By Michael Lyne / West Central Tribune

The West Central Area girls basketball team has accomplished something no other Knights’ programs have been able to: win a state title.

WCA thumped MACCRAY, 58-41, in the matinee Class A state championship on Saturday before a boisterous crowd at Williams Arena. The state title is Knights’ first in two appearances, the previous coming in 2021.

“It’s huge,” WCA’s Addison Staples said. “This is the first time we’ve ever (won a state championship) at our school. It’s just really exciting for us.”

The Knights (27-6) entered the Class A state tournament with the most losses among the eight teams in the field. WCA’s six losses came against Sauk Centre and Minnewaska twice each, along with New London-Spicer and Breckenridge. Sauk Centre and Minnewaska both played in the Class AA state tournament.

“It’s a representation of the teams we play,” Knights’ Mya Foslien said. “We’re almost in debt to these teams for making us better, and being in this hard (West Central Conference); that’s really pushed us.”

All four WCA players who attended Saturday’s postgame press conference — Foslien, Staples and seniors Macy Grosz and Jayden Styba — were named to the Class A All-Tournament team. All agreed that winning a state didn’t seem realistic until Knights third-year head coach Becca Holland mentioned it during a film session.

“She said, ‘We can make it to state.’ And we all look at each other like, ‘You’re so funny; you’re hilarious,’ ” WCA senior Macy Grosz said. “And here we are. During sections, we believed in ourselves.”

The Knights, who were the two seed in Section 6A, upset top-seeded Breckenridge in the sub-section final before beating No. 2 Underwood in the Section 6A championship to earn their state berth.

But, that’s not the only upsetting WCA did.

The Knights knocked off top-seeded Goodhue, the defending Class A state champions, in the state semifinals before shooting 44.6% from the field to top seventh-seeded MACCRAY.

WCA also made state history as the first four seed to win a championship.

“That banner is going to be on the (gym) wall forever as the first (Knights) team to win a state championship, which is huge,” Holland said. “They won’t even know the effects of it until they’re 40, 50 years old and they have family members that come to the school and they can be like: ‘I was on that team that did that.’ I don’t think it’s really going to set in for them for a while and it hasn’t for me, either.”

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