The BSM girls’ basketball team won the 2025 Class AAA State Championship on Saturday, Mar. 15, 2025, defeating the Marshall Tigers 73 – 57 at Williams Arena on the University of Minnesota campus. The championship is Benilde-St. Margaret Red Knight’s third in a row, becoming only the sixth basketball team in MSHSL history to win three consecutive state titles. This is also the girls’ fifth state title in school history.
“We went through a lot of adversity this year and had a lot of things to fix, but we all had one goal as a team,” said coach Tim Ellefson, adding, “It was all about making it here.”
The Red Knights finished as Section 6AAA Champions with a regular season record of 26-6. The State title game was hard fought with four Red Knights in double figures, led by Kendall McGee ‘25 with 17 points.
BSM took a seven point lead midway through the first half, and led by six at the half. In the second half, it was all BSM, taking a commanding 20 point lead with seven minutes to play.
BSM’s tight defense led to a series of turnovers throughout the game, with Sidney Friedly ‘25 and McGee making three point shots when it counted the most. For McGee, the game concludes a high school career that saw her sitting out her junior year because of injuries.
“This means everything to me,” said McGee, “I’ve been waiting a really long time to get back here and have the opportunity to be on this court with my team. These girls are my family, my sisters.”
Throughout the season, the team supported one another, becoming a stronger unit on both sides of the ball. “We had one of the toughest schedules of any class this year,” said Ellefson. “We were tested all year long, but all of that got us ready.”
The win also caps a 12-game winning streak to finish the season with another State title.
At the conclusion of the game, Zahara Bishop ’25, Pressley Watkins ’27, Sydney Friedly ‘25, and Kendall McGee ’25 were named to the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) All-Tournament Team.
In the 2025 MSHSL Girls Basketball State Tournament, the Red Knights defeated Stewartville in the Quarterfinals game, and then beat Alexandria in the Semifinals game.
The Benilde-St. Margaret’s community is BSM proud of our student athletes on this latest girls’ basketball championship.
