NEW LONDON -- Behind clutch shots from Renae Henjum -- who had 23 points -- and Jenn Wendlandt, New London-Spicer ended the game on a 13-0 run to rally past Watertown-Mayer 55-50 in the opening round of the Midwest Wireless/WildCard Classic Friday.
The Wildcats (7-2) will meet Willmar (4-4) today at approximately 7:45 p.m. in the championship.
Willmar edged Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 57-54 in the tourney's opener. KMS and Watertown-Mayer will face off at 6 p.m. in the third-place game.
With just under five minutes remaining, New London-Spicer saw itself trailing 50-42.
A key three-pointer from Cassie Ziemer then helped the Wildcats shut out the Royals (4-5) for the remainder of the game.
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Ellary Asche sealed the win for New London-Spicer with a couple of free throws in the closing seconds.
Henjum nearly posted another triple-double for the Wildcats after hauling down 13 rebounds and handing out nine assists. The junior also pocketed three steals and blocked five shots.
Wendlandt followed Henjum with 14 points and also hooked eight rebounds.
Watertown-Mayer, which owned a slim 27-26 lead at halftime after leading by 10 points on two different occasions, got 15 points from Amy Stifter and 13 more from Leah Michaels.
New London-Spicer 55, Watertown-Mayer 50
Watertown-Mayer (4-5).................................27 23 -- 50
NL-Spicer (7-2).......................................26 29 -- 55
WATERTOWN-MAYER - 19-51 FG (6-14 3 pt); 6-13 FT; 19 rebounds; 19 fouls ... Scoring: Leah Michaels 13, Amy Lynch 5, Alex Burke 6, Amy Stifter 15, Marissa Janning 8, Jen Fasching 3 ... 3-point shots: Michaels 3, Stifter 1, Janning 2 ... Rebound leaders: Burke 7, Ingrid Tanner 5 ... Assist leader: Stifter 6 ... Steal leader: Stifter 4
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NEW LONDON-SPICER - 19-43 FG (2-5 3 pt); 15-24 FT; 33 rebounds; 11 fouls ... Scoring: Kelsey Cors 2, Ellary Asche 2, Renae Henjum 23, Cassie Ziemer 3, Kelsey O'Fallon 4, Jenn Wendlandt 14, Justine Dammermann 3, Taylor Thompsen 2, Karli Wendlandt 2 ... 3-point shots: Ziemer 1, Dammermann 1 ... Rebound leaders: Henjum 13, J. Wendlandt 8 ... Assist leader: Henjum 9 ... Steal leader: Henjum 3 ... Blocks: Henjum 5
