The No. 7 seeds in Section 1 Class 4A and Section 2 Class 3A came out on top in opening round girls basketball playoffs Wednesday night.

In Section 2, the No. 2 seed Faribault Falcons jumped out to a 9-3 lead and trailed by two at the half before losing 48-34 to No. 7 seed Jordan. In Section 1, the No. 7 seed Rochester Century Panthers traveled to No. 2 seed Rochester Mayo and won 57-41.

In the Faribault game, the Falcons were very good early and then went into one of their long scoring droughts before trailing 20-18 at the half.

Jordan paid a lot of attention to the Faribault post and dared the Falcons to shoot three-point baskets and Faribault obliged.

The Falcons simply could not connect from long range and before they got into attack mode they were down double digits.

Faribault seniors Ellery Akemann and Jenna Wetzel were our State Farm Insurance Faribault agents Tony Langerud and Jason Krohn Faribault players of the game.

Falcon head coach Bill Bardal was very dejected after the game, noting his team worked their tails off to get the second seed.

Even though they came into the game with fewer wins than Jordan, Faribault did earn the second seed by virtue of their 4-1 record against section opponents. Jordan was 2-3 in the section.

The Minnesota River Conference Jaguars had lost by a large margin to Mankato West during the regular season.

The Scarlets were swept by Faribault and still got the No. 4 seed with eight wins while No.  seed New Ulm had 15 wins. The Eagles won the opening round game at Mankato West on Wednesday night 72-61.

No Falcon scored in double figures and they had two three-point baskets the entire night.

Jordan had four three-point baskets and lived at the free throw line, going 16 of 25 while Faribault was 2 of 7.

Akemann led the team with 8 points and sophomore Grace Amacher scored all seven of her points in the second half.

Jordan had two players in double figures.  Senior Paige Johnson tallied 15 and junior Brooke Sievers had 10 points.

The Jaguars dominated on the glass and seemed to win the hustle points battle.

Jordan is 16-11 and will play No. 3 seed Mankato East in semifinal action Saturday at 7:45PM at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter.

Mankato East defeated Waseca 47-39.

The Falcons split with Mankato East during the regular season in Big Nine action.

Bardal told KDHL before the game he didn't know how his team would react to their first home playoff game in a long time because they had no experience to go by. As Jordan built their lead it appeared Faribault players tightened up physically.

Faribault will have a lot of returners coming back next season with just the two seniors. The Falcons finished their season 13-14, the first double-digit win season in a long time.

Elsewhere in Section 2 Class 3A quarterfinal action, top seed Marshall rolled past Worthington 65-34.

Saturday the early game (6PM) will feature top seed Marshall playing against New Ulm.

In other Section 1 Class 4A games, top seed Lakeville North rolled over Farmington 57-34, Rochester John Marshall edged Owatonna 67-64 and Lakeville South defeated New Prague 54-43.

Saturday at 1PM, Lakeville North will play Rochester John Marshall and at 2:45PM Lakeville South faces Rochester Century.

In Section 1 Class 3A, top seed Winona (whom Faribault beat during the regular season) cruised by Albert Lea 72-26. Second seed Kasson-Mantorville bested Stewartville 69-40. No. 3 seed Northfield downed Red Wing 50-39, and No. 5 seed Byron beat No. 4 seed Austin 59-54.

Winona plays Byron at 6:30PM and Northfield faces Kasson-Mantorville at 8:15PM Saturday in the Rochester Mayo Civic Center.

Falcon Girls Warming Up Before Game
Falcon Girls Warming Up Before Game
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