Girls State Basketball: Hancock cruises past Mayer Lutheran 71-40

Hancock, the No. 3-seed in the Class A state tournament field, left little doubt that it has state championship aspirations following a 71-40 victory over No. 2 Mayer Lutheran in the semifinals on Friday, March 18, 2022 at Williams Arena on the University of Minnesota campus.

The Owls (29-1) raced to a 19-point advantage at the half and continued the dominance from there in earning a berth in the Class A championship for the third time in program history. Hancock will face unseeded Minneota in the Class A title game, the first of our championship games to kick off Championship Saturday in Girls Basketball. The Owls were the Class A champion in 1997 and the runner-up in 2007. Hancock is making its first state tournament appearance since 2011.

Sophomore guard Kaitlyn Staples and freshman guard Kaitlyn Rohloff paced the Owls with 17 points each. Senior Rylee Hanson chipped in 16.

Junior forward Madeline Guetzkow led the Crusaders (27-5) with 13 points and sophomore post Julia Carns added 11.