OAK PARK HEIGHTS — White Bear Lake already wrapped up the Suburban East Conference championship, but the Stillwater girls basketball team completed a conference sweep of the Bears with a 60-55 triumph to close out the regular season on Wednesday, Feb. 21 at Stillwater Area High School.
It was the seventh victory in eight games down the stretch for the Ponies (13-5 SEC, 19-7), who finished third in the SEC standings behind White Bear Lake (15-3, 19-7) and runner-up East Ridge (14-4, 18-8).
Stillwater also defeated the Bears 67-58 on Jan. 16, which could complicate seeding in a Section 4AAAA field that includes the Ponies, White Bear Lake and East Ridge. White Bear Lake won both of its games against the Raptors, who also defeated Stillwater twice. Section quarterfinals are scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 28, with the semifinals and finals to follow on March 2 and March 7.
Amy Thompson poured in 27 points on Wednesday to lead the Ponies, who also received 15 from Annika Peper and 10 from Liana Buckhalton.
White Bear Lake 28 27 — 55
Stillwater 39 21 — 60
White Bear Lake (pts): Addie Post 6, Maddy Thompson 3, Abby O’Brien 3, Elizabeth Wallek 4, Anna Bosman 2, Jordyn Schmittdiel 18, Heidi Barber 3 and Sarah Poepard 16.
Stillwater: Liana Buckhalton 10, Franny deLeon 6, Annika Peper 15, Amy Thompson 27 and Lucci deLeon 2.
Stillwater 65, Centennial 61
At Circle Pines, Annika Peper and Amy Thompson combined for 46 points to help lift the Ponies to a 65-61 nonconference victory over the Cougars on Monday, Feb. 19 at Centennial High School.
Thompson led all scorers with 26 points and Peper added 20 as the Ponies outscored Centennial 35-23 in the second half to overcome an eight-point deficit.
Marisa Frost collected 22 points and Autumn McCall chipped in with 21 for the Cougars (16-9), who are one of the top three teams in the Northwest Suburban Conference.
Stillwater 30 35 — 65
Centennial 38 23 — 61
Stillwater (pts): Liana Buckhalton 8, Franny deLeon 4, Annika Peper 20, Amy Thompson 26, Addison Bergstad 2, Chloe Rymal 2 and Lucci deLeon 3.
Centennial: Molly Monson 2, Marisa Frost 22, Apsen Gray 2, Autumn McCall 21, Sydney Schmitz 4 and Jordan Metz 10.
East Ridge 80, Stillwater 73
At Woodbury, Amy Thompson continued her late season scoring spree, but it wasn’t enough to carry the Ponies in an 80-73 conference loss to the Raptors on Friday, Feb. 16 at East Ridge High School.
Thompson, who is averaging 26.2 points per game this season, scored 47 points against East Ridge. She now has the three highest scoring games in program history after scoring 44 points against Rogers and a school record 48 against Forest Lake earlier this season. The single-game school scoring record was 39 points coming into the season.
The scoring was more spread out for East Ridge, led by Isabella Sanneh with 25 points. Vienna Murray finished with 21 points and Sidney Klauer added 18.
Stillwater held a three-point halftime lead, but was outscored 44-34 in the second half.
Stillwater 39 34 — 73
East Ridge 36 44 — 80
Stillwater (pts): Liana Buckhalton 8, Franny deLeon 9, Annika Peper 5, Amy Thompson 47 and Lucci deLeon 4.
East Ridge: Taylor Klauer 5, Sidney Klauer 18, Jada Otoo 3, Lannie Holmes 6, Vienna Murray 21, Kendall Barnes 2 and Isabella Sanneh 25.
Contact Stuart Groskreutz at stuart.groskreutz@apgecm.com
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