Northome/Kelliher Girls’ Basketball Falls to Central MN Christian in State Quarterfinals

Northome/Kelliher girls’ basketball has thrived off of the steal and an up-tempo offense. Led by the state’s all-time career steals leader Kate Thayer, the Mustangs like to force turnovers and push the pace to the tune of 86 points per game while holding opponents to under 45.

To win at state, they needed to hold true to those numbers. In the Class A quarterfinal on Thursday from Maturi Pavilion, it was 3-seed Northome/Kelliher in their first ever state tournament game, where they took on 6-seed Central Minnesota Christian.

The Mustangs looked like their typical selves early in the first half, but CMC went on a 16-0 run before Kylee Binkley (who had 17 points) stopped the bleeding. The Mustangs pulled within two later in the first half, but the Bluejays led 45-37 at the break.

Northome/Kelliher fell to CMC 82-69. Kate Thayer had a triple-double, 12 steals, 11 rebounds, and scored 29 points, while CMC’s Sienna Duininck put up a 30 piece.

The Mustangs came just shy of 50% from the field, but in the game they only managed to shoot 32.8%, uncharacteristic of the high-scoring offense.

“We played tough right away, started quick, and then just couldn’t make a lot of shots,” said head coach Kevin Waldo after the game. “Had a stretch where we just couldn’t hit a shot in the first half and got down by 12, 13 points. Against a good team, it was hard to come back.”

But the team also commented on having their fans come down to the Twin Cities to see them play for the first time at the state tournament.

The amount of people that come down here four-and-a-half hours to drive down and see us play, it looked like we had more fans here tonight than a lot of those bigger schools,” added Waldo. “We’re super proud of the turnout.”

“I think it was a great opportunity to play here,” stated Binkley, “and yeah, we came out short, but it was still great playing in this big atmosphere.”

The Mustangs’ time at state isn’t over just yet. They’ll play in the consolation semifinals against 7-seed Mayer Lutheran on Friday at 12 p.m., and if they win that game, they’ll play in the consolation finals on Saturday. Consolation match-ups will take place at the Gangelhoff Center at Concordia-St. Paul.