Blooming Prairie Awesome Blossoms girls’ basketball falls to Kingsland 44-39 in Section 1A semi-final

The Blooming Prairie Awesome Blossoms girls’ basketball team, the No. 2 seed in the Section 1A girls’ basketball tournament were looking to advance to the section championship game for the second season in a row Tuesday evening at Rochester John Marshall High School versus the third-seeded Kingsland Knights, but it was the Knights holding off a furious second half rally by the Blossoms to win 44-39.

The Blossoms were held to a low shooting percentage in the first half by Kingsland’s 2-3 zone and went 2 of 11 from the free throw line to trail 24-13 at the half, but they went on a 13-3 run to start the second half to cut the deficit to one at 27-26.  The Knights were held without a field goal for the first 6:05 of the second half and committed 11 of their 21 turnovers in the game in the half, but after a timeout when BP cut the deficit to one, they answered with a 3-pointer from top scorer Ellie Buchholtz that keyed a quick 6-0 run to push the lead back to seven at 33-26.  The Blossoms managed to climb back to within three at one point, but two turnovers in the last 2:30 of the game and Kingsland going 4 for 5 at the free throw line down the stretch in the bouns situation enabled them to hold on for the win.

Senior forward Megan Oswald, who is the program’s all-time leader in points scored, rebounds and steals ended her stellar career at Blooming Prairie Tuesday night by scoring 17 points.  Junior guard Bobbie Bruns tallied 13 points, Allison Krohnberg added six points and Emily Miller added three points for the Blossoms, who finish their season with a record of 17-4.

Kingsland advances to meet Houston in the Section 1A title game Thursday evening at 7 p.m. at Rochester Mayo High School.  The top-seeded Hurricanes downed fourth-seeded Hayfield 62-49 at Rochester Century High School Tuesday evening.