MINNEAPOLIS -- With Thursday's opening-round game of the girls' Class A state basketball tournament on the line for Southwest Star Concept, it should have been no surprise that Breanna Rients made the big shot.
Trailing by two points against Cedar Mountain/Comfrey, the senior guard hit a layup with less than a minute remaining to tie the game and later nailed a pair of free throws that proved to be the difference in the Quasars 42-38 victory.
"I just knew I had to make them," Rients said of the free throws. "So, I just relaxed and put them in."
While Rients led the Quasars with 14 points in the state tournament victory, she has saved her best play for when SSC needs it most.
After hitting clutch shots in SSC's victory over Murray County Central in the Sub-Section 3A South tournament, Rients scored 10 points against Fulda before scoring 21 points against Adrian in the championship. She then connected for 20 points against Russell-Tyler-Ruthton to propel the Quasars to state.
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"Rients has really been a playmaker for us late in the season," SSC head coach Les Knutson said. "We were a sunk ship against MCC, we were down, and got the lead, but they came back on us. But then Rients came right down and scored, and they missed a couple of free throws with 10 seconds left. I've said that if that girl would have made those two free throws we would have been all done, but with 10 seconds left, Rients probably would have come down and made a play again."
Just as deadly from the perimeter as inside, the senior guard shoots at a 47.4 percent clip from beyond the arc, and 46.9 percent inside the paint.
"I've just been feeling like I can shoot it," Rients said. "If you give me an inch, I'm going to shoot it, and it's been going in for me. I'm not going to stop now."
However, as the Cougars found out Thursday, it may be her accuracy from the free throw line that makes Rients the most dangerous. She is shooting 80 percent from the charity stripe, connecting on three-of-four shots against CM/C, and made the Quasar's lone trey.
"I'm just trying to step up," Rients said.
"We have three big people over six feet tall, so shooting outside opens up the middle; that's what I've been doing."
With teammates Brooke Dewall averaging 15 points a game and Adri Rasche scoring 11 points a contest, Rients has opportunities to share the ball. She is second on the team in assists with 133 and third on the team with 36 steals.
While Rients has scored 341 points this season, her biggest basket of the season could have been Thursday's drive that tied the game in the closing minute.
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"That last drive that tied it was real huge," Knutson said. "We finally got that side cleared out, and there was a little contact there both ways, and it was a good no call."
But for the Quasars, they hope Rients still has a pair of solid games left in her. Against the tough Ada-Borup team that SSC faces today, Rients will once again be instrumental in handling the pressure.
"The next team is amazing, and they are going to put more pressure than Cedar Mountain did on us," Rients said. "So, we're going to have to calm down and relax and handle it better than we did tonight."
If the game would happen to go down to the wire, there is no doubt that Rients would have a hand in the final play, in one way or another.
"She's just been very, very clutch all the way around," Knutson said. "She's shown leadership out there, and has been hustling and working hard."
As one of six seniors on this year's squad, Rients would like to end her career on a high note.
"We've been playing together for so long, we just know each other and what we're going to do and where we're going; I think we've wanted it since fifth grade, and we're here now," Rients said. "This is the best thing ever. In my senior year to be going to the state tournament, it's amazing. I want to win it so bad, and I think everybody else has the same thought."
