ST. PETER – When the Lester Prairie Bulldogs were on the schedule for the Mayer Lutheran girls basketball team in the Section 2A North semifinals, the message from head coach Kris Gustin was clear. Although the Crusaders beat Lester Prairie twice in the regular season, Mayer Lutheran knew this was a different team coming into the postseason.
“They’re certainly an improved team,” Crusaders coach Kris Gustin said. “Mike (Lee) is a great coach. He’s always got his team prepared to play. When we started preparing for them, the talk was all about not taking them for granted. Anything can happen. It’s about one game at a time. If we have an off night and they have a good night, who knows what could happen.”
The Bulldogs gave Mayer Lutheran all they could handle in the early going. After going punch for punch with the Crusaders, Lester Prairie struggled to keep up the height and athleticism in a 71-49 loss Thursday night.
“The first 10 minutes or so of the game we played really well,” Lee said. “We did what we needed to do. It’s just the height that hurts us. We just can’t go against that.”
Mayer Lutheran held a 21-20 lead with just over six minutes left to go in the first. The Crusaders then blew open the game with a 22-2 run to take an 18-point lead into halftime.
“We tend to have slow starts,” senior Julia Carns said. “Once we started getting it going, we pretty much just played our game.”
Mayer Lutheran would keep the Bulldogs at bay the rest of the way as they advanced to the sub-section championship. While it was a slow start to begin, Carns delivered with another strong offensive output to give her team a spark. She’s scored 10 or more points in 11 of her last 12 games now after finishing with 15 points in the win.
“She had a little bit of a slump in early January,” Gustin said. “We made a lineup change and she didn’t start a couple of games. It kind of refocused her and energized her. Since she’s been starting again, she’s really come on and played very well.”
While Madeline Guetzkow dealt with foul trouble throughout the first half, her teammates picked her up. Lilly Wachholz finished in double figures with 14 points while Emma Lade once again led all scorers with 23 points.
“We feel like we have several girls who can score,” Gustin said. “We’ve got a lot of ways to get points. That’s part of the blessing of this team. When somebody is having an off night or in foul trouble, we’re there to pick each other up. That’s what we do. We pick each other up.”
For Lester Prairie, the season comes to an end with an overall record of 17-10. While their success might have come as a surprise to some, it didn’t to their coach.
“I knew what we had,” Lee said. “Looking at the calendar at the beginning of the year, I was thinking we could get 18 regular-season wins. I didn’t say that to anybody but that was the number in the back of the head. I was hoping to get at least 12. They did everything they needed to do to get here.”
Senior Kara Lee was a big reason for the strong finish to the season for the Bulldogs. Not only becoming one of their top offensive threats, but she also provided leadership throughout as well.
“The last five games, she’s averaging 17 points a game,” Lee said. “She stepped up. She was shooting the ball well. I wish she would have done that earlier. It’s hard to see her done. She loves playing. That’s the hard part.”
The exciting season for the Bulldogs has Lee thinking about what next year could bring. With Addison Hoof back to lead the way along with the emergence of Jessa Heimerl, the Bulldogs will be looking to repeat their success next season and even take a step forward.
“Jessa has really developed nicely,” Lee said. “If she had another couple of inches and some more post moves, she’d be incredible. She’s more of a forward though that has to play down low for us. Other teams, she wouldn’t be down there. She’s done a nice job and we already talked about next year. It’s about building a program and Jessa’s going to be a big part of that.”
Mayer Lutheran advances to the sub-section championship where they’ll meet the winner of Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart and Central MN Christian. The Crusaders will play either the Mustangs or Bluejays Monday, March 7 at 7 p.m. at St. Peter High School.