Furious comeback not enough for Glenville-Emmons girls

BLOOMING PRAIRIE — The Awesome Blossoms almost blew a 14-point lead, but they made the plays when it counted in a 48-42 win over Glenville-Emmons (16-8 overall) in the first round of the Subsection 1A West Division girls’ basketball playoffs Friday.

BP (14-12 overall) saw its 41-27 lead cut to 43-42 after G-E’s Emily Belshan knocked down a pair of threes and Robyn Roe hit a free throw with 1:28 left. But junior guard Cortney Easton stepped up to the plate for the Blossoms as she knocked down four straight free throws in a one-and-one situation to ice the game.

“I was very nervous, but I was just happy to get them,” Easton said. “We practice end games situations all the time, so we’re comfortable with it.”

Easton hit the first pair with 1:10 left to make it 45-42 and after Jenna Krell came up with a steal, she hit another pair with 54.5 seconds left. BP head coach John Worke couldn’t help but notice that Easton was also guarding Roe when she hit the two big threes during the Wolverines’ comeback.

The game was back-and-forth early on but BP used a 12-2 run to take a 19-11 lead early in the first and never trailed again. The Blossoms knew G-E, which has seven seniors, was capable of coming back, but they weren’t expecting the 15-2 run the Wolverines pulled off in a five-minute span.

“We had our chances,” Wolverines coach Lisa Ziebell said.

The Wolverines will graduate seven seniors off this year’s squad as Kailey Davis, Alayna Hall, Emily Belshan, Tami Wallin, Robyn Roe, Devin Cooper and Kalli Van Ryswyk all played their last game Friday for the Wolverines.

“These girls have accomplished a lot,” Ziebell said. “They won the West Division of the Southeast Conference. It’s the first time a Glenville-Emmons girls’ basketball team won the West Division outright.”

Van Ryswyk led the Wolverines with 12 points and 12 rebounds.