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Edina holds down Eden Prairie

By Ron Haggstrom, Star Tribune, 03/09/12, 11:56PM CST

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Edina guard MC McGrory knows what it's liked to be knocked out. It was her turn to deliver the decisive blow.


Edina’s MC McGrory brought the ball up the floor against tight defense by Eden Prairie’s Cassy Saxton.

MC McGrory's left-handed bank shot from the middle of the lane with 2 minutes, 15 seconds remaining helped the Hornets regain the lead for good en route to a 50-46 victory over Eden Prairie in the Class 4A, Section 2 finals at Hopkins High School. It was the third meeting between the two Lake Conference rivals, who split their two games during the regular season.

"That was a huge play," Edina coach Matt Nilsen said. "We let our kids play and create, and that's exactly what she did. MC has been doing that all season for us."

That is, when she has been in the Hornets' lineup. McGrory missed nine games, mostly in January, due to a concussion.

"I wasn't really thinking, just trying to make something happen," said McGrory, who scored 14 of her 17 points in the second half. "We were going to keep pushing to do whatever it took to win."

Eden Prairie took its first lead of the night, 44-43, on Shayne Mullaney's spinning jumper from the middle of the lane 20 seconds earlier.

Mullaney scored the Eagles' final two points on a layup with 2.9 seconds remaining. She was limited to nine points on the night.

"They didn't stop coming at us," Nilsen said. "Our kids didn't get rattled though, and showed great composure."

Senior forward Lindsey Johnson also had 17 points, including a layup to stretch the margin to four with 12 seconds left, for the Hornets (25-4). She also played a huge role defensively in holding Gopher recruit Jackie Johnson to eight points.

"We worked hard in practice on shutting those two down," McGrory said. "I think this was our best defensive game of the season. We pride ourselves on defense."

It also helped the Hornets' trend of being the bridesmaid. They had lost in the section finals each of the past two years.

"Most of this group was part of those two teams," McGrory said. "To finally break through means a lot to this entire team."

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