The Alexandria girls basketball team trailed by as many as 18 points in the final eight minutes of Thursday’s MSHSL Class 3A State Tournament semifinal game against the No. 1 seed Benilde-St. Margaret’s. But after trailing 50-32 with 8:16 left in the game, Alexandria, the No. 5 seed, made a push, cutting the deficit to eight points at 53-45 with 3:40 left in the game. Benilde-St. Margaret’s, the winner of the last two Class 3A titles, kept Alexandria at arm's length from there on out, as it went on to win 60-52 on March 13, 2025, at Williams Arena in Minneapolis. “It was a tough semifinal game,” Alexandria head coach Wendy Kohler said. “We knew this would be a tough game and I thought we played well. They got off to a good start, and I was proud of how we responded. We were resilient. I think that's what you learn in sports. I’m proud of them and I know our community is proud of them.” The Red Knights never trailed in the game, but it was neck and neck for most of the first half. A 15-3 run in the final 7:53 of the first half helped the Red Knights take a 34-20 lead at halftime. “It was tough because we knew we were better than that,” Alexandria senior forward Hadley Thul said. “We picked things up. We had a good locker room talk. We changed our mindset.” “The halftime score gave us more momentum for the second half to come out stronger,” Alexandria senior guard Allie Haabala said. The Red Knights held the Cardinals to 28 percent shooting from the field in the first half and forced 11 turnovers. “Our pressure isn’t one possession, it’s multiple possessions of us being in your face,” Benilde-St. Margaret’s head coach Tim Ellefson said. “You never know when it’ll hit, but there will be times when teams make three or four mistakes in a row. In this game, we capitalized on that and stayed the course.” “After the first half, we knew we needed to come out and play with more confidence and we did,” Alexandria senior guard Chloe Scholl said. “We knew we couldn’t give up and we never did.” After the Red Knights built a 50-32 lead in the second half, the Cardinals found their footing a bit, outscoring the Red Knights 20-10 in the final 7:53 of the game. “We came out and played well together,” Alexandria senior guard Camree Miller said. “We knew our roles and who we needed to shut down.” “We just couldn’t give up,” Alexandria senior guard MaCee Linow said. Alexandria’s defense limited Benilde-St. Margaret’s strong duo of Zahara Bishop and Kendall McGee. Bishop, a Seton Hall commit, had eight points, while McGee, a Creighton commit, was held to six points. Instead, sophomore Sydney Friedly made the biggest impact for the Red Knights, finishing with a game-high 20 points. “I hit my shots and anyone on this team can do it,” Friedly said. Senior forward Hadley Thul, a South Dakota State commit, led Alexandria with 18 points and nine rebounds, while Chloe Scholl, a Gustavus Adolphus commit, had 15. Alexandria wraps up its season with a battle for third place in Class 3A against Cretin-Derham Hall (21-10) at Noon on Saturday at the Gangelhoff Center. “We’ll let this sink in, but then turn our attention to Saturday and try to bring another third-place trophy to Alexandria,” Kohler said.
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