Superlarks storm past Lions to move on to Section 1A title game

Published 3:28 pm Saturday, March 1, 2025

By Rocky Hulne

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GRAND MEADOW – The No. 2 seeded Grand Meadow girls basketball team shared the wealth as all five starters played huge roles in a 60-49 victory over No. 2 Spring Grove-Mabel-Canton in Mayo Civic Auditorium Saturday.

The Superlarks (25-2 overall) led wire-to-wire to wrap up their 17th win in a row as they took down the Lions (22-6 overall), who were the only team to beat GM in the regular season. The Superlarks held SGM completely in check over the final 10 minutes of the game.

“That’s the team we had. They just needed to have confidence in themselves. We knew they would work really hard to take away Lauren (Queensland) and Gracie (Foster) and other girls had to be ready to shoot. They did,” GM head coach Ryan Queensland said. “It takes a full team to get this far.”

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Gracie Foster finished with 12 points, 12 rebounds and three assists, Naomi Warmka put up 11 points and five assists, and Aspen Kolling added 13 points. 

Warmka said her team knew that the Lions would be focused on slowing down Foster and Queensland, which meant other players would have to be ready.

“I felt like it was all within the flow of the offense. Someone has to take over, we can’t rely on just two people,” Warmka said. “We have to work together. If we stay as (together) one fist, and we play good defense, we’ll be OK.”

Naomi Warmka’s hustle gave the Superlarks a big boost when she ripped a rebound out of an opponent’s hands and found Gracie Foster for a wing three-pointer that put GM up 37-30. On the ensuing possession, Warmka found Aspen Kolling, who hit a three to make it 40-32 GM with 12:30 left.

Foster lifted the Superlarks offense in the first half as she hit a pair of threes, including one to put GM up 20-11 with 7:15 left in the first half. The Lions pulled to within 22-17, before Shaufler and Queensland scored to push the lead to 26-17 with 1:10 remaining in the first half.

GM opened the game on an 8-0 

Foster said there was no better feeling than beating the Lions after falling to them twice.

“This is so satisfying and we worked so hard for this,” Foster said. “I’m proud of every one of my teammates. We did a lot better staying calm and relaxed. Last time we played them, we kind of held our heads down and we were playing kind of as individuals, not as a fist (all five).”

The Lions beat GM 59-49 on Jan. 10 and the Lions beat GM 64-49 on Nov. 26, but GM didn’t let those losses haunt them.

“We knew we could play with them. In the home game we were up by nine with ten minutes to go and we shot ourselves in the foot a bit. I think they did a nice job learning from those losses,” Queensland said. “This team doesn’t get down on themselves, they like to compete. I’m not going to lie, when the clock got down to about 10 minutes up nine just like the second game in the regular season, that clock couldn’t move fast enough.”

The Superlarks will move on to the Section 1A title game, where they will take on top-seeded and defending Class A champion Goodhue (22-5 overall) in Mayo Civic Arena at 6 p.m. Thursday.

“They’re a good, quick team and they’re good at getting in passing lanes,” Foster said. “They’re all good shooters, they see the floor really well and they have a really good coach.”

This will be the third section title game appearance in school history for GM. 

SGMC 19 20 – 39

GM 26 34 –  60

GM scoring: Aspen Kolling, 13; Gracie Foster, 12; Naomi Warmka, 11; Lauren Queensland, 8; Rylee Schaufler, 8; Paisley Kolling, 6

SGMC scoring: Siri Konkel, 9; Kinley Soiney, 9; Kylie Hammel, 6; Emmerson Ingvalson, 5; Kendal VanMinsel, 2; Carlie Halverson, 2

 

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