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PHOTO GALLERY: Mankato West v. Mankato East girls basketball

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  • Mankato East's Emmaline Crawford gets by Mankato West's Kenzie Franke for a layup during the first half Tuesday at Bresnan Arena. Pat Christman

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February 21, 2012

(PHOTO GALLERY) East girls win Big Nine Conference title

By Chad Courrier The Free Press

MANKATO — Twenty-five years is a long time to wait, and back in 1987, the last time Mankato East won a Big Nine Conference championship in girls basketball, only the parents of current players might remember that achievement.

But on Tuesday at Bresnan Arena, the Cougars, who clinched a share of the conference title last week, played like the best team in the league and celebrated a solo championship with a 78-36 victory over Mankato West.

“Now there’s no chance we have to share it,” East senior Emmaline Crawford said.

East scored the first 22 points, taking away any suspense the game might have had. Eight of the nine baskets were scored from the lane, a theme that continued throughout the first half as the bigger East players were able to score and rebound without much resistance.

“We’ve done a nice job of taking this one game at a time,” East coach Mike Barger said. “Last week, we had a big game with Owatonna, and that’s all we thought about. Tonight, West is all we thought about.

“Now the girls are already talking about (Friday’s opponent) Faribault. We don’t take anybody lightly.”

Crawford had the first four points of the game, and she had eight in the game-opening run.

“Coach was really happy to see us get started,” Crawford said. “That set us up for the rest of the game.”

West finally scored with 10:35 remaining on Cara Christiansen’s jumper from the free-throw line, and West reeled off nine straight, capped by Kenzie Franke’s 3-pointer.

But when the Cougars took care of the basketball, they were able to work inside, extending the lead to 49-12 by halftime. Claire Ziegler accounted for 18 of those points and Crawford had 12.

The second half went much the same way, with the lead growing to 33 on Ziegler’s putback. Lexi Schoper’s three-point play stopped that run, and the team’s traded points for much of the final 13 minutes.

Ziegler ended up with 23 points and 13 rebounds, and Crawford had 17 points and nine rebounds.

Mini Frederick added 16 points, hitting three 3-pointers, with 13 assists and eight steals. East had a 38-28 rebounding advantage.

“When our posts are scoring, teams are forced to sag down, and that opens our shooters,” Barger said. “We try to get the ball inside first.”

For West, Christiansen had 13 points and four rebounds, and Malorie Veroeven added seven points and six boards. The Scarlets were 2 of 21 from 3-point range.

“I was very surprised (by the poor start),” West coach Dianne Johns said. “The kids got frustrated when they couldn’t break the press, and they got down on themselves.

“We didn’t hit the boards hard tonight, and we gave them some easy putbacks. That’s something we will focus on in practice.”

East (23-2, 17-0 in Big Nine) finishes the regular season with a game Friday at Faribault. West (8-17, 7-10) hosts Owatonna in a regular-season finale Friday.

The Section 2AAA seedings will be announced today.

“We’re very confident,” Crawford said. “But we don’t underestimate any team we play.”

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