Out & About: Monticello/St. Cloud Apollo

#4 posting 2.13.2006

Monticello 60, St. Cloud Apollo 57

Tonight I traveled to St. Cloud to see a matchup between the Central Lakes and Mississippi 8. I saw Monticello back in December, but that was before the current structure of evaluations based on Dean Oliver's Basketball on paper. It is almost like ancient history. This game trended Monticello, but SCA kept everyone in their seat with some heroics, but it was not enough.

Monticello scored on their first possession as Nellie Swanson scored inside. SCA only lead of the night occurred at 3-2 after a Kelsey Van Ackeren made a free throw. Shari Laugen returned the lead to Monticello with a shot from the left side. They would hold that lead, and a couple of times share it, for the rest of the night. Monticello in general was more patient working for the decent shot against the zone. Monticello had 12 points off second chance points in the first half, and six off of turn overs. Monticello was up 27-23 at half, and only 9 points came off their initial half court offense. SCA had 7 second chance points, but no steal/transition points. Leading SCA in the first half was Kelsey Van Ackeren with 12 points.

SCA started the second half off with a Van Ackeren drive to cut the lead to 27-25. After a Niklaus basket to push the lead back to four, SCA struck with the first of five second half 3s. Amanda Welle knocked one down from topside left to make the score 29-28 Monticello. Shari Laugen answered with her own 3 32-28. After two no scoring possessions by each team, Andrea Hagberg knocked another 3 down for SCA 32-31. It was nip and tuck but SCA tied it up as Van Ackeren did her Payton Manning imitation and hit a streaking Welle for a touchdown lay up as Monticello was pressing to tie it at 35. Monticello then went on a 9-2 run, six on second chance points. Monticello pushed it out to 51-43. Van Ackeren scored twice to cut it to 51-47, but Zaruba cashed in a put back 53-47. Then Van Ackeren picked up her 5th foul on a charge. Monticello took advantage and pushed the lead to 57-47 with 2:37 left. But Apollo refused to go down quietly. They went on a 10-0 run with 3s by Britta Hagberg (twice), and Welle, who tied it at 57. What was Monticello doing during this run? First Zaruba picked up her 5th foul. Second Monticello missed the front ends of one and ones three straight possessions. After Welle tied it at 57 with 23 seconds to go Monticello took a time out to sooth that rattled nerves of their team. They were sent to the line again, but this time Lauren Boleen converted to push the lead to 59-57. On SCA's next possession Britta Hagberg threw the ball out of bounds. Kristy Niklaus went to the line again. She missed the front end as she did twice before. This time they were in the double bonus and she made the second 60-57. SCA had one last gasp and Andrea Hagberg's 3 shot was wide and Monticello escaped with a win.

Height matters: SCA 5-9, Monticello 5-7.8
Department of Defense: SCA 2/3, man late. Monticello man, some full court pressing

player, points, possessions, floor %
Monticello Player Evaluations
Starters
Kristy Niklaus 10, 11, 90.9, .455 decent speed, decent shot. RF: need to make free throws in crunch time.
Shari Laugen 15, 12, 125.0, .500 main ball handler, hit big 3s. picked up steals. RF: size matters
Amanda Reh 7, 11, 63.6, .364 RF: decisions, consistency
Jill Zaruba 15, 15, 100.0, .533 The last time I watched Monticello Zaruba only had four points, so it was nice to see her teammates knew who she was. Her strength tonight was board work. She missed some of her initial shots, but she was much more active on the offensive boards. She also dominated the defensive boards. RF: Needs to convert on initial shot, especially as she outsizes the opposition. Stay away from fouls
Nellie Swanson 4, 7, 57.1, .286 RF: need to convert offensively
Bench
Lauren Boleen 6, 4, 150.0, 1.000 clutch free throws. converted all chances. Good position. RF: size post HS
Melody Olson 0, 1, 0.0, .000
Maggie Fedor 3, 8, 37.5, .250
Kayla Hiltner 0, 1, 0.0, .000
#12 0, 1, 0.0, .000

St. Cloud Apollo Player Evaluations
If you look at the floor % the best is Van Ackeren at .423. A big reason for the low numbers was the turnover bug.
Starters
Andrea Hagberg 8, 13, 61.5, .308 lefty, looks to shoot outside, active. RF: passing/decisions
Jane Feichtinger 2, 3, 66.7, .333 thin inside presence. RF: not used much on offense. Needs to get strength, weight
Britta Hagberg 16, 20, 80.0, .350 made some clutch shots in the last 1:30. RF: it took a long time to get her shooting eye straightened out. Too many clangers in the first half.
Kesley Van Ackeren 22, 26, 84.6, .423 strong, active, powerful, no fear (she challenged Zaruba). Scored from behind the arc, on drives, on post ups. point guard with strength. worked the boards hard. I liked her energy, but: RF: needs to quick fouling. needs better body control. also better decisions.
Amanda Welle 8, 8, 100.0, .375 came to life in the second half. popped some 3s including game tying. RF: invisible the first half.
Bench
Whitney Weirens 0, 1, 0.0, .000
Katie Jacobson 0, 0, 0.0, .000 scrappy, on the floor, working for board position. RF: no offense. no height
Alyssa Kremer 0, 0, 0.0, .000 designated fouler late in the contest.
Trench Player: Zaruba a force in the middle

BY THE NUMBERS
team, points, possessions, pp100, floor %
Monticello 60, 71, 84.5, .437
St. Cloud Apollo 57, 71, 80.3, .366
Bench: Monticello 9, St. Cloud Apollo 0....maybe the better bench wins at 25% not 17%
made free throws: Monticello 12, St. Cloud Apollo 6

Next up tomorrow am