The Bishop Garrigan Golden Bear girls basketball team is on to the class 1A regional finals for the 6th year in a row and will now try to punch their 6th straight state ticket after rolling past the Harris-Lake Park Wolves 70-31 on Friday night.
After Bishop Garrigan’s Zoe Montag and Harris-Lake Park’s Sydney Rahe traded early threes, the Wolves held an 8-5 lead, but the Golden Bears would take command after that, going on an 8-0 scoring run and never relinquishing the lead from then on.
Bishop Garrigan led 19-11 after one quarter, and would blow the game open in the second with a 20-4 scoring advantage, bringing their lead to 39-15.
The onslaught was led by Bishop Garrigan’s Sacha Alesch, who scored 21 points to lead the charge. Alesch made 8 of 15 shots from the field and 5 of 12 three pointers. Bishop Garrigan also received the 13th double double of the season by Graclyn Eastman with 14 points and 11 boards, while Emmi Bartolo chipped in 13 points and 7 assists.
Defense would prove to be a huge factor, as the Golden Bears used a pressing defense and pressure on the basketball to rack up 24 steals, as Bishop Garrigan accumulated a 29-15 turnover advantage.
The Wolves finished the night making just 11/33 shots from the field and 3/7 threes. Bishop Garrigan converted 28 of their 63 shot attempts to finish at 44.4%, and knocked down 9 out of 32 three pointers.
The Wolves end the season 19-5, a program record for wins in a single season. Bishop Garrigan improves their record to 21-3, and will take on Saint Ansgar in Wednesday’s regional final, after the Saints snuck past Newman Catholic 46-45 in the regional semis. Wednesday’s game can be heard on KLGA 92.7 FM, and will be video streamed on the Algona Radio YouTube channel.
