Cromwell Wins Section 5A

March 13th, 2016

Tyler Peterson-NSO

The Cromwell Cardinals and the Browerville/Eagle Valley Tigers battled for the Section 5A championship on Friday night. The Cardinals hung on in the nail bitter, winning 73-71 to advance to the Class A State Tournament.

The Cardinals are returning to the State Tournament for the first time since 2004, but it wasn’t easy as the Cardinals were trailing 69-63 with 4:30 left to play. The Cardinals then went on a 10-2 run to secure the Section 5A championship.

Teana Hakamaki scored the eventual game winning points, driving and banking in a layup with 7 seconds remaining in the game. She had 25 points in the game for the Cardinals. Bailey Gronner added 18 points in the win.

Crystal Pearson led the Tigers with 29 points.

The Cardinals improve to 27-3 with the win and received the #4 seed in the State Tournament. They will take on the #5 seed Wheaton/Herman-Norcross Warriors (28-2) on Thursday, March 17 with a tipoff of 1:00pm. The game will be played at Mariucci Arena.

Tyler Peterson can be contacted at tpeterson@northlandsportsonline.com