Hayfield drops Class A 3rd Place Game to Mayer Lutheran

(ABC 6 News) — A historic season for Hayfield girls basketball came to a conclusion short of expectations.

After suffering its first defeat of the season in the Class A semifinals, the Vikings fell to fourth place in a loss to Mayer Lutheran Saturday in Saint Paul.

Natalie Beaver led Hayfield with 15 points while Aine Stasko was second with five points. The Vikings had difficulty containing the Crusaders’ Emma Lade throughout the contest. Mayer Lutheran’s all-time leading scorer had 23 points as teammate Madeline Guetzkow added 16 to the stat sheet.

Following the game, Hayfield head coach Kasey Krekling attributed his team’s troubles to the fact the team had played its third game in as many days.

"We were definitely a step slow playing three straight days, an early morning game," Krekling noted. "Definitely could see the fatigue setting in. We couldn’t really do our press that we were used to, we were slow in that."

But as disappointing as the loss was for the Vikings, Krekling has nothing but pride for his team going undefeated in the regular season.

"Well, these girls were amazing all year, they answered the call night in and night out. Earned that trip to State for the first time for Hayfield girls since 2008. When they get over this loss — which I’m sure will sting for a little bit cause they wanted to end with a win — they’ll look back on it and realize they did a lot of great things this year."

Going into next season, there’s optimism to be had for Hayfield, as only three seniors are graduating this year. The large majority will return in the fall, allowing another chance for Hayfield to climb the basketball mountain.