Section 6A girls' basketball: Parkers Prairie cruises to 6A-South title

• Noga

Eric Morken, Echo Press Sophomore guard Micaela Noga shot over the defense against Upsala in the regular season finale. Noga had 18 points to lead the Panthers into the 6A title game after a win over Hancock on Tuesday night.

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It was a win by free throws – lots of them – as the Parkers Prairie girls moved into the championship of the Section 6A basketball tournaments with a 63-39 victory over Hancock Tuesday night.

The Panthers finished the night hitting 21 of 28 from the free throw line – 16 of those in the second half while scoring just 12 second-half points on field goals.

Micaela Noga was recipient of most of those opportunities as she dropped in 11 of 14 from the charity stripe. All of her eight second-half points came at the line. She finished the night with 18 points.

Tamara Schmidt added 16 points and Madison Dorn contributed 12.

The Panthers were hot from long distance, draining eight three-point shots in the first half alone as they raced to a 38-18 lead. Dorn and Schmidt each had three in the first half, with Noga adding two. Schmidt and Ally Taylor each had one three-point shot in the second half.

Hancock had just five players score, with Kendra Schmidgall dropping in 19 and Courtney Greiner 14.

The win avenged Parkers Prairie’s 40-37 loss to the Owls in the Section 6A-South tournament last year.

The Panthers will now face perennial state tournament entrant Ada-Borup, which has a pair of state championships to its name.

The Cougars also had an easy time advancing as they defeated Waubun 73-58 in the 6A-North title game Tuesday night behind Megan Kolness’ 24 points and Taylor Kujava’s 17.

The Cougars will be playing in their sixth section title game in seven years.

Action is set for 7 p.m. tonight at the University of Minnesota-Morris.

GAME STATISTICS

PARKERS PRAIRIE 35 28 —63

HANCOCK 18 21 — 39

PARKERS PRAIRIE – Madison Dorn 12, Micaela Noga 18, Tamara Schmidt 16, Kaylee Dorn 8, Ally Taylor 7, Amber Guenther 2. Field goals – 2-pt 6, 3-pt 10, Free throws 21-28, Fouls 16, Rebounds 19 (M. Dorn 7, Noga 3, Schmidt 3, Taylor 3), Assists 13 (Noga 4, K. Dorn 4), Steals 13 (Noga 7), Turnovers 8, Tip/Blocked shots 13 (Noga 6).

HANCOCK – Karol Algarate 2, Kendra Schmidgall 19, Sami Schmidgall 1, Serandon Bigalke 3, Courtney Greiner 14. Field goals – 2-pt 9, 3-pt 2, Free throws 13-18, Fouls 19.

STATE-RANKED

RIVALS

The Breakdown magazine has the Parkers Prairie girls ranked No. 5 in Class A, while Ada-Borup is ranked No. 8. Parkers Prairie is 27-2 and Ada-Borup is 25-2.

Minnesota Basketball News rankings of February 22 have Parkers Prairie at No. 8 and Ada-Borup as No. 9. The February 15 poll had Parkers Prairie No. 3 and Ada-Borup No. 9.

Although both teams have been consistently ranked in the state polls in recent years, they have never met on the court.

Follow #AlexMN @EchoPress Sports Editor Lori Mork on Twitter at @morkwriter.

Tags: parkers prairie sports, sports, panthers, girls, basketball, section, 6a