Out & About: Rockford/Zimmerman

#3 Posting 1.30.2006

Rockford 76, Zimmerman 73
This was a match up between two AA teams from the exurbs of Minneapolis: Zimmerman, a third year school in the Elk River district in the north; and Rockford, a state tournament entrant last season, from the west.
There was no "trying to get in synch" as both teams found the bottom of the net early and often as opposed to what I have been seeing lately. Right from the tip, Ann Schmitz of Rockford stole the ball from Kara Norris drove down and was fouled. She scored the first points at the line with five seconds gone. Zimmerman answered right back with Ashley Schleper. And so it went for the whole game. There were periods of inactivity due to turnovers, usually passes that were forced or too long. Zimmerman scored the first four times they had the ball in a half court situation. They worked it inside and Norris scored 8 of their first ten points. Zimmerman held leads of four (10-6) and then Rockford tied it at 10. Zimmerman's Schleper dropped two 3s as they pushed the lead to 20-14. Z pushed it out to 33-23 as they scored on six straight possessions. The inside game of Norris, and Kari along with a Schleper bomb and flash cut helped in that flury. Then both teams went into a hibernation phase as Z was 0/5, and R was 0/4 on their possessions. Rockford snapped out of the doldrums quicker with 6 straight scoring possessions with Schmitz scoring 10 points from the 3 line, an old fashioned three point play, a drive and two at the line. That 10 point lead lasted as long as the ice sculptures in the St. Paul Winter Carnival as Rockford went on a 14-5 run. Rikki Skafte hit an elbow shot for the Rockford lead of 39-38. Schmitz hit another 3 from the left side for the final half time lead 42-38. Zimmerman went the last 8 possessions without scoring. Part of that was due to Norris' foul problems. Part of it was due to the 2/3 zone that silenced the Thunder.

Rockford kept up the pace in the second half as they went on an 8-0 run to open the half. Rockford held it's biggest lead at 50-38. It took Zimmerman until it's 8th possession before they scored. So if we look at both the end of the first half and the beginning of the second half Rockford outscored Zimmerman 27-5 with Zimmerman's floor production 2/23 or an extremely frigid .087. Then Zimmerman came back to life. Leading the charge was Tessa Butau off the bench with a 3 from the left side. With that spark Zimmerman Thundered back and went on a 25-12 run. Butau contributed 13 of those points with three 3s, and she hit the shot that gave Zimmerman the lead 63-62.

Schmitz tied the game back up with a free throw. Norris scored twice on post ups to give Zimmerman a 67-63 lead with 4:56 left. Schmitz scored for Rockford, but then Downing cashed in a 3 to give Z the lead 70-65. Schmitz was fouled and made the first free throw, and rebounded the miss on the second shot. Eventually she was fouled again and it was 70-67 Z. Schleper missed a 3, and Schmitz scored on a missed shot by Ungerecht 70-69 Z. Katilyn Houser made the first free throw and Rockford's Ungerecht scored to tie it a 71 with 2:12 to go. Both teams then had scoring droughts thanks to turnovers. Z had 3 straight possessions with the last at 0:59 an offensive foul on a screen. Rockford on that next possession added one to their total with a Schmitz free throw. Schleper came down drove down the left side of the lane to give the lead back to the Thunder 73-72 0:35 left. Schmitz answered with another basket with 11 seconds left. Houser tried to throw a pass that was too long and it was intercepted by Ungerecht. In the ensuing seconds the ball was knocked out of bounds with one second left. And Schmitz added an exclamation point to her performance as she snuck behind the defense for another chip shot in the 76-73 win.

Height Matters: Zimmerman 5-9, Rockford 5-8.8
Department of defense: both teams pressed early. Rockford went from man, to 2/3 back to man at the end. Zimmerman played both. I would not characterize either team a brick wall on defense. I think the offensive decision making and ball handling for both teams needs to improve. Both teams benefited defensively by getting rid of the press. Too many layups for the other team and not enough turnovers made it ineffective. If the goal was to increase tempo then it worked.
player, points, possession, pp100, floor %
Rockford player evaluations
Starters
Ann Schmitz 37, 23, 160.9, .783 since I have been charting these games on an individual basis (since J13) Schmitz has the highest pp100 total by 10.9 and her floor % is now the leader (for those with more than 10 possessions) by 69 points. Tied a career high set on J19 vs Kimball. Schmitz is a heady player, aggressive as was demonstrated by her opening tip steal. She scored in almost every conceivable way, but did quite a bit of damage in the paint. She made 13 free throws so is knows how to get to the line. Can drive and dish. RF: she may not be able to score in the paint against bigger kids post HS. strength training will be good and useful.
Ashley Anderson 8, 10, 80.0, .400 point guard, RF: strength, ball handling, stronger decisions
Ashley Coen 3, 14, 21.4, .071 athletic RF: ball control/handling. Shooting skills need improving
Kelly Ungerecht 14, 13, 107.7, .462 inside factor. decent frame, decent hands. RF: size post HS for position. defensive issues
Annie Lincoln 10, 9, 111.1, .556 inside presence. worked offense boards. RF: strength. More consistent on defense. Passing needs improvement
Bench
Michelle Nichols 2, 4, 50.0, .250 lefty,RF: tried to avoid contact as she was fouled.
Rikki Skafte 2, 2, 100.0, .500

Zimmerman player evaluations
Starters
Kara Norris 23, 16, 143.8, .750 Strong frame, good hands, good post moves, turn and shoot from blocks. RF: foul problems cost team as she sat when she was dominating. Height may be an issue post HS for position.
Ashley Schleper 20, 20, 100.0, .400 big kid on perimeter. Hot from the outside with four 3s in the first half. RF: cooled off in the second half, no 3s. Ball handling needs improvement. speed work if perimeter player post hs
Kaitlyn Houser 8, 10, 80.0, .400 point guard. RF: needs to be stronger with the ball. Needs to shorten passes. Forces things that are not there. Needs to keep head up during pressure situations.
Tiffany Schmitcke 0, 2, 0.0, .000 RF: make a reason to stay on the floor
Hannah Downing 3, 10, 30.0, .100 RF: needs to be stronger with ball and strong in body. needs to take game to the other team.
Bench
Amanda Kari 6, 8, 75.0, .375 another player with a decent frame. scored off rebounding, posting. RF: key offensive foul on a blocking call hurt team.
Lisa Swanson 0, 3, 0.0, .000
Tess Butau 13, 7, 185.7, .714 sparked comeback. Has range with three 3s. effective and efficient. RF: didn't play the first half.
Trench player: Ann Schmitz from start to finish.

BY THE NUMBERS
team, points, possessions, pp100, scoring%
Rockford 76, 75, 101.3, .480
Zimmerman 73, 76, 96.1, .434
Free throw made: Rockford 17, Zimmerman 2
Bench: Zimmerman 19, Rockford 4

DEFINITIONS
Possessions=the end result is measured. Only four things can happen. Either the player scores or misses a FG or FT, or turns it over. Sally may shoot and miss, but if her team rebounds it does not count as a possession for her. Only the termination of possession matters in this system.

PP100=What a player would average if they had 100 possessions. 1 point for 1 possessions would get a player 100.0. In theory a player could shoot once and hit a three. They would then have a pp100 rating of 300.0. That is why one should look at possessions and not get flamfoozeled by a high pp100 rating. A low pp100 means the player misses too many shots or coughs it up too much.

Floor/scoring %=a player (or team's) scoring possessions divided by total possessions.

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