WORTHINGTON -- Outside of a late run by Wabasso, Thursday's South Sub-Section semifinals in Section 3A of the girls' basketball tournament belonged to top-seeded Fulda, as the Raiders knocked off the No. 4 seed Rabbits 63-50.
"It was a great team effort by our team," Fulda coach Gregg Slaathaug said. "I don't care that we lost the second half.
"That's why you build a 20-point lead and we lost our edge for awhile. That'll happen when you play a team that uses the press really. I'm very happy with the way we competed and we're still going to play better regardless of who we play."
From Melissa Gehl's layup to make it 2-0 to Tiffany Gehl's free throw to make it 63-50, Fulda (23-5) never trailed in the game nor was the Raiders ever tied with Wabasso (22-5) throughout the contest.
After a steal and layup by Wabasso's Desirae Kramer made cut the Fulda lead to 6-5, the Raiders went on a 24-7 run behind nine points from Courtney Hulstein (23 points, eight assists, eight rebounds and six steals) and five points from Brittany Hermeling (13 points, three assists).
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"We always normally work hard in the first half to get up a lot" Hulstein said. "I'm proud of the girls. We did really good.
"There are some things we need to work on, but overall we did pretty good. We need to work on keeping our heads when we're up by 20. We just get up so much that we feel like we can stop working and it's going to be easy, but it's tournament time, so no one gives up. Everyone plays like it's their last game."
Fulda took a 37-17 lead into the break and had the game on cruise control. The Raiders pushed the lead to 41-21 early in the second half after a jumper by Rachel Cheadle (10 points, 10 rebounds). Wabasso answered with a 10-2 run to start clawing back, but Hulstein buried a 3-pointer to put the Raiders up 46-31.
A jumper by Wabasso's Ellen Franta made 50-37 Fulda midway through the second half. Hermeling hit a jumper, Rachel Cheadle scored in the post, Melissa Gehl hit a layup and, after a Rabbits free throw, Hermeling hit a 3-pointer to cap an 9-1 run for the Raiders to make it a 59-38 blowout.
"I love it when I hear the other coach say (Hermeling) can't shoot," Slaathaug said. "We have four other girls that can typically score, so if you don't want to guard Brittany Hermeling, you'll see what happens.
"I thought she dominated both ends of the floor."
Wabasso would not quit, as the Rabbits went on a 10-0 run and with just over two minutes remaining in the game a 3-point attempt -- which could have completely changed the momentum of the contest -- from Franta rimmed out for the Rabbits. From there, Hulstein hit two free throws and Hermeling and Tiffany Gehl (six points, five assists, five rebounds) each hit one free throw to put the game on ice.
"We came out strong and it was a big win for us," Hermeling said. "A lot of people stepped up tonight and we played our hearts out.
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"That's what we came here to do. We need to outhustle our opponent and keep running the floor because that's what we do best."
Fulda will take on No. 2 seed Southwest Christian Monday at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall at 8 p.m.
Wabasso 17 33 -- 50
Fulda 37 26 -- 63
Wabasso (3FG-2FG-FT-TP) Guetter 0-5-1-11, Kramer 0-1-0-2, Eichten 0-2-0-4, Frank 2-1-4-12, Doubler 0-3-1-7, Franta 0-5-2-12, Rohlik 0-0-2-2. Total 2-18-8-50.
Fulda (3FG-2FG-FT-TP) M. Gehl 0-4-1-9, T. Gehl 0-2-2-6, Hulstein 4-3-5-23, S. Cheadle 0-1-0-2, Hermeling 2-3-1-13, R. Cheadle 0-4-2-10. Total 6-17-11-63.
