Playoff Road Ends With Loss to Lakeville North

A stellar season ended for the Owatonna High School girls' basketball team with a 73-55 loss to top-seed Lakeville North Saturday in the Section 1AAAA semifinals at the Mayo Civic Center in Rochester. Nine seniors played their final game for the Huskies. The defending section champion Panthers will face Farmington in Thursday's finals.

Highlights for the Huskies (21-7) included an unbeaten home record (12-0), staying in contention for the Big Nine title until the final week of the season and their first appearance at the Mayo Civic Center in a few years. Senior Sydney Schultz became Owatonna's all-time leading scorer this winter. Other seniors include Jenna Zeman, Bria Wachowiak, Hannah Gebur, Lexi Falken, Julia Haarstad, Ahna Stelter, Stephanie Liebl and Alexa Sommers.

North built a double-digit lead early on Saturday as Owatonna's offense struggled except for a game-high 27 from Schultz. It was the third straight week a Lakeville team knocked an Owatonna team out of the playoffs, joining South's win over the OHS girls' hockey team and North's victory over the Huskies' boys' hockey team. OHS boys' basketball could also face Lakeville North in the section playoffs, but that would be in the finals.