Beating Rosemount at Rosemount in the Section 3AAAA finals proved too high a mountain for the Park Wolfpack to climb Thursday.

The 10th-ranked Irish were just better at both ends if the court Thursday, winning 52-30 to advance to the MSHSL girls state basketball tournament.

Park head coach Stephanie Tolkinen was quick to remind her disappointed players just how far the Wolfpack had come this season.

“I’m just so proud of our kids,” Tolkinen said. “It’s been eight years since we brought a trophy back to Park. And In feel we played above expectations this year, within our section and within our conference. We’ve got some very talented kids, some super hard-working kids and I’m really just proud of all of them.”

This year’s third-seeded Park team finished 17-12. Park was 5-14 last season. 6-21 in 2019-20 and 1-26 the year before. Park’s wins were the most since the Riley Perryman-Delany Young-led Wolfpack went 18-8 in the 2017-18 season. The Wolfpack also knocked off state tournament teams Roseville and White Bear Lake during the regular season this winter.

“Our seniors have been through it and it’s amazing to get this (section) runner- up,” said Elsa Olson, one of four seniors on the squad.

This year’s veterans in particular – seniors Olson and Justine Jameson, along with juniors Tori Henderson, Bryleigh Dana and Emma Ambroz – deserve much credit from hanging in there during the lean years and finally getting rewarded. The addition of standout point guard Sydnee Nelson obviously made Park a much better team this season.

“They trusted the process. They were leaders when we needed them to be leaders, to lead these younger kids and to believe in what we’re coaching them and what we’re teaching them,” said Tolkinen.

Top-seeded Rosemount (24-5) romped through the section schedule, hammering Apple Valley by 41 in the quarterfinals, crushing Bloomington Jefferson by 38 in the semifinals and then the 22-point win over Park. Rosemount has won 12 straight and 23 of 24 games after starting the season just 1-4. The Irish’s regular-season winning streak started with a win over the Wolfpack.

In the end, however. It was one win short for a Park team which has never qualified for the MSHSL girls state basketball tournament.

In the regular-0season meeting between the two team, the Wolfpack gave Rosemount a battle at Cottage Grove on Dec. 18, falling 51-45. Nicole O’Neil and Alexa Ratzlaff combined for 37 of their team’s 51 points in that contest. Park led that game 26-22 at the half before Rosemount rallied for the win.

O’Neil and Ratzlaff again combined to do it Park Thursday, with Ratzlaff scoring 21 and O’Neil 13.

“I think we didn’t come out how we usually play,” said Jameson. “I think we could have played better.”

“They were just up in our face, pressure defense and the gym was very loud and hard to hear each other but they did their job and they stopped us offensively,” said Olson. “They slowed us down for sure.”

Playing at home Thursday, Rosemount jumped out to a 14-2 lead and was really in control the entire game. Rosemount led 26-14 at the half and Park never got closer than a dozen points in the second half. Part of the problem for Park was that the Irish forced the Wolfpack into mostly outside jumpers, while Rosemount players consistently were able to get in the paint for close-in shots.

“Their intensity and their energy was just forcing us to play – we couldn’t get comfortable ,” said Tolkinen. “We couldn’t get into anything we wanted to do, which was kind of out of character for us. It just seemed like we were struggling to get into any type of offense, anything, really.

“It was everything we expected,” Tolkinen added. “It’s just sometimes it comes down to a little bit more experience versus less experience in the big game like this I think. But their intensity just really threw us off. They just came out on both ends just attacking, just executing and we were about a half step slow.”

Tori Henderson drained three threes for the Wolfpack and led Park in scoring with 9 points. Leading scorer Jameson never seemed to get an official’s call to go her way and wound up with just 5 points. Third-leading scorer Nelson was held to just three points.

NOTES: Suburban East Conference teams Roseville and White Bear Lake both made the girls state basketball tournament, winning section championships. Roseville defeated Maple Grove 60-50 in the Section 5AAAA Championship, while White Bear Lake upset Stillwater in the Section 4AAAA title game 63-57. Park defeated both White Bear Lake (49-47) and Roseville (55-52) this season.

Park junior point guard Sydnee Nelson tries to turn the corner against the Rosemount defense Thursday in the Section 3AAA finals.Photo by John Molene