Blooming Prairie Wins; Oswald Sets Scoring Record
The Blooming Prairie girls basketball team found themselves in a much different position at halftime of their Section 1A quarterfinal game compared to the midpoint of their first-round contest. Thursday against Spring Grove, BP led by 33 points. Saturday versus Lanesboro, the Awesome Blossoms clung to a 19-16 lead. And that was after trailing most of the first half. BP won 45-34 to advance to Tuesday's semifinal against Kingsland at 7 pm at John Marshall High School.
BP coach John Bruns wrote in an email, "This was a really good win for us against a long, athletic team. We were able to overcome foul trouble from multiple players and made some nice adjustments to earn this playoff win."
Lanesboro, the No. 10 seed, upset Grand Meadow in the first round and grabbed a quick 6-0 lead Saturday over the second-seed Blooming Prairie. Bruns stated, "They would lead until two Anna Pauly free throws put BP in front late in the first half."
"Senior All-State player Megan Oswald was in foul trouble all night and played only about six minutes in the first half and seven minutes in the second half. In spite of this, she did score 11 points and in the first half ran her career point total above 1,551 to break the school record which was held by Taylor Hagen."
Oswald is now the school's record-holder in scoring, steals and rebounds.
Bruns indicated Pauly turned in a strong effort while Oswald was sitting, "During that time, sophomore post Anna Pauly took over the defensive middle of our defense and came up with some outstanding rebounds and a key layup putback and one that gave us an eight-point lead midway through the half."
Bobbie Bruns scored 14 of her 16 points in the second half, including an 8-for-8 performance from the free throw line.
BP (17-3) will face Kingsland Tuesday, March 23 at Rochester John Marshall High School at 7 pm in the Section 1A semifinals. The Knights (16-2) are the third seed. The other semifinal is No. 1 seed Houston against No. 4 Hayfield Tuesday at Century High School. The winners will meet Thursday, March 25 at Mayo High School at 7 pm in the title tilt.
Blooming Prairie was also named a Gold award winner by the Minnesota Coaches Association with a 3.846 team GPA. Seniors Oswald, Maggie Bruns, Ashleigh Alwes, and Maren Forystek earned All-Academic honors.