Park girls basketball: Lightning endures comeback, tops Wolfpack in section championship

The Park girls basketball team overcame a 13-point first-half deficit and held a lead with under three minutes remaining in its Section 3AAAA championship game against Eastview, but the top-seeded Lightning endured and defeated the second-seeded Wolfpack 52-47 on Thursday, March 8, at Hamline University’s Hutton Arena.

In a gym packed with almost twice as many Park fans as Eastview fans, Park (20-9) started slow and 10th-ranked Eastview built a 13-0 lead until senior Rachel Kothe hit a jump shot over five minutes into the game. Eastview (24-5) kept it up and held a 25-14 lead at the end of the first half.

However, with Eastview leading 37-23 with 11:47 remaining in the second half, Park went on an 11-0 run and junior Larissa Lurken’s drive and layup cut the deficit to 37-36 with 8:04 remaining. Then, back-to-back steals and layups by Lurken and sophomore Syndey Lamberty gave Park its first lead of the game, 42-39 with 6:10 to play. The Wolfpack took its biggest lead, 45-41, as Lurken hit a 3-pointer with 5:30 remaining, pumping her fist.

But, Eastview outscored the Wolfpack 11-2 in the final four minutes. A steal and layup by the Lightning’s Madison Guebert with 2:28 remaining gave them back the lead, 48-47. Eastview never relinquished its advantage, hitting its free throws down the stretch as Park turned the ball over once and missed a number of desperation 3-pointers.

Lurken led the Wolfpack in scoring in the game with 19 points and Lamberty netted 13 points. Guebert, a freshman, led all scorers with 20 points for Eastview.

Park beat East Ridge and Apple Valley in the first two rounds of the section playoffs, respectively, to earn a trip to its first section final since 2008. In Park’s last section championship game, Eastview was the team to upset the then Jackie Voigt-led Wolfpack. Park has never sent a girls basketball team to the state tournament.

The loss ended the high school careers of five Park seniors – Kothe, center Jenna Joswiak, forwards Megan Diamond and Erin Melson and guard Kadeija Harps.

See the full story and additional photos in the March 14 issue of the Bulletin

Tags: sports, basketball, park, wolfpack, prep, updates