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ST. PETER - One tremendous first half and precision free throw shooting helped Granada-Huntley-East Chain avenge a playoff defeat from last season.

The No. 2-seeded Mustangs used a 14-point first-half lead and 18 of 26 shooting at the free throw line to score a 44-32 win over the No. 1-seeded Martin Luther Knights during the Section 2A, South Sub-Section final Monday night at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter.

Granada-Huntley-East Chain (17-8) plays Buffalo Lake-Hector - a 48-45 winner in overtime over No. 1-seeded Cedar Mountain/ Comfrey - for the section title at 6 p.m. Friday at Minnesota State University in Mankato.

Martin Luther ended its season at 22-5.

The Knights defeated the Mustangs during this year's regular-season contest and downed GHEC in last season's sub-section final.

"We got the ball inside on them and got them in foul trouble," said Mustang head coach Rick Uttech.

The Mustang defense allowed only three field goals to the Knights in the first half, the final two with under 1:35 left as the visitors on the scoreboard went ahead by as many as 14 with 2:45 to play in the first half.

"We just couldn't knock down (shots) from the outside. ... You're not going to win too many games behind by that much," said Knight head coach Jodi Geistfeld.

Steph Stensland led the way for GHEC in the first half with 10 points. Stensland finished with a game-best 22 points to go with five rebounds.

"Steph (Stensland) was hot and Alyssa (Cegelske) improved her game on the block since the last time we played them," said Geistfeld.

Martin Luther's power tandem of Aly Bremer and Haley Geistfeld were held to a combined 14 points before both fouling out of the contest.

"We had to stop Geistfeld and Bremer. We figured the others would get some (points), but we figured they were the key," said Uttech.

The Knights cut their deficit to 10 points late in the first half via a 3-point play from Bremer with 8.3 seconds left, prior to Bremer going glass with 1:35 left, making Martin Luther's deficit 20-10 at the half.

Those circumstances did not hold true, however, as the Knights began their comeback.

Another traditional 3-point play by Bremer in the first two minutes, was followed by a Haley Geistfeld steal and layup at 15:45, leaving the Mustangs ahead 20-15.

However, a Stensland trey from the corner at 14:50 gave GHEC a 25-15 lead, but the Knights refused to go away quietly.

Bethany Flohrs took a Bremer kickout pass on the right wing and sank a triple at 13:45, before Steph Senne converted on a trey from the corner at 12:50, reducing the deficit to 26-21. After each team called a timeout, Senne kept the hot hand by blasting away from the corner again at 11:15, cutting the deficit to 26-24.

Flohrs then sank another 3 from the right wing to knot the game at 27-27 at 9:40, but the Mustangs decided to not allow the Knights to claim the advantage for good as GHEC's ensuing 9-0 run sealed the contest.

And the Mustangs did it via the same longball method as Stensland converted from the corner at 7:00, before Becky Petrowiak's top-of-the-key 3 at 5:15 put GHEC ahead 33-27.

Ashlynn Cegelske then hit one free throw, before Alyssa Cegelske sank two more for a 36-27 lead and Stensland hit 6 of 6 at the line down the stretch for the 44-32 final.

Becky Petrowiak finished with eight points and eight rebounds, while Alyssa Cegelske grabbed 11 boards and scored eight points. Ashlynn Cegelske scored five points and grabbed eight caroms for the Mustangs.

Senne led the Knights with 11 points, three steals and three rebounds, while Bremer scored nine points to go along with seven rebounds.

Haley Geistfeld contributed five points, six rebounds and three steals for Martin Luther, while Flohrs scored seven.