Mily Albjerg, Trinity Baker and Ezrah Baker took advantage of the extra attention received Lukken as all 3 reached double digits.  Albjerg had a career high 23 points, including 5 3’s, and grabbed 8 rebounds.  Trinity Baker registered a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds, including 6 offensive boards.  Ezrah Baker contributed 14 points and 6 rebounds.  Kallyn Grove delivered another strong stat line with 7 points, 6 assists and a team high 14 rebounds.

“Hillcrest did a great job of defending Kallyn and Liz, so we needed others to step up and boy, did they ever,” said Underwood Head Coach Brian Hovland. “Trinity, Mily and Ezrah combined for 13 made 3’s and 41 second half points.  I thought we did a much better job defensively in the second half.  Emma Dirkman tweaked her ankle last game was not at 100%, which meant we ran a little short-handed.  The starting 5 played a lot of minutes today.”

 “I’m so proud of how hard the girls battled today, stated Head Coach Hannah Clark of the Comets.  “They executed our game plan on both ends of the floor.  I though our defense did such a good job limiting looks around the basket.  Credit to Underwood, they had players knock down shots from the outside.”

Hillcrest finishes their season with a single season school record 21 wins.  Ella Knutson led the Comets with 24 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists.  Ruby Peterson contributed a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds, while adding 4 assists and 3 steals.  Kate Olstad finished with 14 points and 8 rebounds.

“Ella played a great game, scoring 24 points and playing great on-ball defense,” said Clark.  “Her 24 points today gives her a career total of 1,243.  This makes her the new Hillcrest girls’ all-time leading scorer, surpassing Mackenzie Foss’s previous record of 1,237.  Congratulations to her!  Ruby Peterson, once again, contributed in all categories and Kate Olstad had her best game of the year.  She played with so much confidence.  She knocked down shot after shot and she was always in the right place on the defensive end of the floor.  It’s never fun to have the season come to an end, but this group of girls has a lot to be proud of.”

Second-seeded Underwood will now face top-seeded Park Christian School in the North Sub-Section championship on Wednesday at 7:00pm in Perham.  The winner will move on to the Section 6A championship game on Friday in Fergus Falls.