Everyone knew it was coming. It always does. But knowing Hopkins is going to go on a game-changing run and stopping it are two very different things.

The defending Class 4A Royals scored 10 straight points in a span of 1:10 of the first half Thursday to wrest control of the game away from Eastview and refused to give the Lightning a chance to take it back, pulling away for an 85-67 victory and a berth in Saturday’s Class 4A championship game.

“With a team like Hopkins, you know they’re going to go on a run,” Eastview coach Molly Kasper said. “You have to play every possession. They started to go on a run and we lost our composure a little bit.”

For most of the first half, Eastview had played close to a perfect game. When junior Allie Pickrain hit a three-pointer with a little more than 4 minutes left in the half to give Eastview a 28-25 lead, it appeared the Lightning were prepared to battle top-seeded Hopkins down to the wire.

Then, in less than two minutes, Eastview’s good fortune ran out. The Lightning committed three turnovers and two fouls, allowing Hopkins to turn a three-point deficit into a 35-28 lead. Sophomore guard Reana Suggs drilled two three-pointers in the run, which led to a 39-30 halftime lead for Hopkins.

“We were worried about this game,” said Hopkins coach Brian Cosgriff. “Reana Suggs came off the bench and gave us some threes and that really opened things up for us.”

The Royals leaned on their senior leaders, Nia Hollie and Ashley Bates, thereafter. Hollie finished with 28 points and Bates with 23 as the duo combined to make 17 of 28 field goal attempts. As a team, Hopkins shot 58.3-percent from the floor (28-of-48).

“We have it up in the locker room: We wanted to be playing on Saturday, March 19 at 8 p.m. ,” Cosgriff said, referring to the Class 4A championship game. “We put it up after we won it last year. And now we’re there. That’s been the goal the whole time.”

Other Hopkins scorers included Suggs (nine points), eighth-grader Paige Bueckers (eight points) and sophomore Angie Hammond (seven points).

Eastview was led by junior Rachel Ranke with 24 points, sophomore Megan Walstad with 21 and Pickrain with 12.

First report

For most of one half of play, Eastview was step for step with Hopkins, intent on giving the top-seeded Royals more than they expected.

The Lightning led by three points with 4:04 left in the first half and looked primed to pull off the tournament’s biggest upset so far.

Barely three minutes later, Hopkins led by seven and never let up. End of that scenario.

The Royals pulled away in the second half for an 85-67 Class 4A semifinal victory over Eastview in a rematch of the 2015 championship game. Nia Hollie scored 28 points and Ashley Bates added 23 for Hopkins, which shot a remarkable 58.3 percent from the field (28-48).

With the victory, Hopkins (29-2) advance to the Class 4A championship game for the fifth time in six seasons.

Check back later for more on the game.


Gallery: Hopkins vs. Eastview