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B.E. Area outguns Maple River in 2AA hoops

MANKATO — A pair of sharpshooting sophomore standouts nearly frayed the Mankato East High School gymnasium nets during Section 2AA, South Sub-Section semifinal girls basketball action Friday night.

Maple River sophomore sensation Madi Schirmer poured in a game-high 36 points to win the individual scoring battle with Blue Earth Area sophomore sniper Caitlin Rorman, but Rorman and her Buc teammates won the postseason war.

Rorman erupted for a team-best 34 points to complement six rebounds, three assists and three steals to power No. 2-seeded Blue Earth Area to a 61-55 second-round playoff victory over No. 3-seeded Maple River.

Blue Earth Area (15-12) advances to face No. 1-seeded New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva (23-5) for the South Sub-Section championship at 6 p.m. Tuesday night at the Taylor Center on the Minnesota State University campus in Mankato. The Panthers scratched out a 49-34 comeback victory over No. 5-seeded Waterville-Elysian-Morristown to reach the finals.

Maple River ended its season with a 16-11 record.

“That game was a couple of prizefighters slugging it out until the final bell tonight,” said Blue Earth Area head coach Al Cue, whose team also posted a 59-47 victory over the Eagles on Dec. 22. “That also was a battle between two outstanding players.”

After Samantha Barslou’s back-to-back 3-pointers kept the Bucs within striking distance — an 8-7 deficit — during the playoff clash’s early stage, the rapid-firing Schirmer quickly slashed and scooped the Eagles to a 14-7 lead in a span of a minute and a half.

Rorman, who proved more accurate from the floor than her high-scoring counterpart by making 12 of 19 field goals, answered by reeling off four consecutive baskets to flip the switch to a 15-14 edge 4 minutes later.

Rorman’s off-balanced leaner in the lane later gave the Bucs a 24-20 lead with 17 seconds remaining before intermission, but Schirmer matched the basket by banking home a 12-footer as time elapsed to trim the Eagles gap to two by the break.

Rorman, who dialed long distance on 4-for-5 shooting behind the arc en route to 21 second-half points, drilled a trifecta for Blue Earth Area’s initial points of the final 18 minutes before Schirmer erupted for six unanswered points to help Maple River recapture the lead at 30-27.

Rorman and Schirmer took turns blistering the nylon nets on a revolving-door rotation of trips downcourt before Bucs junior Reegan Howard joined the perimeter sniping.

“Reegan Howard hit a couple of big 3s to increase our lead to 13 points (48-35), and I thought we had put them away, but Schirmer and Maple River did a heckuva job coming back and getting within five,” Cue said in reference to Schirmer’s six-point string that inched the Eagles with 52-47 with 3 minutes remaining in regulation.

Rorman, however, swooshed a pull-up 3-ball from the top of the key before Sidney Blair careened through traffic in the lane for a runner to restore the Bucs’ double-digit lead a minute later.

Emma Severns and Schirmer nailed back-to-back shots to inch within four with 29 seconds remaining only to see Barslou and Rorman each convert clutch one-and-one situations to put the game in the win column.

Howard contributed 11 points to Blue Earth Area’s winning ways, while Barslou netted eight points.

Severns supplied 10 points, six rebounds and five steals to Maple River’s performance, while Schirmer added eight rebounds, five steals and six assists to her game-high 36-point effort.

Maple River 22-33–55

B.E. Area 24-37–61

B.E. AREA (61)

L. Norman 0-2 2-2 2, Sofie Blair 0-2 1-2 1, Ripley 0-1 0-2 0, Barslou 2-8 2-2 8, Rorman 12-19 6-8 34, Howard 4-7 0-0 11, Sidney Blair 1-2 1-2 3, H. Johnson 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 20-44 12-18 61.

MAPLE RIVER (55)

Schirmer 14-32 7-8 36, Berkner 1-2 0-0 2, Osdoba 2-2 0-0 4, Severns 4-9 0-0 10, Kollos 0-3 0-0 0, Klecker 1-5 1-2 3, Bruegger 0-2 0-0 0, Barkosky 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-55 8-10 55.

3-pointers: B.E. Area 9-22 (Rorman 4-7, Howard 3-6, Barslou 2-7, H. Johnson 0-2); Maple River 3-12 (Severns 2-5, Schirmer 1-5, Kollos 0-2). Fouled out: None. Rebounds: Maple River 29 (Schirmer 9); B.E. Area 26 (Rorman 6). Assists: Maple River 10 (Schirmer 6); B.E. Area 7 (Rorman 3). Steals: B.E. Area 10 (Sidney Blair and Rorman 3 each); Maple River 12 (Schirmer and Severns 5 each).

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