After a couple of heartstoppers earlier in the Section 7A tournament, drama was noticeably absent in the championship game March 5 at Hermantown.
That was especially so after defending champion and number one-ranked Mt. Iron-Buhl bolted out to a 26-4 lead in the opening minutes of the high school girls basketball matchup with Ely.
The Rangers rolled from there, dominating in every phase in an 87-43 section title game victory.
MIB, which captured its 14th 7A title in 16 seasons, earned another trip to the state tournament and got the number-one seed there as play began this week in Minneapolis.
Yet the story of the tournament was not the almost-typical title run of the Rangers, but the second-place finish for the seventh-seeded Timberwolves, who stunned second-seeded Deer River and shocked number-three Chisholm in respective quarterfinal and semifinal round upsets.
The Wolves, who started and had only one senior, finished 16-10.
Ely, which lost handily to MIB during the regular season, harbored little hope of another upset in the championship game against a deep and loaded Rangers team that is physical and plays at another level.
The Rangers pounced quickly in the championship game and Ely had little opportunity to counter.
Ely had trouble against the Rangers’ pressure and physicality and turnovers cost the Wolves dearly. They coughed the ball up 24 times during the game, with many of those coming in the opening minutes.
MIB took advantage with both layups and long-range shooting and its state tournament berth was never in doubt.
It was 54-17 by halftime and the pressure was off both teams as the final nine minutes of the contest were played in running time.
The Rangers (28-1) connected on a whopping 13 three-point shots and eight different players hit longrange bombs.
Izzy Wiita and Paige Norman scored 18 points to lead the way for the winners, and teammates Farrah Thomas (15) and Anna Neyens (12) also reached double digits.
“MIB has such balance,” said Ely Head Coach Tomi Cole. “Scoring is certainly one of them along with assists and rebounds. Even being on the receiving end they are fun to watch if you like watching team basketball on both ends of the court.”
Ely junior Lydia Shultz, who parlayed a dynamic regular season with a stellar section tournament, scored a team-high 24 points for the Wolves and added four rebounds, three assists and two steals. She was 10-for-13 from the floor.
Another junior, Amelia Penke, added eight points with four rebounds and three assists, and lone senior Zoe MacKenzie connected twice from three-point distance and collected six points in her final game in a Timberwolves uniform.
Ely’s Lillie O”Neill and Gretta Lowe both had two points and freshman Kaija Shultz came off the bench and had three steals.
The Wolves were 13-for-25 from two-point range and just three-for-14 from long distance as the Rangers used both turnovers and rebounding to limit their opponents’ shot opportunities.
The surprising season for the Wolves came on the heels of four straight trips to the 7A Final Four but with a roster that included MacKenzie as the only senior and the injury-related absence of Audrey Kallberg, who was a key contributor last season.
The trip to the 7A title game was the first in program history, and Ely needed to rally to beat Carlton- Wrenshall in its playoff opener. That set up the 51-50, quarterfinal-round victory over Deer River and the subsequent 47-41 win over Chisholm in the semifinal round on March 3 in Hermantown.
