By Bob Hamar
bob.hamar@theindependent.com

Not even when his Whippets held an 11-point lead late in the third quarter.

"It was a crunch-time game again," Chramosta said. "I knew it would be. There's no quit in those St. Paul kids. They're a great team. We knew it was going to be a battle. You never felt comfortable. I didn't anyway.

Chramosta didn't feel comfortable until it was all over and the No. 6 Whippets had held on for a 45-39 victory over the Wildcats.

The win wasn't secured until Leann Jameson sank two free throws with 14 seconds left to give Minden a 43-39 lead. Jameson added two more free throws in the closing seconds to account for the final margin.

But it was a rebound by Jameson that may have been the biggest play of the game. With 20 seconds remaining, Lindsey Sitorius made the first of two free throws to give the Whippets (19-2) a 41-39 lead.

Sitorius missed the second, but Jameson pulled down the rebound and was fouled.

"Leann is our gamer," Chramosta said. "She's going to make those types of plays when you need her to."

St. Paul (17-4) had beaten Minden 54-48 on Jan. 18. This time, the Wildcats just couldn't seem to get their offense going against Minden's man-to-man defense until the final quarter.

"It was pretty much the same thing," St. Paul coach Todd Alberts said. "We ran the same offenses and they ran the same defenses. It was just one of those nights where the ball didn't go in for us."

The Wildcats got to the free-throw line 18 times in the opening half, but made just nine of those. Senior Ashley Hall had just six points in the first half and was 3 for 7 from the line.

"We got to the line a lot in the first half," Alberts said. "We just weren't converting our free throws. That's kind of been our Achilles' heal all year long. We just had a tendency to struggle from the free-throw line."

But Hall heated up later in the game. She scored 10 of her game-high 20 points in the fourth quarter to help the Wildcats cut into the Minden lead.

"She started to come around a little bit half way through the third quarter and into the fourth quarter," Alberts said of Hall. "She struggled early. We all shot the ball poor. We can't miss the shots we missed. We were just over 50 percent from the line and that hurt us."

Chramosta was more than happy to give Hall her 20 points while slowing down the rest of the Wildcats.

"I thought defensively we played pretty well," Chramosta said. "We made it difficult for them. Hall got 20. It was a quiet 20. She had to work hard for them. She's a great player. She's going to get 15 to 20 every game out if not more.

"I thought we did a good job on their other kids. We gave Hall 20, but we really shut down their other kids and that's what we really needed to do."

Alberts said his team still has a shot at a wildcard, but needs the right teams to win from here on out.

"There's a good chance Norfolk Catholic, Fairbury and Crofton are going to win their districts," Alberts said. "If they do, hopefully there's a chance for us to pop in there on a wildcard.

"But it's been a fun ride with this group. We went from 6-14 to 11-9 to 16-6 and now 17-4. It's been a fun ride if we don't make it."

MINDEN 45, ST. PAUL 39

MINDEN (19-2)

VanPool 2-6 0-0 5, Sitorius 3-7 2-4 10, Jameson 2-11 6-8 11, Ahrens 6-13 0-0 12, Fritson 0-1 0-0 0, Hollinger 2-6 1-2 5. Totals 15-45 11-16 45.

ST. PAUL (17-4)

B. Grim 0-2 1-4 1, Dethlefs 4-9 3-6 11, Placke 2-7 2-2 6, Sombke 0-7 1-2 1, Hall 6-8 8-12 20, Mamot 0-0 0-0 0, Masat 0-0 0-0 0, K. Grim 0-0 0-0 0, Nielsen 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 12-33 15-26 39.

Minden 7 16 9 13-45

St. Paul 6 9 10 14-39

3-Point goals Minden 4-12 (Sitorius 2-5, Jameson 1-3, VanPool 1-3, Hollinger 0-1). St. Paul 0-5 (B. Grim 0-1, Dethlefs 0-1, Sombke 0-3). Fouled out Placke. Rebounds Minden 31 (Sitorius 5, Jameson 5, Ahrens 5). St. Paul 24 (Placke 6, Hall 6). Turnovers Minden 18, St. Paul 19. Total fouls Minden 18, St. Paul 15. Technicals None.