Leap Day Hopping with Playoff Basketball

February 29 was a busy day for area high school basketball section playoff games. The Blooming Prairie and Cannon Falls girls and the WEM boys had their season end.

The end was a tough pill to swallow for the Waterville-Elysian-Morristown boys basketball team Monday night. Maple River, the top seed in the south subsection of 2AA, went on a game-ending 7-0 run to come from behind and beat the Bucs 51-46. The Eagles play Belle Plaine on Friday at 8PM at MSU-Mankato in the section final. For WEM (25-4), it was the final game for seniors Tyler Tegmeier, Thomas Rients, Dalton Grose, Kallen Dorenkemper and Luke Chambers.

The Blooming Prairie girls found themselves in an early deficit against Lyle-Pacelli and dropped a 52-27 game to the fifth-ranked team in the state. The Athletics led 27-9 at the half. They will play No 1-rated Goodhue in Saturday's 11AM subsection final at the Mayo auditorium. The Wildcats doubled Grand Meadow 64-32 Monday. BP seniors Lauren Larkoski, Hannah Ahrens and Kalyn Naatz played their final high school basketball game. The Awesome Blossoms ended their season with a 15-11 record.

In a battle of teams that had scored first-round upset victories, Rochester Lourdes pulled away from Cannon Falls girls in the second half for a 48-33 Section 1AA quarterfinal victory. The Eagles led 25-22 at the break and held the Bombers (8-19) to just two field goals in the second half. Lourdes plays No. 1AA Plainview-Elgin-Millville on Saturday at 5PM at the auditorium in Rochester. PEM beat Chatfield 59-39 Monday. Cannon Falls seniors Grace Rutter, Callie Loeschke and Hailey Huseth wrapped up their prep careers.