Eastview played well for large segments of Thursday’s Class 4A semifinal at Williams Arena. But the beginning and end of the game? Well, those two segments belonged to the Royals.
A scintillating start and strong finish powered the third-seeded Royals to a 68-48 victory.
“I just thought the kids fought hard,” Hopkins coach Tara Starks said. “I told them before the game, I knew Eastview was going to fight, and fight hard, and we just couldn’t let them want it more than we did.”
Hopkins will meet top-seeded Maple Grove in the state final at 8 p.m. Saturday at Williams Arena. The Royals have now qualified for the state title game in 13 of the past 15 seasons.
Thursday’s semifinal was tied 8-8 early, only to have Hopkins go on a 14-0 run to seize control. Eastview trailed by as many as 20 points in the first half. Lightning coach Molly Kasper said Eastview used Hopkins’ fast pace and physicality against the Royals in Eastview’s regular-season victory in the game between the two teams.
Thursday played out a little differently.
“We just bobbled some stuff here and there, which we hadn’t been accustomed to,” Kasper said. “And then felt like we couldn’t be as physical back, which can be a little bit frustrating, and also hard to keep the same pace.”
But the Lightning didn’t fold. Instead, they found their footing and rallied. A layup from Jayda Wilson-Oden brought Eastview to within 11 points at the break. Eastview then scored six of the first eight second-half points to get within seven.
“I knew they’d respond because they do it together. We focus on our controllables so much — coachability, attitude, preparation and effort. We say it all the time, we cannot control our playing time, we cannot control the refs, we cannot control the other team. That really challenged us tonight, even myself,” Kasper said.
“They do it for each other. … Lot of love in our locker room, and we continue to just say, ‘You have to keep your head up. Because we would rather represent our team and Eastview than any other program at this place.’”
Then the offense dried up at an ill-opportune time and, as Eastview scored just four points over a six-and-a-half-minute span that saw the Hopkins lead balloon back to 15. The Royals were led by 16 points from Erma Walker and 15 from London Harris, while Jaliyah Diggs tallied 12 assists.
“Tough battle for us,” Starks said. “I’m happy that we stayed focused, stayed composed and we just continued to grind it out.”
Eastview will play for third place in its first state tournament appearance since 2019, which was the final year of an eight-year run of consecutive trips. This is the group that got the Lightning back.
“It took a lot of rebuilding,” said Eastview star Myah Maull, who had 15 points and four steals. “It literally took every person to do what they were supposed to do, no matter if it was for 30 seconds or the whole game. Every person wanted it for each other, just as much as they wanted it for themselves.”
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