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Rocket Girls Claim Consolation Title with Win Over BGMR at Class A State Tournament

By Craig Olson, 03/18/23, 1:15PM CDT

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The Underwood girls’ basketball team struggled through the first half of the Class A Consolation Championship game against Badger-Greenbush-Middle River on Saturday morning, however, the Rockets put together a tremendous second half effort to claim the Consolation title.  Underwood made only two field goals in the first half as they trailed 19-10 at halftime.  The Rockets then outscored the Gators 37-13 over the final 18 minutes to register a 47-32 victory.

 

After Underwood scored the first points of the game, the Gators ran off 8 straight points to take an 8-2 lead.  BGMR went on a 7-point run to close the first half and build their nine point lead.  Both teams were sluggish on offense through the first 18 minutes as the Gators had only 5 successful field goals in the half.  Thirteen first half turnovers also hurt the Rockets.

Underwood scored 10 of the first 12 points in the second half to pull to within two points at 21-19.  A 5 point run by BGMR put their lead at 26-19, but Underwood answered with a six point run of their own to climb to within a single point at 26-25.  A 3-pointer by Mo Bugbee gave the Rockets a 28-28 tie, the only time the game was tied on the day.  Liz Lukken made a pair of free throws to give Underwood a 30-28 lead and a two-point field goal by Kallyn Grove pushed the Underwood lead to 32-28 with 8:30 left in the game.  The Rockets never relinquished the lead as they were able to get to the foul line 29 times in the second half, making 19 of their attempts.  For the game they were 24-37 at the charity strip.

Lukken led the Rockets with 17 points and 3 assists.  She also made 8-of-10 free throws.  Bugbee had 10 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists, Grove was in double digits with 10 points and grabbed six rebounds, and Mia Blaskowski just missed a double-double with 9 points and 11 boards.

Badger-Greenbush-Middle River was led by Kinsley Hanson with 10 points and 13 rebounds.  Tessany Blazek added 8 points.  The Gators had only 9 made field goals on the day and hit 12-of-22 from the line.  They finish their season with a record of 27-5.

Underwood established a new single season record for wins as they end up 28-4.  Junior Liz Lukken, who scored 44 points in the 3 tournament games, was named to the Class A All-Tournament team.