Out & About: North Dakota/St. Cloud State

#3 posting 1.21.2006

North Dakota 66, St. Cloud State 58
What was I doing at a college game? 1. Two undefeated teams...#2North Dakota vs #4 St. Cloud State. 2. A chance to see D2 players and compare what I have seen at the HS level...who can play there, what are the differences.
The differences, like every player that has gone on to college says when I talk to them after their first year, are faster, quicker, and more physical players, and game conditions. Al; the players I saw tonight are definitely stronger than what I have seen in HS this year. There are maybe one or two HS players that could fit in strength at the D2 level right now.
BY THE NUMBERS
team, points, possessions, pp100; scoring %
North Dakota 66, 74 , 89.2, .405
St. Cloud State 58, 74, 78.4, .351
Now comparing pace..The HS average pace is 66.32 possessions for each team per game. A game is 36 minutes in Minnesota. The pace in the this game was 74 possessions in 40 minutes. This breaks down to 1 possession for every 32.7 seconds in HS (16.35 per team), 1 possession every 32.4 seconds (16.2 per team). So college is faster slightly, and they have a shot clock.
The average HS scoring % is .399, and ND was slightly ahead of that mark at .405, but the defensive intensity is much higher.
Height Matters: St. Cloud State 5-10.2, North Dakota 5-9.2 (5-2 Amy Malum brings down the average a bit). These heights are comparable to the HS heights, and in some cases, on average are smaller.
I am not going to evaluate the players, but will show you how they performed
name, points, possessions, pp100, floor %
St. Cloud State
Starters
Erika Quigley, 26, 25, 104.0, .520
Sascha Hansen, 17, 23, 73.9, .348
Kayla Rengel, 6, 5, 120.0, .600
Shannon Francis, 5, 10, 50.0, .200
April Carlson, 2, 5, 40.0, .200
Bench
Krystal Scott, 2, 5, 40.0. .200
Briana Nance, 0, 1, 0.0, .000
Jackie Carlson 0, 1, 0.0, .000
North Dakota
Starters
Ashley Langen, 24, 17, 141.2, .706
Kristie Boese, 17, 22, 77.3, .364
Amy Mahlum, 1, 7, 14.3, .143
Carissa Jahner, 5, 7, 71.4, .429
Danye Guinn, 2, 4, 50.0, .250
Bench
Kierah Kimbrough, 6, 8, 75.0, .375
Kelsey Maffin, 9, 6, 150.0, .667 (scored two 3s, a regular 2, and one ft)
Karla Beck, 2, 2, 100.0, .500
Whitney Ledger, 0, 1, 0.0, .000

The big difference from HS is the focus on the paint. Langen and Quigley are both solid performers, but Langen was more effective than Quigley according to the numbers.
The bench was much stronger for North Dakota as they outscored St. Cloud 18-2.

Here is a quick take on the game. The first portion of the first half was fairly tight. St. Cloud State led most of the early stages, with ND's only lead at 11-10. There were tie scores at 7, 13, and 15. SCSU grabbed a 20-15 lead on a Quigley 3 then a score off an out of bounds play. But after that UND went on a 22-4 run to close out the half. UND led 37-24 at the half. SCSU went eight straight possessions without a score during the run and was 3/17 on possessions.

UND pushed their lead to 16 at 42-26 at the 15:27 mark. That was to be the high water mark for UND. SCSU strung together a run of four possessions on a 7-2 run to get the score to 48-39. They strung another five possessions on later in the half. At that point they tied the game up on a Francis three from the left side with 3:56 left in the game. But then UND converted on five straight possessions. With the score UND 62-56 Jahner went to the line and made one free throw. The second misfired and Langen rebounded, and Maffin was intentionally fouled. She made one and UND got the ball back. Later Boese was fouled and made one for three points and a 65-56 lead.

After the game it was nice to see one of my old AAU players and UND grad Becky Moen, and her parents Rich and Kathy. She was one of my first players that I researched and added to my team based on performance in HS. I picked her without seeing her play, just content analysis, and she delivered. We won the State AAU in 1997 against two future Miss Basketball players. She went on to have an outstanding HS career at Morris, and college career at North Dakota.