As the clock continued to count down and the teams locked in a seesaw affair, who was going to take over?

It was everybody for Albany.

Alyssa Sand had 18 points and 14 rebounds, Tatum Finley added 17 including a key late 3-pointer, and the second-seeded Huskies beat No. 3 Minnehaha Academy 60-52 in a Class 2A state girls basketball semifinal Friday night at Wiliams Arena.

Kylan Gerads scored 12 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for Albany.

The 30-1 Huskies will face two-time defending champion Providence Academy (27-4) in Saturday’s 2 p.m. final. The top-seeded Lions ran past Crosby-Ironton 92-54 in the other semifinal.

Albany, which fell 74-60 to Providence Academy in the 2023 final, beat the Lions by two on Dec. 19.

“We’re seniors, this is our last ever game we’ll give it everything we have and stick to what we know,” said Sand, a University of St. Thomas commit.

Minnehaha Academy lost in the semifinals for the third straight season, this time with a season-low for points.

“It’s hard,” said Addi Mack, who led the Redhawks with 25 points. “… It just came down to they made a couple shots, we didn’t. They had the momentum going for them and we couldn’t find a way to stop that.”

Albany was trailing by one point when Claire Lecy banked in an awkward 3-point shot, Sand swished another 25 seconds later, and the Huskies led 48-43 with seven minutes left. The Huskies did not trail again.

“They had a couple shots that banked in, we slipped on a couple rotations. It was one of those you just wish you could run back the next day,” said Minnehaha Academy coach Damien Lolar.

Findley scored from deep for a 53-47 lead. After Mack scored on a drive for the Redhawks (27-4), Sand spun and banked in a layup and Gerads scored underneath off a feed from Callie Holthaus for an eight-point cushion with 1:36 left.

“We know they were trying to make us go fast, and we realized that and so we just told ourselves to settle down and run through plays. The shots really came to us instead of forcing them,” Sand said.

A late free throw from Savanna Pelzer and a layup from Sand were the finishing touches.

“It’s been our motto, it’s a together thing,” said coach Aaron Boyum. “We have a lot of girls who have rightfully earned accolades, but at the same we always know there’s going to be somebody that comes into the game and there’s going to be a three-minute spurt that’s really important while they’re in there.”

Angel Hill had 11 points and Isa Griefenhagen had 11 rebounds off the bench for Minnehaha Academy which shot 31.7%, including 2 of 25 from deep.

“It felt like 2 for 455 for me,” Lolar said. “… If the shot’s not falling, and I believe I put that on the board, let’s adjust, and I don’t think we did.”

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Watching Olivia Rodrigo reign supreme over about 16,000 screaming fans at St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center Friday night, one couldn’t help but keep thinking she just turned 21 last month and released her debut single a mere three years ago.

That song, “Drivers License,” entered the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 1, smashed numerous Spotify records and topped the charts in two dozen countries around the world. At the time, she told the New York Times that “my entire life just, like, shifted in an instant.” For most acts, a hit of that magnitude will define an entire career. Rodrigo, meanwhile, performed it five songs into her 90-minute set.

An avowed Taylor Swift fan who calls herself the “biggest Swiftie in the whole world,” Rodrigo has clearly picked up a few tricks from Swift, starting with lyrics that feel ripped out of her diary. Friday night, she proved to be confident, but never cocky. She’s also a fierce feminist who fronts a band full of female musicians and vocally promotes women, both in the industry and her audience.

Young women made up most of the audience Friday and they treated Rodrigo with complete reverence, screaming their lungs out at the appropriate times and singing along to every song in the set, which included nearly all the tracks from her two albums, 2021’s “Sour” and last year’s “Guts.” She was already popular enough to fill the X on her first tour in 2022 when she hit the Armory in downtown Minneapolis. Tickets for Friday’s show sold out in mere moments, suggesting she could have easily added a second night.

Rodrigo, who writes the majority of her songs with producer Daniel Nigro, has a real knack for crafting ear worms with smart lyrics and deep hooks. She dabbles in numerous styles, too, from relatively straightforward teen pop to ’90s-inspired alt-rock. (She claimed Minneapolis punk trio Babes in Toyland as a key influence on “Guts.”)

She performed on a massive, uncluttered stage with catwalks on either side that let her get close to the fans in the general-admission section up front. There was some razzle-dazzle along the way, like when she sang “Logical” from a flying purple crescent moon, surrounded by stars hanging from the rafters. And seven songs in, a pack of eight dancers emerged who joined her off and on through the rest of the show.

But, really, Rodrigo was the main focus of the evening, whether she was perched behind the piano for the ballad “Teenage Dream” or sitting cross-legged next to her guitarist for “Happier,” complete with the crowd chiming in at key moments. She oozed with charisma, but crucially remained entirely approachable and down to earth. She never once displayed the sort of showbizzy moves one would expect from a performer who got her start starring on Disney Channel fare. (She’s the anti Demi Lovato!)

As remarkable as it is to see how much Rodrigo has achieved in three short years, her performance Friday night showed she’s just getting started.

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Chicago Bears guard Nate Davis paid $2.3 million in May for a five-bedroom, 5,537-square-foot house in Highland Park.

A Virginia native who previously had played for the Tennessee Titans, Davis signed a three-year, $30 million deal with the Bears in March. He battled injuries in his first year with the team, including missing four games later in the season with a high ankle sprain.

Built in 2003 and designed by Evanston architect Michael Hershenson, Davis’ new house has five bathrooms, three fireplaces, a kitchen with a butler’s pantry, a family room with built-ins and a wall of windows and a wood-paneled study on the first floor. Other features include a four-season sunroom that offers ravine views and a primary suite with a second office, a private screened porch, dual custom walk-in closets and heated floors.

Downstairs on the lower level, the house has a game room, a kitchenette and a fitness room.

The house sits on a 1.28-acre property and is accessed via a wooded private drive.

The agent who represented Davis, Paul Gorney of eXp Realty, could not be reached for comment.

The house had a $52,785 property tax bill in the 2022 tax year.

Bob Goldsborough is a freelance writer.

Join our Chicago Dream Homes Facebook group for more luxury listings and real estate news.

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CLASS A

Goodhue 63, Underwood 53

Elizabeth Gadient scored 22 points — including an 11-for-12 performance at the free-throw line — to go with 11 rebounds to lead the top-seeded Wildcats into the state title game.

Kendyl Lodermeier also had a double-double with 16 points and 11 boards.

Goodhue led by 11 at the break, but fourth-seeded Underwood (28-4) — which downed second-ranked Hancock in its section final — pulled to within four with 10 minutes to play and was within six in the final minute. But Goodhue (27-5) put the game away at the free-throw line.

Elizabeth Lukken had 24 points and nine rebounds for Underwood.

Mountain Iron-Buhl 69, Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart 50

Jordan Zubich had 31 points — highlighted by five 3-pointers — to push defending state champ Mountain Iron-Buhl back into the title game.

The second-seeded Rangers will play top-seeded Goodhue for the crown at noon Saturday. The two teams met in December, with Goodhue winning 67-62.

Zubich also had six assists, four rebounds and three steals.

Mountain Iron-Buhl (29-3) led by six early in the second half before going on a 20-7 run to essentially put the game away.

It’s a busy 24-hour stretch for Rangers coach Jeff Buffetta. After he guided the Rangers girls to Friday’s semifinal win, he had to quickly make his way to Hibbing to coach the Mountain Iron-Buhl boys team — which he also heads — in the Class A, Section 7 title game Friday night against Cherry, before making his way back to Minneapolis for Saturday’s state girls final.

Buffetta arrived in time for the boys game, but the Rangers fell in the section final.

Lily Hubin had 18 points and eight rebounds for third-seeded Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart (28-4), which was making its second state tournament appearance.

Class 2A

Providence Academy 92, Crosby-Ironton 54

Maddyn Greenway scored 30 points, going 11 for 11 from the free-throw line — to guide the Lions back to the state title game in their pursuit to defend their championship. The Class 2A title game is set for 2 p.m. Saturday.

Greenway flirted with a triple-double with 10 assists and eight rebounds.

Four of Providence Academy’s five starters scored in double figures, including Arianna Peterson, who had 20 points and nine boards. The top-seeded Lions (27-4) shot 57 percent from the field and 42 percent from deep.

Tori Oehrlein tallied 35 points and 11 rebounds for fifth-seeded Crosby-Ironton (25-7).

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