Eagles headed back to section finals after rolling over Chaska

They’re not the same team they were to start the season. 

Just ask Eden Prairie girls basketball head coach Ellen Wiese.

“They’ve come a long way,” Wiese said. “When you think about where we started, coming into the season, (junior guard) Tori (Schlagel) would have been the only one with any significant varsity experience.”

Eden Prairie’s four remaining starters – juniors Camryn Dennin, Rae Ehrman, Ella Hardwick and Vanessa Jordan – all saw playing time last season but didn’t get the sustained experience to be classified as seasoned varsity players.

“They were just getting a few minutes here and there last year,” Wiese said. “So all of a sudden, they go from that to, ‘Hey, you’re gonna start a lot of games, and you’re not coming out.’”

The Eagles have gained their experience on the floor, emerging from the regular season with a record of 20-6 and a No. 8 ranking, before rolling off two victories in the Section 2AAAA playoffs.

The first victory, an 85-62 romp over Waconia, was followed by a resounding 71-41 win over Chaska on Saturday afternoon, setting up a section final showdown with No. 2 ranked Minnetonka.

Keep in mind, the Eagles have reached the doorstep of a second consecutive section title by traversing the always-competitive Lake Conference.

Of the seven schools in the conference, five teams occupy spots in the Star Tribune’s Metro Top 10 poll, with three teams – Hopkins, Minnetonka and St. Michael-Albertville – holding the top three rankings, respectively. Wayzata is rated fifth in the poll.

“The Lake Conference is as hard as it can be, and yet it prepares you for this,” Wiese said of the Eagles’ advancement to the section title game. “That’s a huge difference between a ‘Chaska’ and an ‘us’ is the conference we play in.”

Wiese said the level of competition has tested the Eagles’ roster – not just to excel in playing the best teams, but to simply survive.

“It’s a grind every single night just so you don’t get blown out,” she said. “So they did mature, and now, at the end of the season, they have the experience that they need at this point.

“Experience wise, they’re seniors, even though they’re really only juniors.”

And it was the juniors who shined on Saturday afternoon in the section semifinal on the Eagles’ home court against Chaska.

After a slow start following the opening tip, the Eagles went on a 25-1 run in the first half, with the starting five spreading the ball in the offensive zone while playing rock-solid defense.

“Defensively, our game plan was just perfect,” Wiese said. “They executed it to, well, I don’t know, to perfection, but that’s a heck of a defense if you’re holding a team like that to 41 points.” 

Schlagel led Eden Prairie with 10 first-half points; Jordan and Hardwick followed with eight apiece, and Ehrman had six in the first 18 minutes.

“In practice, we have really been working on spacing the floor throughout the entire week,” Schlagel said. “And today, we just really incorporated that, so our lanes were just wide open, and it really helped us.”

Wiese shrugged when pondering the slow start, writing it off to jitters and welcoming the scoring output.

“Offensively, we just kind of got in our groove, we started hitting shots,” she said. “We were hesitant to go downhill at first; I don’t know why. And then once somebody did that and saw that you could get downhill to score, and then everybody started charging.”

The Eagles built on their lead in the second half, dominating the Hawks with a 23-7 run to finish the game in the final 7:42 of the second half.

Eden Prairie shot 47 percent from the field, 29 percent from three-point range and 86 percent from the free throw line.

Schlagel led with 22 points and seven rebounds. Jordan added 18 points, Ehrman had 15, with Hardwick posting 10.

What was most encouraging to Wiese was the poise her players displayed after a rocky start, demonstrating the experience they’ve gained over the course of a challenging season navigating the gauntlet of the Lake Conference.

“They fought through that, right? They didn’t doubt themselves,” she said. “I think you can tell, you never see anything on their faces; you never see them look down. You never see them look like they’re worried. They just stay with the plan and execute it, kinda to perfection.”

With their victory, the Eagles move on to the Section 2AAAA championship game against top-seed Minnetonka on the Skippers’ home court, Friday at 7 p.m.

“That’s definitely where we want to be,” Wiese said. “To be honest with you, all season long, this is where we thought we’d be. We don’t take anything lightly. But this is where we thought we’d be. And so now we’re here.”

The Skippers blew out the Eagles 67-48 at Eden Prairie on Jan. 23. The rematch at Minnetonka was much closer, with the Eagles getting edged 62-60 on Feb. 15.

“We are so excited; we’re pumped,” Schlagel said. “Tonka has beaten us twice, and they only beat us by two last time, and we want to go in there and get our revenge.”

The Skippers are 25-2, splitting their conference games with top-ranked Hopkins and No. 5 Wayzata.

“We’re obviously very familiar with each other,” Wiese said. “We’re not going to surprise them, and they’re not going to surprise us. We know who they are. They know who we are, and it’ll be a battle. And we’re all looking forward to it.”