Putback basket at the buzzer gives Grand Meadow Superlarks girls basketball team 16th win in a row, 47-45 over Blooming Prairie

The Blooming Prairie Awesome Blossoms girls basketball team was looking to get back on the winning track in a non-conference make-up game from December 9th against the Grand Meadow Superlarks, playing their third game in four days and sporting not only a 15-game winning streak, but also the No. 11 ranking in Class A in the latest poll from the Minnesota Basketball News.  In a game that saw the Blossoms rally back from a 12-point deficit with four minutes to go, a putback basket from Superlarks forward Rebecca Hoffman as time expired lifted the Larks to their 16th win in a row, 47-45.

Grand Meadow took a 10-0 lead in the early going, only to see Blooming Prairie turn up their defensive pressure as the half went on to fight their way back into the game, trailing only 22-18 at the half.  The second half started out as a back-and-forth battle between the two squads, with the Blossoms knotting the score at 30 with around 10 minutes left.  The Superlarks, though, answered with a 15-3 run to take a 45-33 lead with 4 minutes left, but Blooming Prairie would not go quietly into the night as the Blossoms mounted a furious comeback that included 3-pointers from Macy Lembke and Shawntee Snyder and tied the score at 45 with :14 seconds left.  In their last possession of regulation time, a shot from Kendyl Queensland was off the mark, but despite heavy pressure from two Blooming Prairie defenders, Rebecca Hoffman was able to pull in the rebound and bank a putback off the glass and in as time expired to give the Superlarks the 47-45 win.

Blooming Prairie was led offensively by Shawntee Snyder, who drilled a pair of 3’s on her way to 13 points and nine rebounds, Macy Lembke also drained a pair of 3’s on her way to 10 points, Claire Schwarz tallied eight points, Sienna Fyksen and Anna Pauly each scored four points, and Chloe McCarthy, Haven Carlson and Addison Doocy all added two points apiece, with Doocy hooking in nine rebounds as well.  Grand Meadow was led offensively by Lexy Foster, who led all scorers with 17 points, guard Sydney Cotten swished two 3-pointers on her way to 13 points, Lauren Queensland and Kendyl Queensland each drained one 3-pointer apiece on their way to seven points each, and Rebecca Hoffman tallied three points, including the game-winning basket.

With the loss, Blooming Prairie is now 9-10 on the season, and the Blossoms are right back into action tonight (Tuesday) in the Gopher Conference at Medford, their last road game of the regular season, with the varsity tip-off at 7:15 p.m.  With the win, Grand Meadow is now 22-2 on the season, and the Superlarks will finish a stretch of four games in five days tonight (Tuesday) at home versus LeRoy/Ostrander in a Southeast Conference matchup, with the varsity tip at 7:15 p.m.