MINNEAPOLIS — For what it’s worth, Mayer Lutheran head coach Kris Gustin said his Crusaders did exactly what he wanted: Pack the lane, pester Brielle Janssen and force MACCRAY to take lots of 3-point shots.

It wasn’t enough and the Wolverines have another upset in their surprising post-season run.

Seventh-seeded MACCRAY knocked off No. 2 Mayer Lutheran 55-51 in the state Class A quarterfinals Thursday at Maturi Pavilion.

The Wolverines (24-5) advance to the state semifinals at 2 p.m. Friday at Williams Arena. MACCRAY plays No. 3 Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s (30-2). St. Mary’s beat No. 6 East Grand Forks (26-5) 65-61 in overtime.

The Wolverines played well down the stretch and didn’t get rattled when the Crusaders took a 48-47 lead with 3:55 to go. It was their first lead since the first minute of the game, when Mayer Lutheran led 2-1.

“We said their girls will have to make shots,” Gustin said. “No. 2 stepped up and made some threes.”

David Forster / Special to the West Central Tribune

No. 2 is Samantha Hultgren. She finished with 14 points, including four 3-pointers, three in the second half. Ella Hultgren and Nora Hultgren also each hit second-half 3-pointers. All seemed huge for the Wolverines, who made 9 of 25 3-point attempts, 36%. MACCRAY was 5-for-10 in the second half from 3-point range.

And for the record, that’s three of the four Hultgrens in the program.

“Ella and Sam are sisters,” said MACCRAY head coach Shaun Condon, who was an eighth-grader at MACCRAY the last time the Wolverines were in the state tournament in 2006. “Nora and Ruby are sisters. They’re first cousins. Their dads are brothers.”

“It’s a family affair,” said MACCRAY senior Callie Jaenisch, whose sister Maggie is also on the team.”

David Forster / Special to the West Central Tribune

All involved helped take some of the load off Janssen, the 6-foot-1 junior guard/forward and Minnesota State-Mankato commit who again was the focus of an opponent’s defense. The Crusaders hounded her, usually from the moment she touched the ball and usually forcing her to her left.

“It’s definitely a struggle at times,” said Janssen, who had 27 points,14 rebounds, six assists and two blocked shots. “But it’s gotten easier.”

She really meant to say she’s gotten used to the added attention as the resident superstar from the towns of Maynard, Clara City and Raymond, who were in Minneapolis full-force Thursday. “I don’t think anybody was left (back home),” Condon said.

“It was loud,” Gustin said.

David Forster / Special to the West Central Tribune

And, Janssen said she’s confident in her teammates, who have helped lessen Janssen’s burden by hitting big shots, playing defense and getting key rebounds. All were factors Thursday.

Condon said playing defense well has been the key to their post-season run. But, he noted, it also means getting the rebound after playing their sturdy zone. They out-rebounded Mayer Lutheran 36-34, with Emma Thein yanking down 11 hard-earned rebounds in the constant scrum underneath the basket.

After they briefly lost their lead, the Wolverines regained it on a 3-pointer by Sam Hultgren with 2:15 to play. The key blow down the stretch was a sequence where Janssen blocked a shot, got the rebound and then drove the lane to score to make it 54-51 MACCRAY with 1:15 to play. Mayer Lutheran couldn’t make a shot from there and MACCRAY had another surprising victory.

David Forster / Special to the West Central Tribune

The Wolverines were the second seed in Section 3A. Condon was the only coach of the eight teams in the Class A state tournament to not seed his squad in the top five.

“There are a lot of good teams here,” Condon explained.

David Forster / Special to the West Central Tribune

MACCRAY led 29-26 at halftime.

In the first half, Mayer Lutheran led 1-0 and 2-1 early. MACCRAY was ahead the rest of the first 18 minutes, building its lead to as much as seven three times: 12-5, 18-11 and 19-12. The Crusaders got as close as 21-20 after a traditional 3-point play by Avery Arvig. But the Wolverines hung on to their lead.

In other Class A games Thursday, top-seeded Goodhue (25-5) beat No. 8 Walker-Hackensack-Akeley (25-4) 76-47 and No. 4 West Central Area (25-6) topped No. 5 Cromwell-Wright (25-5) 61-54. West Central plays Goodhue at noon Friday at Williams Arena.