Brandon Valley fends off late-comeback bid, downs Harrisburg

Brandon Valley was able to fend off a comeback bid by Harrisburg, downing the Tigers 43-39 in a first-round contest in the Class AA state tournament.

It was a close game throughout the first half, with the Lynx (18-4) leading for virtually the entire time. But Harrisburg (9-13) hung around and entered the halftime break facing a six-point deficit. At one point in the third quarter with just under three minutes to play, the Lynx had their largest lead of the game at 11. But the game would get tight down the stretch.

Here are a couple of takeaways from the game:

Lynx fend off late-game heroics

Headed into the fourth quarter, the Lynx held a 34-26 advantage. That's when Harrisburg made things interesting.

By the time there were just more than two minutes left in the game, Harrisburg stormed back, making it a three-point game at 39-36. After the game, Brandon Valley coach Mike Zerr said that the comeback was somewhat expected.

"These are really hard games to win and that’s a great team that we played against. It’s really well-coached, has a bunch of kids that play extremely hard and it took every ounce of what we had to try and overcome another run, we knew they’d make one and just really proud of our kids who responded and doing just enough down the stretch,” Zerr said.

Class AA: Sioux Falls Jefferson stuns Sioux Falls Washington in first round

After a 3-pointer from Sydney Hybertson, the Tigers trailed by two. On the ensuing possession, Hilary Behrens was sent to the line on the one-and-one with six seconds left. She missed her first attempt, but the Tigers were unable to come up with the defensive rebound with Kylie Foss coming up big with an offensive rebound for the Lynx.

From there, Brandon Valley was sent back to the line, this time it was Foss, who knocked down both shots securing the four-point lead with four seconds to go.

Foss, Behrens lead way for Brandon Valley

Kylie Foss had a game-tying high 16 points in the win and grabbed six rebounds for the Lynx. Foss was 5-for-7 from the field.

"(Foss) is the best of what we are. Just an unbelievable competitor. When you're 5-foot-6 and you lead us in rebounding in a league that’s not a bunch of 5-foot-6 kids. The competitiveness she does, she brings to our team, being able to handle basketball the way that she does and does it totally selfless. Just a phenomenal kid and great to see her put together a great performance,” Zerr said.

Behrens also played a big role offensively for the Lynx, scoring 15 points and grabbing eight rebounds. Tessa Bowar added six, while Sidney Thue had four.

Harrisburg led by Emilee Boyer

Emilee Boyer led the way with a double-double of 16 points and 15 rebounds, including a steal. Sydney Hybertson finished the game with nine points for the Tigers, while Jaylee Hofer had five.

As a team, Harrisburg shot at a 29.4% clip, and connect on three of their 16 three-point attempts.

Brandon Valley draws O'Gorman in semifinals

While the top half of the bracket saw an upset, both the second-seeded O'Gorman Knights (18-4) and the third-seeded Brandon Lynx took care of business and will play for a spot in the championship game.

Earlier this year, in their lone contest, the Lynx downed O'Gorman, in their first game of the season in early December.

“They’re playing as well offensively as any team in our state, some super phenomenal talents, a couple of D-I players (Hannah Ronsiek and Mahli Abdouch), we have to obviously be very aware of them, but their role players are really good as well. And with the length that they have, we’ll have to do a great job taking care of the basketball and try to do what we can to try to contain them,” Zerr said.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Class AA South Dakota girls tournament: Brandon Valley advances