Photo by Jake McNeill Minneota forward Jaylyn Coequyt (2) drives toward the paint as teammate Claire Rost sets a screen during a 3A North subsection quarterfinal girls basketball game on Saturday afternoon at Montevideo High School.

MONTEVIDEO — The third-seeded Minneota Vikings survived a scare against No. 6 Lac qui Parle Valley in the Section 3A North subsection girls basketball semifinals on Saturday. Despite trailing with just seconds remaining in the first half, Minneota caught fire when it needed to and pulled out a 59-48 win to keep its season alive.

LQPV scored the first 3 points of the second half to take the lead, but back-to-back layups from Minneota gave the Vikings a 27-26 lead.

The Vikings went on a 9-2 run from there to extend their lead to 8 points, and a Nevaeh Hennen stepback 3 and a Kiersyn Hulzebos long 2 brought Minneota’s lead into double figures. Hulzebos then rumbled her way to the cup again to bring the Viking lead up to 37-24 when LQPV called a timeout with seven minutes remaining.

The Vikings led by as many as 15 points before the Eagles scored 6 unanswered to get back within single digits. Still, Libby Sussner answered with a 3-pointer to bring the Viking advantage back to 12, and they held on from there for the 11-point win.

Jaylyn Coequyt led Minneota with a 16-point, 10-rebound double-double in the win. Coequyt shot 7 of 12 from the floor, and her six offensive rebounds helped Minneota gain a 17-8 edge on the offensive glass and a 35-25 overall rebounding advantage.

Hulzebos also contributed heavily with 12 points anfd five assists, while Eden Meagher added in 11 points and eight rebounds. Five of Meagher’s rebounds came on the offensive end.

While Minneota led by as many as 11 points in the first half, LQPV rallied late. Caleigh Conn pivoted into a layup to make it a one-possession game, 21-18, and Kendyl Shelstad followed up with another basket to make it a 1-point game in the final two minutes.

Ball movement allowed Brandi Meyer to give LQPV a 22-21 lead in the final minute of the half. Just as it seemed the underdogs were going to take a slight lead into halftime, Claire Rost hit a layup right at the buzzer to send Minneota into halftime with a 23-22 lead.

LQPV scored 3 of the game’s first 4 points but Minneota quickly responded with a run of its own. Jaylyn Coequyt gave Minneota its first lead at 5-3, and Meagher kept the momentum flowing with two baskets and a free throw to cap off a 9-0 Minneota run.

“Just stay in the game. Like our seniors, we didn’t want it to be their last game, so we had to stay in it,” Meagher said when asked about her mentality when helping to spark the Vikings’ go-ahead run.

The Eagles didn’t score again until the 11-minute mark, and Minneota took advantage. The Vikings’ lead steadily increased until Hulzebos drained a pair of free throws to make the score 17-6 with seven minutes remaining in the half.

Meagher tallied three steals on the defensive end, helping Minneota to a 16-22 edge in the turnover battle, while Coequyt logged two steals and a block. The turnover battle proved crucial, as LQPV finished with a 41.5% effective field goal percentage to Minneota’s 37%.

Minneota improves to 17-11 on the season with the win and now prepares to take on second-seeded MACCRAY on Tuesday at Montevideo High School at 7:30 p.m. The Wolverines defeated the Vikings 75-45 on Jan. 24. It will be Minneota’s first time entering a section game as the lower seed under head coach Alan Panka.

“I don’t think [our approach] changes,” Panka said. “You’re still trying to go win it, so I don’t think that part matters. They’ve a very good team, Sean does a great job with them, [Brielle] Janssen is one of the best players in the state, so just trying to slow her down is a tall task… I’m probably not going to get a whole lot of sleep this weekend trying to find ways to slow her down.”