Red Knights Advance to Championship 69-47

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn—The Benilde St. Margaret’s Red Knights lost two games during the regular season. Those two games were to St. Francis and DeLaSalle, both entrants in the state tournament. They shot 50 percent from three point range en route to a 69-47 semi-final victory over Sartell-St. Stephen on Thursday afternoon.

Sartell led for much of the first half, and led by as many as seven before relinquishing watching BSM storm back to grab the lead. Once the Red Knights took the lead, they never gave it back. They led by as many as 18 late in the half before the Sabres hit a three pointer at the buzzer.

The Red Knights did a great job of challenging the perimeter and limiting the Sabres to one shot. They also forced 12 turnovers in the first half and scored 14 points off of those turnovers. Senior guard Itisha Alexander was cerebral at the point, scoring 18 points dishing 5 assists while only turning the ball over two times.

“It’s really exciting because its my senior year and it’s the last time I’ll play with this group of girls,” said Itisha Alexander. “It’s my first time at state so it is so cool to be playing for a state championship.”

The second half yielded much of the same result. The Red Knights continued their hot shooting and good defense.

”It wasn’t pretty and I don’t think we’ve played our best basketball,” said BSM coach Bob Lyons. “Hopefully we’ll save that for the championship game. In the first half, we did have good perimeter shooting, which gave us a boost.”

The Hill-Murray Pioneers await the Red Knights who will try to win their second state championship on Saturday night.