Class AAA Girls Basketball State Championship Totino Grace 60, Becker 51

During the regular season, the Totino-Grace girls basketball team placed fifth in the Northwest Suburban Conference with a 12-7 record. That grueling run through the conference, however, prepared the Eagles for what was in front of them in the postseason. While the Eagles finished the season on a modest five-game winning streak, the spree couldn’t have come at a better time.

Upstart Totino-Grace, the No. 3 seed in the Class AAA state tournament field, finished off a magical postseason run with a 60-51 victory over top-seeded Becker in the championship game on Saturday, March 19, 2022, at Williams Arena on the University of Minnesota campus. Senior forward Hannah Herzig scored 21 of her 31 points in the first half when the Eagles (23-8) established from the start that they were intent on ending the season with a victory. It is the second Class AAA championship for the Eagles, the other coming in 2008. The win also ended the title reign of Becker (25-5) and snapped the Bulldogs’ 19-game winning streak.

Senior guard Leah Dengerud had 13 points to lead Herzig’s supporting cast and freshman guard Chloe Nuss chipped in six.

Herzig scored 11 of Totino-Grace’s first 15 points and 21 of the Eagles’ 28 in the first half in building a four-point lead at the break. Becker battled throughout and carved into the Eagles’ lead, but it wasn’t enough to overtake Totino-Grace. Totino-Grace led by as many as 10 points in the first and 11 in the second.

Senior guard Adeline Kent had 18 points to lead the Bulldogs.