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C-I girls team runs out of time Basketball team forfeits playoffs Sports Writer That's why they play the game.
The sports clichˇ refers to any team being able to beat any opponent no matter the odds.
But the Crosby-Ironton Rangers girls' basketball team confronted insurmountable odds Thursday. At 3 p.m., the team was forced to forfeit its opening-round game in the West Subsection 7, Class 2A playoffs against fourth-seeded Blackduck because of a teachers' strike that reached 17 days Thursday.
The forfeit ends the team's season. For three senior co-captains, it also ends their prep careers.
"I'm very angry," said senior forward Angel Adams. "I'm not happy with this whole situation. I can't point a finger at one person, but mostly the whole situation. This is devastating."
The girls were prepared to travel to Blackduck if the strike ended. The team was originally given a deadline of 9:30 a.m. Tuesday to inform the section if they were going to play. The Minnesota State High School League moved the deadline to 3 p.m. Thursday.
When the 3 p.m. deadline passed, the C-I administration and teachers' union were still in mediation.
"The state high school league told us we needed to have a deadline of 3 p.m. to give the referees enough time to get to Blackduck," said junior center Chelsea Lundgren. "This stinks. I feel awful for the seniors and it also stinks for our team. We don't even get a chance to defend our title."
The Rangers won the Section 7 title after defeating Pequot Lakes at Brainerd High School March 12, 2004. The team was surrounded by chants of "Go C-I Go." Almost a year later, the girls have nowhere to go.
"We more or less knew this was going to happen and it just came," said junior guard Maggie Sandberg. "I kind of expected it and we were just trying to avoid it as much as possible."
The news ends a flurry of activity created by the girls' team to get the strike resolved before the deadline.
"I think what I've learned through all of this is that grown ups don't handle things as grown ups," said a tearful Adams. "It takes people our age, it took our basketball team to get this going. Before we stepped in the sides weren't even talking. We were on the phone constantly talking to whoever would listen."
The team was together when the deadline passed. Through the entire strike they practiced at Central Lakes College and worked out together at the Hallett Community Center in case the strike ended.
"We were all wondering this whole time and I guess it's good now that we know," said senior guard Angie Gaviglio. "I didn't want it to be this way. We're just all kind of sitting here and we don't know what to do or what to say.
"It's good we stuck together as a team. It showed our loyalties as a team. Sometimes there are things that happen that you can't help. You just have to go with it. We'll all be OK. It's really hard right now, but we're all sticking together."
The season ends with two goals unfulfilled. C-I wanted to become the first C-I girls' team to reach 20 wins in a season. Before the strike, C-I was 14-6 with five regular-season games and playoffs remaining.
The second goal was to reach the Class 2A state tournament again. The team obtained that feat for the first time last year.
"Beating top-ranked Pequot was one of the things we talked about," said Sandberg. "Now we're not going to get a chance. It's really hard right now. There are a lot of emotions. We're all sitting here in a room and we're all staring at each other because we don't know what to do."
The last 17 days and the days leading up to the strike have worn on the girls.
"It's been very stressful because it has been so up and down," Lundgren said. "One moment we're happy because we heard good news. Then the next hour we're sad again because we hear more bad news. Then they push the deadline back and we're happy again. Now we get the final outcome and we're down again.
"It makes me think next year, during my senior season, I can't take anything for granted and play each game as if it were my last game because it might be."
For seniors Adams, and Angie and Becca Gaviglio, there is no next year. They can only wonder what would have happened if they played the game.
JEREMY MILLSOP can be reached at jeremy.millsop@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5856.
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