On one side of the court in Friday's Section 3AA championship will be Yellow Medicine East, a slow, grinding defensive lineup that has held opponents to 41.3 points per game. On the other end is No. 9-ranked Jackson County Central, whose fast-paced offense and pressing defense has helped the team to a 25-2 record, a Southwest Conference title and the No. 1 seed in the South sub-section.

The key for both teams comes down to controlling the tempo.

"It's just a matter of who gets to play their kind of game," said Sting head coach Scott Jans. "Neither one of us want to play the other team's game."

Huskies head coach Tom Schuller said a slow pace doesn't fit his team's personel. His team doesn't have the size of a team like YME, whose smallest starter is 5-foot-9 senior guard Steph Larson.

"We have to rely on our press, double-teaming off missed baskets, getting rebounds to go and get the tempo up," Schuller said. "We do everything we can get a fast-paced game and get people into open areas. When we've been able to do that, we've been very effective. When teams slow us down, it's a lot harder on us."

The concern for Jans doesn't just come from cracking the Huskies' press. It comes from playing smart and taking good shots so JCC can't rebound and turn the game into a track meet. The Sting's offense this season has mainly come from the paint, led by 5-11 Angie Scheffler and 6-0 Emily Baker, who have combined to score 23.9 of YME's 48.8 points per game.

"It takes smart kids and we have that," Jans said. "They're smart kids that have basketball sense and know the difference between a decent shot and an excellent shot. ... When you're open at 15 feet, you're one-on-one and none of your teammates are down the floor to get the rebound, it's not a very smart situation unless you're absolutely hot.

"You can't let yourself get rattled, and a lot of times, these things snowball. We'll be calm and disciplined and see where that takes us."

The Huskies fell only twice this season, in overtime against Marshall, and against Iowa's Esterville-Lincoln Central, who finished this season as the No. 2-ranked team in Iowa's Class 2A.

Experience has been a premium for JCC all season, starting with junior Whitney Burmeister. Burmeister has averaged 17.9 points and 12.0 rebounds per game, and Courtney Kruse (12.2), Kaylee Benson (11.7) and Leslie Handzus (11.1) have each averaged double-digit points.

"Whitney eclipsed 1,000 points this year, she's on track to become the leading scorer in JCC history," Schuller said. "Leslie is the all-time leader in assists. The Kruse sisters have been playing varsity basketball since they were sophomores, and Kaylee Benson played some as a freshman and started as a sophomore. ... I think every one of our starting five has scored 20-plus points this year."

Jans thinks he has the smart players to play with JCC, and a defense that can give the Huskies fits.

"We got to set good screens, and all week we've been working on being physical so we're counting on that," Jans said. "I feel as though we got some outstanding individual defenders, but we won't know how it goes until the game is over."