The Buffalo girls’ basketball team defeated STMA on Tuesday for a conference and section match up. The Bison not only had the traveling trophy on the line, but also the Mississippi 8 conference title. The Bison have never defeated STMA twice in one season during conference play.
The last time the Bison met with STMA, the Buffalo girls came out strong and defeated the St. Michael Knights 57-44. Last year, the Bison beat STMA to not only win the conference, but also to take the section title and advance to state.
Tuesday, to start the game the Knights started with hitting a three point shot seconds after tip-off. The Bison trailed the entire first half. Buffalo had difficulties under the solid defensive pressure from the Knights and fell behind 19-22 at the half.
The Knights led off the scoring in the second half as well, but the Bison kept fighting. Jamie High tied the game with a lay-up to tie the game 24-24. The Bison led by five with six minutes left in the game. It was their biggest lead so far. Both teams were in double bonus near the end of the game. The Bison clinched the conference title and held on to the traveling trophy when they defeated the Knights with a final score of 44-39.
Senior Jamie High led the Bison with a career high of 18 points and 11 rebounds. Junior Emily Spier added 11 points and Senior Alexa Thielman 9 points in the Bison victory. Thielman also had 6 steals and Spier had 2 blocks. The Bison’s strong defense held the Knights leading scorer Christine Thorn, averaging 16.2 per game, to 4 points.
Winning this game the Bison are still undefeated in the conference with a conference record of 11-0 and overall record of 22-3. They play their last regular season game, which is also senior night, tomorrow at home against Cambridge-Isanti. Buffalo is the number 1 seed for section 8AAAA and will play Brainerd on Tuesday February 28.
