Crosby-Ironton Girls’ B-Ball Beats Pequot Lakes for 2nd Straight Section 7AA Title

Last year, the Section 7AA girls’ basketball title game was so good, they decided to run it back.

Pequot Lakes and Crosby-Ironton faced off again on Friday with a trip to the state tournament on the line. The Rangers knocked off the defending section champion Patriots last season in front of a standing-room-only crowd, and to no one’s surprise, the stands were full again in the Brainerd gym for the top seed Pequot Lakes and 2-seed Crosby-Ironton. C-I beat the Pats in their first meeting this season.

After a last-ditch effort from the Patriots at the buzzer, Crosby-Ironton beat Pequot Lakes 48-45 and clinched their second consecutive Section 7AA championship. It wasn’t easy, but the girls’ grit shined through when they needed it the most.

“I mean, it’s so surreal, like, well, it was a tough game, like we battled hard and we earned it,” said guard Tori Oehrlein. “We deserve it, we worked hard all season, and I’m so proud of the girls.”

“I just saying, the entire game, like, ‘This game’s ours, we got to keep fighting,’ and [Pequot Lakes] came out and played an amazing game, props to them, but we just, we wanted it as bad as we wanted to go last year,” added guard Margaret Silgen.

“It’s amazing how much we have support from our community and just everyone that comes here and they all cheer and all go all out,” reflected guard Samantha Hachey.

“The mission’s not done,” asserted head coach Pete Vukelich. “As a program, we’ve never won a game down there, so we’re 0-3 lifetime down there, we definitely want to get a win. Step one was conference title, step two was section title, now step three is getting that win down there in the Cities.”