Making their first trip to the state tournament since 2020 Thursday afternoon, the No. 5 Cromwell-Wright girls basketball team fell to No. 4 West Central Area 61-54 in the Class A quarterfinals at Maturi Pavilion in Minneapolis.

For Cardinals’ head coach Jeff Gronner, it was a special moment to bring Cromwell-Wright back to state. They won the 2020 Class A quarterfinals, but the tournament was cancelled before they could tipoff the semifinals due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“I finally got to wear this outfit, I bought this outfit new. I was going to wear it on TV and I had it on that day and then it got called,” Gronner said about the March 13, 2020 shutdown. This 2025 tournament he finally sported his blue dress shirt and tan dress pants. “It’s fun to be able to know that we have a full tournament.”

The Cardinals kept it close with the Knights, with only a four point deficit at halftime with Cromwell-Wright trailing 24-20. However, despite tying the game 50-50 with just under three minutes to go, West Central Area’s strong defense pulled out the 61-54 win.

“It was fun to be down here and play. It was a frustrating game but it was worth it to just be down here honestly,” senior forward Isabella Anderson said.

The Cardinals’ Remington Olesiak led the game with 19 points, while Isabella Anderson tallied 12, and Bryanna Foster added 11.

“Well, we were super happy that we got down here and even though we lost, we still got down here so we’re not too down about it. We’re excited to be able to play tomorrow again,” senior guard Siiena Anderson said.

Cromwell-Wright (25-5) now heads to the consolation semifinals where they’ll take on Walker-Hackensack-Akeley Friday at 10 a.m. at the Gangelhoff Center. For the full Class A bracket, click here.