Roseville Girls Basketball heads to state tournament for second year in a row

ANOKA, Minn. -- It was a rematch of last year's section five, Class AAAA final, Friday night at Anoka High School. Roseville beat Maple Grove last time, but this year the 7th-ranked Crimson came in as the heavy favorite. 

The Raiders had something to say about that.

Roseville led for almost the entire game. Senior Lily Peper knocked down a triple early. She totaled 12 points for the Raiders. Their largest lead of the half was at the break, up 33-23.

Roseville's Kendall Barnes was the engine of this contest. Getting to the rack all night. The junior had 31 points. 

Roseville led Maple Grove by 12 with roughly 5:30 left. But that's when the Crimson's run ended. Future Gopher Kennedy Klick cut it to a three-point deficit with 22 seconds on the clock. But Roseville hit free throws to win 68-62. A big upset. 

"It feels great," said Barnes. "We really wanted this. We've been talking about it all year. And we've been waiting for this matchup to come."

"We worked really hard this season to get to where we are now," said Klick. "Just all the growing troubles with us being younger and that we couldn't work to our goal is kinda sad."

Entering the night, Roseville had 10 losses. Maple Grove had four.

"We had confidence and we believed in ourselves," said Peper. "We're ranked lower but that really doesn't mean anything at the end of the day. If we work harder and get to the basket, get the shots up then we're gonna win."

"I feel like people don't expect us but it's the second year in a row now," said Barnes. 

Roseville is back to the state tournament for the 10th time and second straight year.