The ball came off the rim and appeared headed for Shakopee hands. But Lizzie Odegard, Minnetonka’s exceptionally strong senior center, wanted it more. And the way things went Friday, when Odegard wanted the ball, there was no one who could deny her.

Odegard’s rebound and put-back basket with 6.5 seconds left proved to be the biggest play of the game as Minnetonka held off Shakopee 61-57 to win the Class 4A, Section 2 championship game at Hopkins’ Lindbergh Center. The Skippers (24-4) will be making just their second state tournament appearance and first since 1999.

“It’s not nice down in the paint,” said Odegard, a 6-footer who has signed to play at Wisconsin-Milwaukee next year. “You have to be strong with the ball. I want the ball after every shot, and I’ll do what I can to get it.”

Odegard finished with 13 points and at least 10 rebounds, often ripping the ball away from the Shakopee players.

“She is a coach’s dream in the post,” Minnetonka coach Leah Dasovich said. “I feel like that rebound made up for all of the time she’s battled so hard and never got credit or got to the line. Milwaukee is getting a steal in her.”

Minnetonka’s game plan was to make top-seeded Shakopee’s leader, 6-2 guard Taylor Koenen, work for her points and force other Sabers to beat them. Koenen, who has committed to North Carolina, recently won the Minnesota Gatorade Player of the Year award.

It worked perfectly. Koenen finished with 24 points but made just eight of 22 field goal attempts against the Skippers’ strangling defense.

“They played great team defense,” Koenen said. “Give them credit.”

The Skippers took a 4-3 lead early in the first half and never relinquished it, despite leading by as many as seven points just once. For much of the game, Shakopee was within a basket or two but could never get over the hump.

“We played spectacular defense,” senior guard Courtney Fredrickson said. “We have so many key players who step up. That was so fun.”