Day 1 of girls basketball tourney features buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Becker
The first day of the Minnesota State Girls' Basketball Tournament at Williams Arena and Maturi Pavilion ended with a dramatic buzzer-beating 3-pointer to give the Becker Bulldogs a win over the Marshall Tigers.
Marshall hit a pair of free throws with 10 seconds left in the game to take a 67-65 lead, effectively erasing a 14-point second-half deficit against the third-seeded Bulldogs.
Instead of calling a timeout, sophomore point guard Julia Bengston dribbled up the court, went behind her back with one dribble and then fired a left-handed bounce pass out of a double team to find Courtney Nuest, who drilled the game-winning 3.
Nuest, also a sophomore, finished with 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting, including 3-of-5 from 3-point land.
Becker advances to the state semifinals in Class AAA and will face Robbinsdale Cooper at 2 p.m. Thursday.
Scoreboard from Wednesday's games
Class AAAA
- Hopkins 68-46 over Lakeville North
- Centennial 74-64 over Maple Grove
- Stillwater 73-48 over Shakopee
- Eastview 48-38 over Forest Lake
Class AAA
- DeLaSalle 61-53 over Hibbing
- Holy Angels 58-57 over Fergus Falls
- Cooper 72-40 over Austin
- Becker 68-67 over Marshall
Class AA
- Roseau 75-74 over Redwood Valley
- Caledonia 56-44 over Proctor
- Albany 60-49 over Holy Family Catholic
- Minnehaha Academy 56-37 over St. Peter
The Class A tournament begins Thursday.