#2 St. John’s/Tipton Lady Blue Jays |10|13|19|22|------64

 #7 Axtell Lady Eagles |11|15|22|18|-------66

For the second time in 3 years, and first time under coach Abby Stueve the Axtell Lady Eagles reach the semi-finals in the class 1A Division II state tournament, this time defeating St. Johns/Tipton 66-64.

Coming into today’s game, St. John’s head coach Keith Kresin said he was uneasy facing off against a team from the Twin Valley League and one that was as battle tested as Axtell was this year out of conference. He had good reason to be, as the Eagles never wavered defensively and played like a team that was seeded 2nd instead of 7th. 

Leading 11-10 at the end of the first quarter and by a count of 26-23 at halftime, Axtell was answering every run and kept the Blue Jays at bay throughout the first 16 minutes. The second half, however, saw things heat up from the floor as both teams got rejuvenated at the half and came out firing on all cylinders for the final 2 quarters. The lone senior for St. John’s/Tipton, Avery Gates, was held scoreless in the first half but opened the 3rd quarter with her first three of the game to tie things up at 26-26. From then on it was run after run for both squads as we went back and forth in the third before Axtell closed out the 3rd quarter on a 9-3 run to lead 38-32.

In the final frame Axtell’s mentality of score by committee continued as a balanced scoring attack in the final quarter ballooned Axtell’s lead to 10 with just over a minute to go in the game. However, 3 consecutive turnovers turned into points for the Blue Jays who trimmed the lead down to 3 with :25 seconds left. Going 1 for 2 at the line, Axtell had :20 seconds to hold on to the 4-point lead, but a triple by Kara Eilert, the 6’ center for St. John’s/Tipton with :10 seconds left cut the lead to 1. Axtell then was at the line with :07 seconds and Olivia Kuckelman went 1 for 2 at the line to extend the lead to 66-64. A desperation shot at the buzzer by the Blue Jays wouldn’t fall and the Eagles pulled off the upset vs the #2 seed.

Axtell will face 3-seed Hartford at 3:00 Friday, March 8th in the semifinal round, the game will be broadcasted on 92.1 KMZA. 

St. John’s/Tipton – Avery Gates – 22 (all in 2nd half), Kara Eilert – 17, Lauryn Dubbert – 16, Elle Eilert – 6, Erica Brummer – 3

Axtell – Hanna Schmitz – 20 (9/13FT), Maryna Buessing – 13 (3/4 3’s), Trisha Mathewson – 12, Olivia Kuckelman – 11, Makenna Koch – 6, Kinsey Feldkamp – 2, Emi Deters – 2