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Playoff Road Ends In The Quarterfinals

By Tom Schardin, 02/29/20, 10:15PM CST

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The Prior Lake girls basketball team couldn't pull off the upset in the Section 2AAAA quarterfinals Feb. 26.

It was a defensive struggle between third-seeded Minnetonka and the sixth-seeded Lakers. In the end, the Skippers managed to pull out a 52-45 home victory.

Prior Lake finished the season with an 11-16 overall record in Ethan Walker's first season as coach. The Lakers lost four of their last five games, including 83-60 at home to Burnsville Feb. 21 to end the regular season.

Prior Lake ended up 8-10 in the South Suburban Conference. Second-ranked Farmington won the title (17-1).

Against Minnetonka (17-10), the Lakers struggled to find the basket with just 16 points in the first half, but only trailed by five points. Prior Lake battled in the second half, but couldn't get the big run to potentially swing the game.

Senior Haidyn Pitsch led Prior Lake with 16 points. She finished the season as the team's leading scorer at 16.5 points per game.

Junior Kate Trachsel finished with 8 points for the Lakers, while junior Tatum Brostrom scored 7 and junior Emily Kulstad chipped in 6.

Prior Lake won the section crown in 2018 and lost in the semifinals last year at Eden Prairie.

Trachsel also averaged in doubles figures for the season at 10.4 points per game. Brostrom was close at 9.8.

Pitsch is one of just three seniors for the Lakers, along with Ella Schnackenberg and Megan Zang. Schhnackenberg missed nearly the entire season with a knee injury.

The Class 4A state tournament is March 11-14 at the Target Center in Minneapolis. Top-ranked Hopkins is the defending champion.

The Lakers' state berth in 2018 was their first as a Class 4A program. The team joined the top class at the start of the 2003-04 season. Prior Lake made three appearances in Class 3A; 1999, 2002 and 2003.