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Holy Angels coach Dan Woods joked he would have torn some of his hair out Thursday, if only he had any left.

The Stars escaped their sloppy Class 3A, Section 3 championship game with a 41-40 win over Simley. Holy Angels didn’t execute the way it normally does, and that meant a Spartan squad that went .500 in the regular season was able to hang around all game with the Stars.

Still, Woods said the Stars, ranked No. 2 in Class 3A by Minnesota Basketball News, might come out the other side better after grinding out a tough win in the section championship.

Maybe Holy Angels didn’t enter the game with enough urgency. The Stars trailed by seven early and led by just three at halftime against a team they beat by 19 back in November.

“I think they hopefully woke up now, which has happened for us in the past,” Woods said. “Most definitely having this type of game makes a huge difference.”

Holy Angels fought through tough section championship games in the past, grinding out low-scoring wins over Bloomington Kennedy each of the last two years. The Stars followed those games with third-place finish in the state tourney a year ago and a state title in 2016.

There’s probably a lesson or two to be learned from the Simley game. The Spartans handled the Stars’ pressure on defense well, and that led to few chances off turnovers. Holy Angels just didn’t execute well enough in the halfcourt, Woods said. But even then, the Stars earned a third straight section title after a Simley three-point try in the final seconds missed off the rim.

“I think it’s gonna give us a little bit more edge, because we know if it was this hard coming out of sections, it’s going to be even harder going into state,” Holy Angels junior post Destinee Oberg said.

The Stars might not be able to pressure teams in the state tournament into the kind of turnovers they thrive on, so Thursday was a chance to see how they need to be able to get going in the halfcourt offensively.

“When we get those turnovers, it gives us you chance to gain some rhythm, because you get comfortable and that hoop starts to look bigger,” Woods said. “If you don’t get any easy shots, then it looks a little different.”

Both teams had plenty of misses and plenty of chances. Oberg finished six points, way below her season average, but no one on Holy Angels shot well against Simley. For a short stretch in the second though, the Stars relaxed, and Francesca Vascellaro went on a nine-point run to give Holy Angels the lead for good.

“So we kind of just let our game come to us, rather than in the first half, we were forcing it, forcing it, forcing it,” Oberg said.

The matchup with Simley also reminded Woods of last year’s state semifinal loss to Winona, a 58-43 decision where the Stars found no rhythm. However, they bounced back with a double digit win in the third-place game.

“This game does remind me of that [Winona game],” Woods said. “So did we learn, because we grinded our way through this game, which is identical to what happened to us last year. So I’ll use that as a positive, too.”

Three was a good number for Holy Angels Thursday night.

The top seed in Class 3A, Section 3, Holy Angels made it a third straight year as the section champion, beating No. 2 seed Simley 41-40 at Bloomington Jefferson High School. And it was a missed three at the end that let the Stars escape with a win.

Simley’s Sydney Runsewe had an open look to score a three-pointer with seconds remaining in a 41-40 game, but it bounced off the rim and the Spartans were unable to corral an offensive rebound.

Nine straight points from Francesca Vascellaro early in the second half helped Holy Angels pull away a bit after coming out of the break cold. Vascellaro finished with 13 points to lead the Stars, who are ranked second in Class 3A by the Minnesota Basketball News. Teammates Kaylie VanDerWerf had eight points and 14 rebounds and Destinee Oberg added six points and 12 rebounds.

The score was 21-18 Holy Angels (25-4) at halftime. The Stars had been down 14-7, but went on an 11-0 run to take the lead back before the intermission.

Tiwaah Danso had 14 points and 12 rebounds to lead Simley. Sydney Stensgard had 11 points, including two free throws to pull the Spartans within one point in the waning seconds of the game. With the loss, Simley finished its season 15-14 overall.

Holy Angels returns to state for the third consecutive year. The Stars were state champions in 2016 and finished third last season.

The MN Girls' Basketball Hub poll is for entertainment purposes only.