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Cowgirls headed for state to take on Missoula Loyola |
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Wednesday, 28 February 2007 |
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Page 2 of 5
In the four-minute period, Ellefsen was fouled and with two minutes to go drilled both shots from the stripe for a 42-40 lead.
With :45 seconds to go, Johnson was fouled and made one of two for a one possession game in the final seconds. She was fouled again and once more hit one of two, putting the icing on a 44-40 win and propelling the Cowgirls into the championship game.
Ellefsen turned in a fine performance with a double-double game, 13 rebounds and 13 points.
Keil was right behind with 12 markers, two steals and two assists. Johnson canned eight scores, pulled down seven boards and had three assists and a steal.
Brown picked up four points, had five boards and two blocked shots. Schlepp scored four as well and had three assists, Peters hit for a hoop and Kylee Schlepp had a free throw.
Conrad hit on 14-47 shots from the floor and was 15-24 from the line. Shelby hit on 17-47 shots from the field but was only 6-14 from the line.
Conrad out rebounded them 39-34, both teams had seven steals and Shelby had one fewer turnovers, 16-17.
However, the Cowgirls got 14 points off of turnovers to six for Shelby and also had an advantage in second chance points, 14-6. The Coyotes got six points from their bench players while Conrad got three.
Last year, readers will recall, Conrad defeated Malta in the semi-final game, 53-51 with Ellefsen knocking down the winning shot at the buzzer. Conrad went on to defeat Cut Bank for the divisional title.
This year, it was the undefeated Malta Mustangs and a 20-2 Cowgirl squad going toe-to-toe for the title.
Early on, Malta looked like they were going to blow out the contest, leading 27-18 at the break and 44-31 as they took the floor in the fourth period.
However, Conrad did not get to this point by rolling over and they rallied back with a nifty 16-7 run only to fall short when time became an enemy as well and Malta hung on for the 51-47 win.
Ellefsen put up another fine performance with one more double-double game, slicing the nets for 21 points and pulling down 18 rebounds.
Johnson banged in nine markers off the window and had three steals, Peters came off the bench and tossed in seven points, Brown popped for six, pulled down six boards, had two assists, a blocked shot and a steal. Kate Schlepp had two points and Keil did the same.
Conrad hit on 19-39 shots from the floor and was 9-16 at the line. Malta was 21-45 from the field and 8-21 from the line.
The Cowgirls hurt themselves with 29 turnovers to 16 for Malta. The Mustangs got 27 points off of turnovers to 13 for Conrad. The Cowgirls also had only six steals on the night to 19 for Malta.
Off the bench, Conrad outscored Malta 7-3 and had 12 second chance points to three for the Mustangs.
Conrad (20-3) will match up with Missoula Loyola, the Western B champions in a 6:30 p.m. contest on Thursday in the Hamilton High School gym.
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