Courtney Struss wasn’t being immodest. Just honest.

“We did really well,” Struss, a Nicollet sophomore, said while standing next to senior Anna Skrien. The duo had just combined to spend 36 minutes chasing Charlotte Overbye all over the court in the Class 1A semifinals. Overbye, who averages almost 20 points per game, finished with just two on 1-for-9 shooting.

And there was your biggest factor in Friday’s outcome.

“We saw her playing [Thursday], and she was unstoppable,” Skrien said. “We put a complete ball denial on her. We knew if we stopped her, it would impact their team. And we could see she was getting extremely frustrated.”

Though they combined to score only five points — all from Skrien, as Struss didn’t even attempt a shot — both players knew that they could be difference-makers.

“Our defense has carried us all season,” Skrien said.

As such, Nicollet (18-8) wasn’t worried about its own scoring, even at halftime, when it scored just 16 points but led 16-11. Three players ended up scoring in double-figures, led by Tailor Raymond’s game-high 14 points. But defense was the key.

MI-B finished 9-for-53 from the field, including 1-for-23 from three-point range. Nicollet stayed in its same zone defense — with either Skrien or Struss assigned to chase Overbye wherever she went — for virtually the entire game. If they can clamp down for one more game, they’ll be state champions.

“I’ve been playing with a lot of these girls since fifth grade traveling basketball,” Skrien said. “[Back then], we said we wanted to win state as seniors.”

No stats available for Nicollet