Cardinals roll into Section finals

The Section 7A No. 1 seeded Cromwell-Wright Cardinals have won three straight tournament games and are now one game away from the state tournament. They were set to play No. 2 seed Mountain Iron-Buhl for the championship Thursday night at UMD after this issue of the Pine Knot News went to print.

It's been quite a run already.

The Cardinals opened section play last week with a 75-20 victory over Northeast Range in Cromwell. Taya Hakamaki scored 23 points - including 17 in the first half - enroute to the opening-round win. Shaily Hakamaki scored 12 second-half points on her way to 20 points on the night. Cromwell connected on six three-pointers and they were 10-12 from the free throw line.

With the first-round win, the Cardinals advanced to face South Ridge in the section quarterfinals. The Cromwell-Wright team scored 16 three-pointers, including five from Andrea Pocernich. Taya Hakamaki and Shaily Hakamaki led the way with 22 and 21 points respectively, and Pocernich added 19 in the commanding 88-39 victory.

"We have been playing well and shooting the ball even better. I like our chances in the tournament and the only way we can run into trouble is if we make the unforced errors," head coach Jeff Gronner said, adding that they "have a lot of weapons that everyone knows about, but there are several role players who maybe don't get the press they should which allows the others to be more successful."

Following Saturday's win over the Panthers, the Cardinals faced Deer River in the semifinals. Following a very tough first half in which Cromwell-Wright led by only five points (24-19), Shaily Hakamaki hit two big three-pointers early in the second half and Taya Hakamaki scored 17 of her 21 points in the half - both of which allowed the Cardinals to pull away and get the victory.

Shaily Hakamaki ended with a game-high 26 points as the Cardinals moved into the section finals.

"The Warriors came out with a strong matchup zone in the first half and with their size advantage, we had issues moving the ball like we normally do, which caused us to turn the ball over more than we are used to," Gronner said. "We made some adjustments at halftime and we picked up the pressure defensively. I think we just wore them down in the second half."

The Cardinals were set to face the eight-time defending Section 7A champion MIB Rangers with a trip to the state tournament on the line. The two teams played twice this season with each team winning at home. Cromwell-Wright last played in the state tournament in 2017 when they played in Section 5. The Cardinal girls team went to state in both 2016 and 2017.