No. 2 seed Edina escaped with a 50-46 victory against Duluth East in Wednesday’s Class 4A state tournament quarterfinal game at the Target Center.

MC McGrory poured in 26 points and Julia Good secured the victory by hitting both free throws with 3.5 seconds remaining.

Duluth East held a late 44-42 lead but Edina made the key baskets down the stretch. The Greyhounds were led by Shamika Hopkins (15 points), Alex Freeman (14) and Elena Lushine (10).

David La Vaque, Star Tribune

Scoring 23 points and grabbing nine rebounds, junior guard MC Mcgrory showed off killer instinct by taking over the game in the fourth quarter and piloting the Hornets to a 50-46 win over Duluth East in the state tournament quarterfinals on Wednesday, March 14, at the Target Center in Minneapolis. 

Mcgrory scored nine points in the first half as Edina started slowly, falling behind the Greyhounds 23-21 at the half. 

Once the second half began however, something changed.

McGrory started pushing the ball inside and punishing the interior of the Duluth East defense, driving for layups and getting foul calls. 

Edina coach Matt Nilsen said that McGrory’s physical play helped change the dynamic of the game.

“She brings toughness, she’s tough as nails,” Nilsen said. “Her fundamentals, her effort, it’s just fantastic. She has a work ethic that one of the things we need to work on sometimes is to get her to tone it down, she’s always 100 miles per hour.”

In this case, there was no need to tone it down as McGrory’s motor was firing on all pistons late in the game, playing the role of closer for the Hornets.

She hit five of nine free throws and shot 43 percent from the floor with a three pointer. 

“I guess you don’t really realize it when it’s happening,” McGrory said of her late game heroics. “Just kept going.”

After drawing a foul with 18 seconds to play, McGrory looked focused and in the zone on the floor as she went to the line to take the free throws to take a tentaive lead. If fans were nervous that she would sink the shots, Nilsen had no doubts.

“No. Not a bit,” Nilsen said.

MC McGrory, Edina
McGrory did it all in this game. Scoring 26 points to go with 9 rebounds she paced the Hornets throughout. To top this off, she drew a foul away from the ball with 18 seconds remaining and sunk the free throws to put her team up for good.