Dover-Eyota wrote a template for future girls’ basketball teams making their state tournament debut.

The Eagles were excited but never overwhelmed. They respected opponents but never played in fear. Those attributes, coupled with tremendous play inside, earned them a championship.

No. 2 seed Dover-Eyota beat top-seed Sauk Centre 71-58 in the Class 2A title game played Saturday at Williams Arena. The Eagles (31-2) snapped a 29-game Sauk Centre winning streak and forced the Mainstreeters (31-2) to accept runner-up for the second time in four seasons.

“We weren’t really star-struck by the moment,” Eagles’ junior center Megan Hintz said. “We enjoyed it. But we wanted it.”

With four fouls, Hintz teetered on the edge of disaster. But she stayed until the end, scoring 24 points and grabbing a game-high 17 rebounds. Senior guard Brandi Blattner led all scorers with 25 points and added 14 rebounds. Junior guard Madison Nelson also posted a double-double with both 15 points and rebounds.

Down 55-51 with 5:44 remaining, the trio combined for every point of the ensuing 13-0 Eagles’ run.

“We had the same situation happen in the second final,” Nelson said. “We got down by 10 to Plainview-Elgin-Millville but ultimately we knew we could do it. We had to find it in ourselves. We have seniors who didn’t want to be done.”

Meanwhile, the Mainstreeters kept missing shots and committing fouls and turnovers.

“I told the girls in the locker room that I feel real terrible we lost the game but I just thought [Dover-Eyota] wanted it,” said Sauk Centre coach Scott Bergman, whose team fell short of its first state title.

“They did the things they needed to do down the stretch of the game.”

Sauk Centre sisters Maesyn (23 points) and Mauren Thiesen (14) led the team in scoring. They combined for five of the team’s seven three-pointers made. A Mainstreeters team that thrives on the deep ball shot just 7-for-30 (23 percent).

Dover-Eyota gathered most of the shots off the mark, outrebounding Sauk Centre 71-32. The Eagles enjoyed a 42-14 advantage in points in the paint and a 18-7 edge in second-chance points.

“That’s kind of our game,” Hintz said. “We usually put up quite a few points and rebounds.”

Dover-Eyota made its first state tournament appearance memorable, winning the Class 2A girls’ basketball championship with a 71-58 victory against Sauk Centre on Saturday at Williams Arena.

The No. 2 seed Eagles got 25 points and 14 rebounds from Brandi Blattner and 24 points and 17 rebounds from Megan Hintz in the upset of the No. 1 seed Mainstreeters.