ALEXANDRIA — Nothing came easy early on for the Alexandria girls basketball team in its Section 8-3A Tournament semifinal game against the Little Falls Flyers on Saturday. A strong defensive showing in the first half kept the fourth-seeded Flyers in the game. A 10-2 run over a five-minute stretch late in the first half cut Alexandria’s 11-point lead down, to three, 19-16, with two minutes left until halftime. But from there on out, Alexandria, the No. 1 seed in the section and fifth-ranked team in Class 3A, controlled all facets of the game as it outscored Little Falls 40-9 in the final 20 minutes to earn a 59-25 win in the Section 8-3A semifinals on March, 1, 2025, at Alexandria High School. “It took us a while to get into sync but credit to Little Falls, they played really well, and our defense dug in and we got things done together as a unit,” Alexandria head coach Wendy Kohler said. “It was nice to get on the court and play again. We haven’t played since we were up in Detroit Lakes (Feb. 21, 2025). It was nice to get back on the court again and get things rolling into the section tournament.” The Cardinals (23-4) held the Flyers (13-15) to just nine points in the second half on March 1, 2025. “We adjusted to the physicality of the game,” Alexandria senior guard Chloe Scholl said. “We locked them up defensively by keeping them on the 3-point line.” “Our defense helped us a lot because our offense wasn’t working as well as it normally does,” Alexandria junior forward Kate Hennessy said. “Holding them to two points for most of the half was really good.” The Flyers’ defense limited the Cardinals, who average, 75.9 points per game, to 23 points in the first half. But as the game went on, Alexandria turned its defensive stops and steals into offense and got in sync offensively. “We rebounded the ball better and got our game going,” Kohler said. “We got out on the run and made the transition baskets that we missed early on,” Scholl said. Scholl finished with 14 points on Saturday, while fellow senior Hadley Thul totaled 17. Saturday’s game marked the final home game for Alexandria’s seniors Scholl, Thul, Allie Haabala, MaCee Linow, and Camree Miller – a special group who have helped lead Alexandria to be one of the state’s best programs in recent memory. “This group means a lot to our program," Kohler said. "They've really left their legacy. They want to build on that legacy and so this was a good start. Now we go from here.” The Cardinals, who have won the last two Section 8-3A titles and have made the state tournament in the last six out of eight seasons, are set to face either the No. 2 seed, the Fergus Falls Otters (21-7) in the Section 8-3A Championship game at 7 p.m. on Thursday in Detroit Lakes. Fergus Falls defeated Willmar (14-4) 59-47 in the section semifinals on Saturday. Thursday's section championship game is a rematch of the 2024 Section 8-3A Championship game that Alexandria won 73-29 in Detroit Lakes . “It’s going to be a battle,” Kohler said. “Everybody knows it's at stake and whoever wins that game will have our full and undivided attention.” “It’s going to be a really physical game,” Hennessy said. “We have to continue to play physical. This game was good preparation for that.”
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