The Chaska Hawks girls basketball team upset the top-seeded Eden Prairie Eagles with an overtime buzzer-beater jump shot by senior Ella Keenan at the March 3 sectionals with a final score of 66-64.
What a difference 71 days can make. On Dec. 20, the Hawks suffered a 31-point loss from the Eagles. The Eagles were previously the top seed in Section 2AAAA but Chaska will now advance to play at Minnetonka in the section finals on Thursday, March 6 at 7 p.m.
The Chaska team, which played one of the toughest schedules in all of Minnesota this season, made it clear early on: this would not be a repeat of the earlier game against Eden Prairie.
The Hawks and Eagles traded baskets and leads throughout the first half. The Hawks were paced by the outside shooting of Alexis Schaefer, Addi Schneider, Macy Anderson and Addison Perkins, who each hit three-pointers in the half, and the low post play of Keenan – playing her second straight game after missing a handful of games at the end of the regular season.
The senior-laden Eagles, with three Division I athletes in their starting lineup, showed why they’ve been ranked near the top of the state rankings all year and kept pace with a 35-34 lead at the half.
Chaska came out strong in the second half with a 7-0 scoring run led by senior Hanah Thul, with some tough low-post scoring along with exceptional defense and rebounding.
Eden Prairie, answered with a run of their own, eventually taking a six-point lead.
The Hawks would battle back behind Schneider, the junior guard who led the team in scoring this season. Schneider scored on a couple of key baskets, helping break a cold streak and eventually giving her team the lead once again.
In front of a raucous visiting Chaska crowd, who fiercely outnumbered Eden Prairie’s home fan base, the teams traded the lead a handful of times in the last two minutes.
Keenan, a team captain, would tie the game from the line with a few seconds left and the Hawks survived a missed three-pointer by the Eagles at the buzzer to go into overtime.
In overtime, the teams traded the lead before Schneider hit perhaps the biggest three-pointer of her life, putting the Hawks up two with under a minute remaining. Schneider once again led the Hawks in scoring with 22 points.
Eden Prairie tied the game on a driving bucket by Tori Schlagel, the Eagles all-time leading scorer, with 10 seconds to go.
Macy Anderson took the inbounds pass, passed it back to Schaefer, who fired a pass past a defender to Keenan in the paint, who turned around and took a short jump shot which banked in as the buzzer sounded to jubilation from the visiting Hawks.
The game winning sequence “was one of our regular plays—I wasn’t really expecting to be open, but Alexis made a great pass,” Keenan said. She was quick to share praise with her teammates for keeping their composure in an incredibly intense game.
“I was really proud of how our team played,” Keenan said. “I thought we stayed calm under pressure.”
Eden Prairie has twice upset Chaska on the Hawks’ court in the Section 2AAAA finals in 2020 and 2023 and ended the Hawks’ season with a lopsided win in 2024. For the players, coaches, families and fans of this year’s Hawks, it was sweet to return the favor to top-seeded Eden Prairie.
Chaska will take on the Minnetonka Skippers for the Section 2AAAA championship on Thursday. The Skippers are the defending state champions and beat the Hawks earlier in the season.
Thursday’s game begins at 7 p.m. Both teams expect big supporting crowds and are encouraging fans to arrive early.
