Out & About: Apple Valley/Hill-Murray

#3 posting 2.21.2006

Apple Valley 77, Hill-Murray 75

Another game that is decided at the buzzer. Kale Johnson of Apple Valley scored on a lay up at the buzzer to get by Hill-Murray 77-75.

There were many tempting games out there tonight. The reason I chose this one was I had only seen these teams once and they both had high powered offenses according to the pp100 numbers. I wanted to see if they were true or if it was a one game fluke. I was not disappointed.

Right from the first possession when Cassie Hubler of AV dropped a three, one could tell that the game was going to be a high scoring affair. AV never trailed in the first half. AV jumped to a 9-2 lead scoring on 4/6 of their first possessions. HM went on their own run of 9-4 on the strength of four straight scoring possessions puncuated by a recurring theme throughout the night a beyond the arc bomb by Amy Storer to make it 13-11 AV. Storer had six 3s from beyond where an NBA 3 pt line would be. AV, like the see saw, had the next run of five straight possessions and 9-5 run to make it 24-16. HM put together another 5 possession run in the middle of AV's run. HM's sequence run was 12-5 (that was from the start of their 5 string) that cut the lead to 24-23. From that point to the end of the half AV's lead was between five and two. HM had the only drought in the first half with 0/5 string late in the half. AV led at half 43-38.

AV scored their first two possessions of the second half to push their lead to 47-38. Their lead maintained around 8-10 points during this segment. Their were no droughts in this half. HM had a 10-1 run to cut the lead to 60-59. Tara Dillon had five of the points. With the score 60-54, Dillon was fouled, made the first free throw, missed the second, but Natalie Holm was their to get the put back and HM trailed 60-57. Dillon scored to get the 60-59. At that point Christina Steele scored on three straight possession to bump the AV lead back to 66-59. Both HM and AV had strings of four, with HM's about one possession behind AV. Holm scored from the left block to tie the game for the first time at 68 with about four minutes to go. The game was also tied at 70, and 72 with AV always get to the number first. With 2:32 left Lauren Habisch of AV went to the line for free throws. She made the first, but missed the second. AV led at the time 75-72, but Christina Steele picked up her 5th foul. Holm missed her free throw. Time was now at 1:58. AV ran the clock down and Ries was fouled on a drive to the glass. However she missed both free throws. Holm grabbed the rebound. Again Storer dialed long, long distance to tie the score at 75. A quick turnover and HM worked the ball around. They called time at 9 seconds. AV called time after seeing the HM set. When the ball was thrown in Dillon was forced into a travel. AV had the ball now in their back court. Their first attempt to throw it in changed the side where they threw it in as Kelsey Pitlick knocked the ball out of bounds. This second chance got the ball in and Ries drove down the left side with a 2-1 advantage. On the right block was Kale Johnson and she made the lay up at the buzzer for a parent/senior night win for the hometown Apple Valley Eagles.

Height Matters: AV 5-9.2, HM 5-8.8
Department of defense: HM man, AV varied it up through the night with man; 2/3; 1/2/2; pressing with 1/2/2

player, points, possessions, pp100, floor %
Apple Valley Player Evaluations
Starters
Caitlin Ries 2, 6, 33.3, .167 point guard, quick, good decisions. RF: need to make free throws since she will be handling the ball quite a bit at crunch time.
Cassie Hubler 5, 7, 71.4, .286 steady player.
Deidra Dirth 9, 8, 112.5, .500 strong. took ball away from a strong Dillon at the free throw line. good shooter at the baseline corners. good rebounder. RF: post HS quickness.
Lauren Habisch 20, 17, 117.6, .647 another good shooter from the baseline corners. active on boards. filled in for Steele in the post. RF strength
Christina Steele 29, 21, 138.1, .667 domintating, no one could match her for size and strength tonight. defense played behind and she was open. When she got the ball three HM players were around her. She has a nice touch around the basket. Good rebounder, ball handling is all right on the open floor. RF: Fouls, decisions on defense.
Bench
Kale Johnson 9, 7, 128.6, .571 made the big shot. was in right spot most of the night. played within herself and didn't overtry. RF: strength
Shannon Thompson 3, 2, 150.0, .500

Hill-Murray Player Evaluations
Starters
Tara Dillon 25, 19, 131.6, .684 strong, competitive, aggressive. more comfortable inside. smart player. RF: size post HS
Amy Storer 20, 15, 133.3, .467 downtown scorer. We are talking jaw dropping distance. tough gritty. money shot. RF: didn't score in 2 pt land, and she had chances.
Abbie Braun 2, 6, 33.3, .167
Taylor Cross 4, 4, 100.0, .500 RF: foul problems
Natalie Holm 17, 14, 121.4, .643 nice interior moves to score. also can shoot outside. RF: vision issues--had players open in advantageous positions, but did not see. Defense in post.
Bench
Lauren Hanzalik 0, 1, 0.0, .000
Krista Kaput 5, 5, 100.0, .400
Courtney Gage 2, 3, 66.7, .333
Kelsey Pitlick no possessions
Trench Player: Christina Steele

BY THE NUMBERS
team, points, possessions, pp100, floor %
Apple Valley 77, 68, 113.2, .544
Hill-Murray 75, 67, 111.9, .493
Bench: AV 11, HM 7
Made Free Throws: HM 18, AV 9
made 3s: HM 7, AV 2

If you look at the pp100s and floor % the assumption would be "no defense." That would be wrong. Both defenses were active and intense. Both teams worked to get most of their points. There were missed block outs, there were a few steals and lay ups, but most of the action took place in the grind it out world of half court offense. The numbers I had on these teams did not lie. Both teams have some of the better offenses I've seen this year. If you look at floor % AV's efforts place them in third place for a game, and HM comes in #12. So for two teams in one game these two have the best two offensive efforts.
Even more telling is that both teams are in the top five in pp100 after this contest. AV is #3, HM #4. No doubt the best offensive efforts by two teams this year under the charts.

Tonight an old coaching buddy was in the house--Dan Maturen. When I first started coaching girls at Mpls South back in the 80's I had an open gym trying to get girls to come to the gym and get playing. No girls showed for two weeks, but Maturen did show up. Eventually girls did start to play traveling in Minneapolis under the City of Lakes banner. Now Minneapolis girls have a lot of opportunities and choices when they were younger compared to just park board as it was back in 1987. Maturen has been under the knife for his right knee. He is involved with coaching with the Mounds Park Junior High boys teams.

I am rather disappointed with the attendance of these games. Great players and great efforts, but only a handful in the crowd. There is more community spirit in the smaller towns. I don't know if it is the suburbs or if schools are charging too much or not promoting the event in the general public or within the building, but the entertainment value is high.