be no miracle on Civic Center Drive on Saturday night.

Unlike Lyle/Pacelli last Saturday in the subsection title game, Goodhue kept their foot firmly on the gas.

Goodhue head coach Josh Wieme told Power 96 before the game he thought his team was deeper and boy was he right.

Goodhue had nearly half their points scored by bench players led by 5-foot-6 sophomore Emily Benrud with 17 points.

Only one other Wildcat was in double figures, with 13 players scoring for Goodhue. Five-foot-8 junior Maddy Miller had 17 points.

The only thing Goodhue did not do well is shoot free throws, where they were 19 of 33, but Rushford-Peterson could not hit their free throws either, going 7 for 22.

Seeds will be made by the coaches in the tournament and if Goodhue is the top seed (that's not a given just because they are rated No. 1) they would play Thursday at 11AM in Mariucci Arena on the University of Minnesota campus.

The Section 1 Class 2A championship was a thriller, with Dover-Eyota coming from 15 points down in the second half to tie the game before falling to top-rated Plainview-Elgin-Millville 53-45.

It is Plainview-Elgin-Millville's first trip to the girls state tournament.

Yes, the No. 1 rated teams in the state in Class A and Class 2A are from Section 1.