Congratulations Girls from a BL Traitor.

3A final: Becker's Robinson ends a taut drama with DeLaSalle

Brianna Mastey, Becker's star forward, has carried her team on her back all season. But in Saturday night's Class 3A state title game against DeLaSalle, it was an unheralded sophomore who took -- and made -- the money shot.

By Pam Schmid, Star Tribune
Last update: March 17, 2007 – 10:53 PM

Brianna Mastey, Becker's star forward, has carried her team on her back all season. But in Saturday night's Class 3A state title game against DeLaSalle, it was an unheralded sophomore who took -- and made -- the money shot.
Rey Robinson, a 6-1 guard, swished a pull-up 10-foot jumper with 1.2 seconds remaining to vault the top-seeded Bulldogs to a dramatic 41-39 victory.

"I guess if you're going to win a state championship," Becker coach Justin Hegna said, "why not win it in the end?"

And why not win it in your first trip to the state tournament? That's what the young Bulldogs did, in spite of a starting lineup comprising three juniors and a pair of sophomores.

Becker (31-1) won its 30th consecutive game, prevailing in a tightly contested, physically pounding defensive battle. Neither team led by more than four points in a game that also included 13 ties.

Mastey had totaled 56 points in her first two tournament games, accounting for half of her team's offensive output. But the Islanders had bottled her up most of the evening, and that was the case again in the final seconds.

It took Robinson -- a player who had struggled offensively the whole game -- to break the final deadlock.

After Islanders junior Aaryn Booker's lay-in knotted the score at 39 with 56 seconds remaining, the Bulldogs ran down the clock for the final shot.

Hegna called a timeout with 26 seconds remaining, and drew up a play to get the ball to Mastey if she could get free.

But Mastey was double-teamed, so Robinson took the ball instead, dribbling past a defender and hitting an open, lefthanded jumper.

"That was just a great shot from her," said Mastey, who finished with 12 points -- eight below her season average. "She knew that it was her time, and she just took it."

Said Robinson, who had gone 1-for-5 from the field before hitting the game-winner: "I had full confidence that it was going in, and it did."

Shelly Stemper, a junior forward, scored 11 points for Becker. Rachel Booth, a 6-2 senior, led the Islanders (28-3) with 12 points, and Booker, a 5-11 junior, contributed 11.

"We knew we were the underdogs," said Booth, whose team had finished third in the state last season. "We went out and battled. The last 30 seconds, it could have gone either way."

As it happened, it went the way of the tournament neophytes, who never wilted under the bright lights.

"We've been working for this moment since fourth grade," Mastey said. "We've worked so hard, and it paid off."