Toughen up or go home. That was the message delivered in the Hancock locker room at halftime.

The Owls responded to coach Jodi Holleman’s words, and instead of getting on the bus and heading three hours to the west they will be taking a much short trek to the semifinals at  Target Center.

Hancock came out and matched Goodhue’s intensity in the final 18 minutes, rallying from a 10-point deficit for a 58-54 victory over the state’s top-ranked team in the Class 1A state girls’ basketball tournament Thursday at Williams Arena.

“We had to gather ourself at halftime, and step it up,” Owls junior center Kendra Schmidgall said. “We didn’t want to go home.”

Schmidgall is a big reason the Owls are sticking around for another couple of days. She scored 15 of her 19 points after intermission as Hancock (27-2) erased a seven-point halftime deficit. Schmidgall also finished with 10 rebounds and four blocked shots.

“I told Kendra at halftime to put us on her back and carry us,” Holleman said. “She just smiled back at me.”

A defensive switch by Goodhue (27-5) to start the second half also brought a smile to Schmidgall’s face. After playing a chaotic man-to-man in the first half that forced 15 Hancock turnovers, the Wildcats opened the second half in a 2-3 zone.

Schmidgall scored seven points in the first 2 minutes, 26 seconds of the half, and Hancock pulled even at 36.

“It was a nice change,” Schmidgall said. “Everybody has been playing us man-to-man.”

Senior guard Illissa Koehl made two free throws with just under five minutes left, giving the Owls the lead for good at 49-48. Koehl, who had 19 points, also made two clinching free throws with 3.4 seconds left.

“We had to take care of the ball better in the second half,” Koehl said. “If we didn’t, it would be our last 18 minutes of the season.”

Mikayala Miller and Chanel Robert had 12 points apiece for Goodhue, which made only seven field goals in the second half.

“We turned up our defensive pressure in the second half,” Holleman said. “We didn’t come this far to play one game. We came here to win it all.” 

HANCOCK

GOODHUE

Stats for Hancock not available