WILLMAR -- All's well that ends well, or maybe not quite.
The Ridgewater Lady Warriors overtook Riverland with a superlative second-half effort to end the season with a 73-67 win, their second straight.
But a 4-8 record in the South Division isn't enough to get them into the MCAC state tournament for a second year in a row.
"I feel bad for our (three) sophomores," said coach Carrie Ogdahl. "They didn't get to state either year and we deserved to go last year."
Last year the Lady Warriors won a playoff with Minnesota West, but still didn't get to advance because of a murky guideline related to balancing the two divisions.
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The Lady Warriors trailed 42-30 to the Blue Devils (2-9, 10-15), but a full-court press turned the momentum and the home team went on a 43-25 scoring binge the second half.
Ridgewater's Kelsey Guetter did much of the damage, getting 18 of her 22 points in the second half.
Ridgewater (11-15) shot 41 percent the second half.
Kari Caspers finished with 10 points for the Lady Warriors.
"We had our ups and downs, but we pulled together the last 10 days," said Ogdahl.
Ridgewater 73, Riverland 67
Riverland (2-9, 10-15) 42 25 -- 67
Ridgewater (4-8, 11-5) 30 43 -- 73
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RIVERLAND - 24-70 FG (5-22 3-pt); 14-23 FT; 40 rebounds; 25 fouls ... Scoring: Brooke Rosenstiel 11, Holly Waltz 6, Mandy May 3, Danyel Hythecker 3, Krista Viehauser 33, Joni Lillo 11 ... 3-point shots: Viehauser 3, Lillo 2 ... Rebound leaders: Viehauer 10, May 6 ... Assist leaders: May 5 ... Steal leaders: Waltz 4
RIDGEWATER - 23-63 FG (0-1 3-pt); 27-42 FT; 59 rebounds; 17 fouls ... Scoring: Alii Holt 6, Chelsea Voorhees 9, Whitley Strei 11, Sara Beyer 2, Alison Mason 9, Kari Caspers 10, Brianne Jacobson 4, Kelsey Guetter 22 ... 3-point shots: none ... Rebound leaders: Mason 8, Strei 6 ... Assist leaders: Strei 5, Voorhees 4 ... Steal leaders: Voorhees 4, Strei 4
