The defining moment for the Eastview girls basketball team this season came this summer when head coach Molly Kasper was going through some ideas with assistant coach Bri Zabel.
They both watched from afar as the Lynx started hot and ended up going on a playoff run that should’ve ended with them being crowned WNBA champions.
As impressed as Kasper and Zabel were with, well, pretty much everything the Lynx did whenever they were on the floor, the way they played defense, in particular, was enough for them to ask the question.
“We were talking,” Kasper recalled with the laugh. “We were like, ‘Could we defend like the Lynx?’”
The answer to that question was on full display on Wednesday afternoon at Williams Arena as Eastview rode its suffocating defense to a 62-39 win over Anoka in the Class 4A quarterfinals.
Yes, the Lightning could defend like the Lynx, and they proved that by forcing the Tornadoes into 28 turnovers. Eastview will play in the state semifinals at 8 p.m. Thursday.
“I think that our defense leads to our offense,” said junior Clara Goodman, who finished with 13 points. “Just forcing those turnovers creates energy for us.”
That relentlessness on defense is something Eastview has long prided itself on as a program. It was a foundational piece for the Lightning in 2018, for example, when they were crowned state champions.
“I would say it’s the cornerstone of every good team we’ve had at Eastview, probably before even my time,” Kasper said. “We feel like it’s the place where we can always dictate more of the game.”
Need proof? Look no further than the start of the game.
After a slow start offensively in the opening minutes, the Lightning locked in defensively, which sparked an 11-0 run that swung the momentum in their favor. They took complete control from there and never looked back en route to a blowout win.
“I love it,” said junior Lexi Matthews, who finished with 13 points. “I don’t think many other teams focus on defense like we do.”
It started to snowball on Anoka as the game wore on. The collective efforts of junior Deborah Ayeni, who finished with 14 points, and senior Maddy Freking, who finished with 10 points, weren’t nearly enough to overcome the struggles taking care of the ball.
Not when Eastview was forcing turnovers on seemingly every possession.
“Just hearing from other players from other teams they really try to outscore everybody, like, ‘Oh we got 80 points in a game,’ ” said senior Myah Maull, who finished with 12 points. “I feel like our goal has always been, like, ‘Let’s hold them to their lowest score.’”
That’s exactly what the Lightning did. They defended like the Lynx and earned a spot in the Class 4A semifinals in the process.
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