Out & About: Nicollet/GHEC

#9 posting 2.12.2006

Valley Championship
Nicollet 59, Granada-Huntley-East Chain 56

They saved the best for last and fans saw a contest worthy of the championship. Nicollet was the #1 seed, GHEC #2. They teams had split their contests during the year, and this was the rubber game. The crowds were packed into the Madelia gym to watch the first ever Valley championship.

GHEC led for most of the early part of the first half. They held a 12-7 lead as Lori Balcom cashed in five points. Nicollet took their second lead (after a 2-0 opening) at 14-13 with a put back by GP Vaske. The lead was traded off four times at that point. Kristin Hulke gave Nicollet the lead what proved to be for good at 18-17 on a drive. Nicollet's biggest lead in the first half was at 26-19 after a 10-2 run. Shannon Renne delivered four of the points. Those two GHEC points were off free throws on two different possessions.

In the second half GHEC cut the Nicollet lead to 32-30 with a three in the right corner from Jessica Petrowiak. GP Vaske scored on a put back to git the lead back to 34-30. Lori Balcom scored on a conventional three point play to cut the lead to 34-33. That was going to be the closest GHEC was to get until the end of the game. Nicollet pushed the lead back out to 48-39 on a 14-6 run. GHEC pulled back into the hunt on a 9-2 run. Both Walterman and Petrowiak delivered from behind the arc, and Lori Balcom added a three point conventional play to cut the Nicollet lead to 50-48. Like a see saw it was Nicollet's turn for a run and they did it in three possessions of a 7-0 run for a 57-48 lead with four minutes left. Kristin Hulke made a three from the left corner for Nicollet and Hendrycks made two free throws, along with a Renne drive. See saw up, see saw down. Now it was GHEC's see saw ride up. Lori Balcom scored off a pass from Petrowiak. Walterman scored on a turnover layup that cut the lead to 57-52. Lisa Balcom scored on a put back of her sister's miss with 1:31 to go 57-54. Walterman swiped the ball from Renne and made the lay up with 36.3 seconds left 57-56. Nicollet's Molly Erdman was fouled and missed the front end of a one and one. Walterman had the rebound. After a GHEC time out with 15.9 seconds left, GHEC passed the pall in, Petrowiak drove, and kicked it out to Uttech. She missed, but got her own rebound. She was fouled by Renne with 6.2 seconds left. Nicollet took a time out to ice her. It worked as she missed both free throws. Renne rebounded and was fouled with 4.3 seconds left. She made both for the final margin. Petrowiak had a chance to tie with a three just inside the midcourt line. It bounced away and Nicollet was the first Valley Champion.

Height matters: GHEC 5-9.6, Nicollet 5-8.6
Department of Defense: both man

Nicollet Player Evaluations
Starters
Shannon Renne 16, 18, 88.9, .444 decent ball handler, point guard when Erdman is not in. strong to the basket, cashed the free throws to give insurance RF: needs to make better decisions and be stronger with the ball. Needs to block out so as not to foul at the end.
Molly Erdman 6, 14, 42.9, .286 point guard, decent vision. RF: needs to deliver free throws in crunch time.
GP Vaske, 10, 5, 200.0, 1.000 good offensive rebounder. good athlete. paint scorer. RF: size for position post hs
Shannon Voges 1, 3, 33.3, .333
Lindsey Beckendorf 5, 5, 100.0, .600 big kid, active and crashed boards. RF: not focus of offense yet. foul problems took her off the floor too often
Bench
Kristin Hulke 12, 17, 70.6, .353 good enough to start. aggressive offensively. quick release, athlete, RF: decisions and consistency
Bailey Hendrycks 6, 4, 150.0, .750
Klea Swenson 0, 1, 0.0, .000
Kelsey Hulke 0, 2, 0.0, .000

GHEC Player Evaluations
Starters
Ashley Walterman 15, 10, 150.0, .700 good athlete, active from outside. RF: foul problems early
Katy Uttech 1, 9, 11.1, .111 RF: shooting consistency/accuracy
Jessica Petrowiak 6, 10, 60.0, .200 point guard. nifty passer. not flashy, but sly and deceptive. passes with minimal movement. can shoot 3s. RF: shot from distance is more of a push shot.
Abby Schoen 5, 11, .455, .273 RF: needs to be more consistent on offense.
Lori Balcom 15, 15, 100.0, .467 tough kid, aggressive, strong. RF: position post HS
Bench
Lisa Balcom 8, 6, 133.3, .667
RF: Renne amongst many choices. She redeemed herself with the free throws.

BY THE NUMBERS
team, points, possessions, pp100, floor %
Nicollet 59, 69, 85.5, .449
GHEC 56, 70, 80.0, .386
Bench: Nicollet 18, GHEC 8. This is one of the few times all year that the team with the better bench won the game.
Made Free throws: GHEC 17, Nicollet 10. both teams struggled at the line at the end of the game.

next up tomorrow am and back to a normal posting schedule. (3 times a day)