Goodhue Upsets Undefeated Northern Freeze

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn—Any team that rolls into a state tournament undefeated has a bit of additional pressure on its shoulders. The Northern Freeze, a co-op Marshall County Central and Tri-County entered Target Center with a 28-0 record. They came out in their semi-final game with Goodhue and looked nervous. The good news for the Freeze was that so did the Wildcats. In what was a physically played game, the Wildcats handed the Freeze their first loss of the season and advanced to the championship game with a 51-44 win.

The teams played turnover tag and neither team scored a bucket until the 14:08 mark of the half. From that point on, the game was never tied nor did the Freeze take a lead. Goodhue methodically worked their way through the maze of media timeouts and have a date in their first state championship game on Saturday afternoon.

The Wildcats held the Freeze well under their 70 point per game average including 19 points in the first half. The Freeze shot only 29 percent from the floor including 2 of 16 from three point range. Offensively, Laura Watson led the team in scoring with 13, but it was the inspirational leadership of senior Grace Majerus that led the way. Majerus’ father passed away two years ago to the day. She paced the team with a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

The Northern Freeze were able to pull the game to two points with 10:18 remaining in the second half, but the Wildcats went on a 5-0 run and the lead was back to seven.

Goodhue will play in its first championship game against the winner of Parkers Prairie and Barnum Saturday at 12pm.