DETROIT LAKES

— Playoffs have brought some of the greatest moments across the sports world. The Section 8AAA quarterfinals matchup between No. 4 Detroit Lakes and No. 5 Little Falls featured it all that ended with heartbreak for one team.

With less than 10 seconds remaining, the Flyers’ Haylee Fredregill drained the game-winning three and after a key defensive stop out of a timeout, Little Falls secured the upset 45-44 victory over the Lakers on Thursday night.

Lakeshirst Fieldhouse saw the excitement of Elle Bettcher’s, at the time, go ahead two to take the lead at 44-42 with 8.6 seconds left sucked out the gym. The loss was hard to stomach for co-head coach Rachel Wahlstrom, who will be leaving the program as she starts a new chapter of life in Fergus Falls.

“It was a really tough one,” she said. “For how hard they worked at the end of the game, you don’t feel like that is how you deserve to leave a gym. They defensively did what we asked them to do. Brooklyn Markuson keeping number 22 (Malin Youngberg) to three points was huge.

If you would have told any of us coaches walking out of here tonight that she only had three points and we were walking out with the loss, we would have bet a lot of money against that, to be quite honest.”

“And so then atypical for us, too, where our other four were not communicating as well in our zone. Offensively, we did a lot of good things, changing up a lot of different offensive looks because Little Falls is really aggressive and just didn’t quite get enough shots to fall tonight.”

The first half seemed to be the making of their first game of the season meeting where Detroit Lakes scraped by with a 38-26 victory. Helena Dagget scored the first two points of the game a minute and a half into the contest. Neither team couldn’t buy a bucket for the next four minutes until Little Falls’ Claire VanRisseghem hit a jumper to tie the game at two.

But the Lakers went on an 8-2 to extend its lead to 10-3. The Flyers battled down 11-8 at around the halfway point of the half. Then Detroit Lakes went on yet another run to grab a 20-14 advantage with 3:25 left on the clock. But Little Falls was going to stick around slicing the lead to 22-19 going into the break.

The Lakers had all the opportunities to further expand its lead with turnover after turnover but couldn’t find ways to score on the other end.

“When the girls came back and there was a couple of them saying, I missed this, I missed that, I missed it,” Wahlstrom said. “It’s just like, yes, everyone missed an assignment a couple of times, and in such a big game like this, that can’t happen, especially when you do have the first playoff game nerves and jitters going on. And so I hope as a team they look back and realize that it’s not any one individual’s fault. It’s not even their fault as a team that they came out of here with the loss. It was just the cards that were dealt tonight.”

The second half was a near carbon copy of the first. The Lakers would go on a run, Little Falls would call a timeout, and proceed to claw their way back into the game. Detroit Lakes went on an 8-0 run before the Flyers went on one of their own to cut the lead to 37-36 with 7:22 left in regulation.

With under three minutes left in the game, the Lakers held a 42-39 lead after an Ella Okeson jumper. The next basket didn’t come until just over a minute later when the Flyers’ Claire LeBlanc made an open three-pointer tying the game at 42.

After another minute scoreless drought, Karlee Mace found a wide-open Bettcher under the basket and she secured the easy bucket to grab the late 44-42 lead. A VanRisseghem three seconds later and Little Falls intercepting the ensuing inbound pass sealed the Lakers’ fate and sent the Flyers into the semifinals against No. 1 Alexandria.

“They (Little Falls) hit some really big shots when they needed to, and so all the credit to them because that’s a lot of pressure and they executed really well defensively,” Wahlstrom said about the closing minutes of the game. “We were actually really solid and just like I said, they knocked down those shots and so you got to give them a lot of props, too, of hitting those big shots. And then we came back on the other end and had opportunities, too. We made one or two, but we missed a couple as well.”

It was with a heavy heart to see the four seniors have their Laker basketball career end with heartbreak. It was because of the special group that Wahlstrom needed to come back and give the girls their proper sendoff.

“My seniors are so special,” she said fighting back tears. “Brooklyn Markuson has grown so much from last year. I think she didn’t play for 30 seconds tonight just to show how integral she became in a part of this team this year. Seeing her step up defensively but also growing so much more confidence on the offensive end has been amazing to watch her grow. We’re just so proud of her.”

“Ellie Bettcher plays almost the entire game, every game, even with a bum ankle right now. And you could see at the end of our regular season when we didn’t have her. Like she is our glue offensively and defensively, and you might not always see that reflected in the box scores, but she is the glue offensively and defensively that gets everyone going where they’re supposed to be and encourages them to do the little things correctly.”

“Helena Dagegett has been just a solid, solid player all throughout her high school career,” Wahlstrom continued. “She played really well tonight, and so to have her, even though it’s the last game, to have her shine in was really special because she’s another one that doesn’t always reflect that in the box score. But if we are missing her on the defensive end, we really, really lack. And on the offensive end, she’s just so good at communicating with everyone and making sure they’re doing what they’re supposed to be doing.”

“Ella Okison, she’s our little energizer bunny. I call her Hurricane Okie. I’ll continue to call her that for the rest of my life. She’s our little hurricane. Just causes trouble and became an incredible offensive threat this year, which was so fun to see.”

The group had played together for so long and grew not only individually but as a team. Their leadership to incorporate all the underclassmen like Karlee Mace was a huge part of this team’s development. But Wahlstrom wanted to remind everyone that it was more than a game but the impact the girls had on the community.

“We as a coaching staff are just so grateful,” she said. “Our student section might not be packed, but we have tons of younger kids and little basketballers that are like, look at how hard that girl hustled to the ball and how the bench hypes everyone up. That’s what we’re most proud about, because at the end of the day, this is just a game, and.It’s something that we get to enjoy and have fun doing. But the character that these girls have and foster in this program is incredible. So that’s what we’re most proud about.”

Detroit Lakes closed out the season with an overall record of 13-14.

LITTLE FALLS 45 DETROIT LAKES 44

DL – 22 22 – 44

LF – 19 26 – 45

DETROIT LAKES – E. Okeson 14; Daggett 12; Markuson 8; Mace 6; K. Okeson 2; Bettcher 2

LITTLE FALLS – Fredregill 11; VanRisseghem 10; Sinclair 9; LeBlanc 5; Meyer 4; Saldana 3; Youngberg