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Osseo upsets Edina

By Star Tribune, 03/15/12, 8:30PM CDT

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The unseeded Orioles used an early second-half run to open up a lead they never lost.

Osseo’s girls’ basketball team did not earn one of four seeds for the Class 4A state tournament. No matter, the Orioles earned a title shot just the same.

The Orioles (26-5) used a game-changing spurt after halftime to pull away for a 57-47 upset of No. 2 seed Edina (26-5). They will face top-ranked and No. 1 seed Hopkins in Saturday’s championship game.

“The underdog thing works for us,” forward Olivia Antilla said. “We said, ‘Let’s go out there and show why we should have been seeded.’”

Leading 24-21 at halftime, Osseo controlled the first 7½ minutes of the second half and build a 41-27 advantage. Antilla led the way by scoring her team’s first seven points.

She finished with a team-high 17 points, followed by Mikayla Bailey (12) and Phillis Webb (11).

MC McGrory (20 points) and Katybeth Biewen (16) finished with all but 11 of Edina’s points. They combined to score every point of a nine-point burst to cut Osseo’s lead to 41-36.

Osseo’s lead fell to as little as three points with two minutes and 52 seconds to play.

“We had to keep the lead so they wouldn’t get momentum,” said Antilla, who responded with a lay-up that gave Osseo at least a two-possession lead for good.

“It was a battle the whole night,” Edina coach Matt Nilsen said. “They are athletic and they made plays.”

-- David La Vaque, Star Tribune

Player of the game

Osseo senior Olivia Antilla continued her fantastic state tournament with 17 points in the Orioles’ 57-47 win over Edina on Thursday, March 14, at the Target Center in Minneapolis. 

Although she believed she started slow, Antilla took control in the second half, punishing the Edina defense from inside and from mid-range. 

“I feel like the first half was a little bit shabby but in the second half we started attacking more, getting to the basket because they didn’t stop drives very well,” Antilla said after the game. “That’s what worked.” 

She showed great moves around the bucket as well as a soft touch from outside, giving the Hornets fits.

“I think she’s a player that people have a hard time guarding because she’s a presence inside but she’s also really good at shooting from the outside so they kinda don’t know where to go with her,” Osseo coach Joey Waters said. “She’s a good leader, she kinda kept it glued together too amongst other people.”

Late in the game, Antilla hit a couple big shots as well as knocking down key free throws. Where she really did her damage was posting up and going to work on the smaller Edina defenders.

“I have a shot but with this team it works better when I’m on the inside,” Antilla said. I can step out and shoot but I can bang inside too.

“Their middle was wide open a lot. If their middle was covered the baselines were open. We were just finding gaps all over because we like to sneak behind and they weren’t really paying attention.”

Antilla hit all five of her free throws along with going 6-9 from the floor. 

“She steps up in big games and she’s done that for us this year, numerous times,” Waters said.

-- Walker Orenstein, MN Girls Basketball Hub staff

Three Stars

Olivia Antilla, Osseo
Averaging 12.9 points per game in the regular season, Antilla pulled out all the stops in the state tournament. After a 20 point performance in the quarterfinals, she was nearly perfect shooting 6 of 9 and going a perfect 5 for 5 from the charity stripe. She killed nearly every run the Hornets mustered in the game with points of her own.

The only player on the Orioles to have a better shooting percentage on this night, Webb went 3 of 4 from the floor and was also perfect from the free throw line. She also was dominant on the boards, leading Osseo with eight rebounds.
 
MC McGrory, Edina
McGrory held the Hornets in the game as long as she could. The only player on Edina that seemed to be immune to the swarming Oriole defense, she would drop in 20 points including 6 of 7 from the line.
 
-- Jake Lunemann, MN Girls Basketball Hub Staff

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