By JEREMY MILLSOP
Sports Writer

Tess Rahto had her face buried in a towel.

Brainerd head coach Carl Hendrickson knew the stats favored his third-seeded Warriors.

But it was junior Emilee Branum who had to deliver in Tuesday's Section 8-4A opening round.

Like a two-year veteran, Branum sank two free throws to give the third-seeded Warriors a 54-52 victory over the Moorhead Spuds.

"Actually, I had confidence that she was going to make them," said Rahto. "We've been practicing so much and I just knew deep down that she was going to make them. But I was nervous."

It was the third defeat of Moorhead this season, but the toughest as the Spuds erased Brainerd's six-point halftime lead by the 10:32 mark of the second half. From there it was a back-and-forth contest with seven lead changes and four ties.

With the game knotted at 52-52 and 12 seconds on the clock, Branum dribbled up the sideline off a missed free throw and was fouled. With Moorhead in the double bonus, the guard had two shots to give Brainerd the lead.

"As a head coach you look at the stats a lot," said Hendrickson. "Emilee and Alex (Sauer) and Kayla Kraemer are our three top free throw shooters. Kayla hit some big free throws in the last game. Alex has earlier in the season and tonight Emilee did."

The Warriors were 11-of-13 from the foul line, including 10-of-12 in the second half. Rahto made six of those free throws before fouling out with 55 seconds remaining. The senior finished with 11 points. Kraemer led all scorers with 16 points and Branum and Gretchen Kletscher each scored 10 for the 16-10 Warriors.

Brainerd shot just 37 percent for the field, but made clutch shots.

"We've been through a cycle where we didn't shoot the ball all very well," said Hendrickson. "Emilee wasn't shooting the ball very well, but now she's back on track. There's a lot of confidence involved in shooting and Emilee came through big. She countered a Moorhead 3-pointer with her own three late. Coming down the stretch when we needed free throws, we were able to knock them in."

Moorhead's second-half surge was ignited by its bench. Sophomore Maggie Gulsvig and junior Erica Henrickson combined for 20 second-half points. A Gulsvig jumper handed Moorhead its first lead of the game at 38-36. Moorhead shot 48 percent in the second half compared to 28 percent in the first half.

This despite six more shot attempts and five more free throw attempts in the first half.

"Our main topic at halftime was just rebound and box out," said Rahto. "They were getting way too many second-chance opportunities. Luckily, they didn't make them, but that was our main focus of the second half to rebound and box out better."

The victory sends Brainerd to St. Cloud State University where the Warriors will face No. 2 Buffalo. The Bison knocked off Brainerd 58-38 Jan. 16.

"As a team they wanted this win so bad," said Hendrickson. "Our goal was to get down to St. Cloud State. Coming down the stretch when we took a few timeouts and they took some that was the message in our huddle. We didn't diagram much up. It was just talking about what our goal was. The kids took it to heart."

Moorhead 22 30 - 52

Brainerd 28 26 - 54

MOORHEAD

Hilary Enns 6, Ashley Kassenborg 4, Maggie Gulsvig 12, Erica Henrickson 13, Alison Bruggeman 7, Miki Stephenson 10. FG 21-57 (37 percent), FT 5-9 (56 percent), Three-point baskets: 5-11 (Henrickson 3, Gulsvig 2).

BRAINERD

Alex Sauer 7, Kayla Kraemer 16, Emilee Branum 10, Tess Rahto 11, Gretchen Kletscher 10. FG 19-51 (37 percent), FT 11-13 (85 percent), Three-point baskets: 5-8 (Branum 2, Kraemer 2, Sauer).

JEREMY MILLSOP may be reached at jeremy.millsop@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5856.