State field continues to whittle down

The Minnesota State Girls Basketball Tournament field was whittled to the final two in both Class AAA and AAAA brackets with champions to be decided on Saturday at Target Center in downtown Minneapolis. While the final duo in Class AAA are a bit of a surprise, the favorites survived to make the final two in Class AAAA, with championship contests to be held at 6 and 8 p.m., respectively. The Class AAA title matchup features a pair of upstarts as fourth-seeded Minneapolis North takes on unseeded St. Michael-Albertville for all the marbles. North stunned No. 1 seed New Prague in the semifinals, 44-43, while STMA took down No. 2 seeded — and defending State champion — Totino-Grace, 63-60, one day after dropping No. 4 seed Minnehaha Academy, 42-29. In Class AAAA, No. 1 seed Minneapolis South will take on second seed Centennial after both teams passed their respective semifinal tests against Eastview and Eden Prairie. The Tigers downed the Lightning, 58-54, while the Cougars overcame the Eagles, 65-56. In Class A, New Life Academy of Woodbury had its state tourney run cut short by Cedar Mountain/Comfrey as the Cougars upended the Eagles, 49-40, at Williams Arena on the University of Minnesota campus.