ST. PETER — One year to the day in the same place, the No. 3-seeded Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman/Martin Luther Jaguars earned their second consecutive Section 2A, South Sub-Section title via a 57-48 victory over the No. 4-seeded Springfield Tigers on Tuesday night at Gustavus Adolphus College’s Lund Arena.

“Some of these girls have been here, and I think that experience really helped. They were able to stay calm and not get down on themselves,” Jaguars head coach Rick Uttech. “They were used to the environment and I wasn’t really concerned with the girls that haven’t been here much either, because they wanted it really bad. They came out to play.”

Springfield ends the season at 18-11. Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman/ Martin Luther (25-5) will play the North Sub-Section champion Cedar Mountain-Comfrey in the section championship at 6 p.m. Friday at Minnesota State University, Mankato. Cedar Mountain-Comfrey beat Sleepy Eye Public 53-39 to reach the section title game.

Right from the start, the Jaguars controlled the pace of the game. Senior center Kenlie Pytleski used her 6-foot-1 frame to win the tip-off against Tigers’ 5-9 senior forward Vishe Rabb, and Jaguars senior guard Hannah Johanson got the easy layup five seconds after the clock started.

“We like to get that first basket if we can. We were fortunate enough to get the jump over Vishe and take it to the hole. That was a nice start for us,” Uttech said.

Pytleski then put up a low post layup with an assist from senior guard Alexis Brummond for the 4-0 lead before Rabb went to the free throw line and got the Tigers’ first two points.

The Jaguars and Tigers tied twice in the first eight minutes. Each time, the Jaguars broke the tie and regained the lead until Rabb used two trips to the charity stripe and a leaner in the lane to give the Tigers its first lead with less than eight minutes remaining in the half.

Pytleski and senior forward Hanna Geistfeld scored the Jaguars’ next five points to regain a lead the team would keep for the rest of the contest. Johanson passed the ball into Pytleski for a lay-in, and Geistfeld went 3-for-4 at the free throw line for the 20-16 lead at the 5:37 juncture.

“We knew we needed to go inside as much as we could,” Uttech said. “They have good shooters, but we had that opportunity and we wanted to do that — reverse the ball and get it inside.”

Tigers senior guard Shylyn Lothert broke up the short run by getting a layup in the lane. But, Geistfeld answered back with a shot off the glass before providing an assist on junior guard Macy Quinn’s bucket for a 24-18 advantage.

Geistfeld increased the Jaguars’ lead by seven with a foul shot before Uttech called for a timeout moments later. Right after, the team used its speed and Geistfeld connected with Quinn again for a quick basket.

Rabb concluded the Tigers’ first-half scoring with two more free throws as the team found itself down, 27-20, after a half. Rabb scored 12 points during the half and finished with a game-high 27 points along with nine rebounds.

The Tigers capitalized on two early Jaguars turnovers and narrowed their deficit to three. Lothert and senior guard Callie Wersal nailed back-to-back 3-pointers for a 29-26 score. Johanson matched it with a trey to get the lead back up to six.

Brummond later used an inbounds pass to senior guard Allyson Cegelske for a 3. Quinn then connected with Pytleski for another basket and the Jaguars’ largest lead of the night at 41-30. Lothert erased the double-digit lead with a 3 from the top of the key. With 1:16 to go in the game, the Tigers tried to slow down the clock and fouled Brummond, who used a 1-and-1 situation to get the Jaguars back up by 10.

Rabb singlehandedly tried to power the Tigers back and notched four points in the final minute before fouling out with 33 seconds left in the game. The Jaguars completed their scoring at the free throw line, and Tigers freshman guard Sydney Hauger prevented a double-digit final score with a layup in the last seconds of the game.

Pytleski and Geistfeld combined to score 33 of the Jaguars’ points on 9-for-16 shooting on the floor. Geistfeld had a team-best 17 points, along with 10 rebounds for a double-double and five assists, while Pytleski recorded 16 points to complement five rebounds and two blocks. Brummond, who scored nine points and Wallace each had five boards.

SPR 20-28–48

GTML 27-30–57

GHECTML (57)

Geistfeld 4-11 9-12 17, Pytleski 5-7 6-6 16, Brummond 2-8 4-4 9, Quinn 3-7 0-0 7, Johanson 2-7 0-4 5, Cegelske 1-3 0-0 3, Wallace 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 17-44 19-26 57.

SPRINGFIELD (48)

Rabb 6-21 14-16 27, Lothert 3-12 0-0 8, Wersal 2-6 0-0 5, Hauger 2-7 0-0 4, Hauth 1-1 0-2 2, Graff 1-1 0-3 2, Parker 0-0 0-0 0, Platz 0-0 0-0 0, Plotz 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 15-43 14-20 48.

3-pointers: GHECTML 4-16 (Johanson 1-3, Cegelske 1-3, Quinn 1-4, Brummond 1-6); Springfield 4-21 (Wersal 1-2, Lothert 2-9, Rabb 1-9, Hauger 0-1). Fouled out: Rabb, Hauth. Rebounds: GHECTML 31 (Geistfeld 10); Springfield 30 (Rabb 9). Assists: GHECTML 11 (Geistfeld 5); Springfield 4. Steals: GHECTML 4; Springfield 1.