In his postgame analysis of Elk River’s 52-44 victory over White Bear Lake, Bears coach Jeremy Post offered a unique opinion on why the Elks were able to close out his scrappy bunch down the stretch.

“It wears you out playing here,” Post said of playing on Target Center’s NBA-sized floor. “We substitute a lot and we’re not used to playing tired. [Elk River] is used to it.”

Fair point. The Elks (30-0) rarely go deep into their bench, their senior-dominated starting five getting most of the playing time. They played just seven players Tuesday, with neither of the subs reaching double-digits in minutes played.

“It’s been that way for us all year,” Elks coach Jeremy Digiovanni said. “We only go six, seven deep. Our kids are used to playing 35, 36 minutes a game. I think we focus better when we’re a little tired.”

White Bear Lake (20-10) has had past success in the quarterfinals, including an upset of St. Michael-Albertville in 2016. For better than one half, the Bears looked poised to do it again.  But the Elks, with senior forward Sidney Wentland playing with a purpose, stepped forward in midway through the second half and built a lead that ballooned to 10 points before closing out the victory.

“I was mad,” said Wentland, who sat out much of the first half with two fouls. “I wanted to get back out there and prove myself.”

Wentland finished with 13 points, six rebounds, four assists and four blocked shots.  

“Sidney is a big piece to our team,” said Gabi Haack, who led Elk River with 14 points. “She does everything big. She rebounds big, she plays defense big. She’s just a huge key to our game.”

JIM PAULSEN

Undefeated Elk River rallied from a four-point second-half deficit to hold off upset-minded White Bear Lake 52-44.

Gabi Haack scored 14 points and Ava Kramer and Sidney Wentland added 13 points each for the Elks (30-0). White Bear Lake (20-10) got 11 points from guard Alexa Molin.

Check back later for more on the game.