Providence Academy Pulls Away From Albany In Title Game’s Second Half

(KNSI) – The Albany Huskies Girls’ Varsity Basketball Team couldn’t cage defending champion Providence Academy for a full 36 minutes in the Class AA State Championship Saturday.

The Lions turned up the pressure in the second half, eventually forcing the Huskies into 21 team turnovers. Providence turned those fumbles into 26 points on their way to a 74-60 victory.

Albany’s Alyssa Sand had a breakout game. She shot 60 percent from the field and went 11-14 from the charity stripe on her way to 29 total points. Sand added 21 rebounds, including 14 offensive boards.

Sand was second in the scoring category only to Providence’s Maddyn Greenway. The freshman put up 31, even though she didn’t have her best shooting performance. The super freshman was 10-26 from the field, including 2-10 from beyond the arc.

Greenway has been on the varsity team at Providence Academy since seventh grade. She scored over 1,000 points this season alone and now has over 2,500 in her high school career. Greenway’s season high was 60 in a 126-94 win for the Lions over Minnehaha Academy in February.

Albany’s Sand was more efficient on Saturday and the junior will be returning, along with most of her teammates. Saturday could prove to be a prelude to another meeting next March. Providence Academy was the one-seed in this year’s state tournament. Albany was #3 and beat Perham and Goodhue on their way to a championship game appearance.

Saturday’s game was played at Williams Arena on the campus of the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.

___