Out & About: Marshall/Worthington

#5 posting 3.10.2006

2AAA Championship
Marshall 67, Worthington 56

In a battle between two Southwest Conference foes #1 Marshall beat Worthington for the third time this year. It was a case of two halves, pressure or no pressure, and finding a sense of urgency late.

As expected both teams came out hard. They both know each other very well. They have met in the 2AAA Finals for the second year in a row. Marshall started the scoring off with a Macie Michelson put back on the fourth possession. That started a mini string of three and Marshall was up 7-0. Worthington opened with an 0/6 string as they came out shooting quick 3s on their first two possessions. Not once did Maria Boever take a shot. She only touched the twice in the half court offense. Once she did shoot she scored on an old fashioned three point play. But Marshall put together a 9-0 run and led 16-3 with about 11:30 left in the half. Michelson led the charge with six. Worthington had another 0/8 drought as the Marshall press bothered the young guards. Worthington's last six were turnovers as they started pressing and forcing the issue. Worthington had one more dry run with an 0/7 run late in the half. They just weren't in synch as the Marshall pressure took them off their comfort area. Marshall was not immune to droughts, but they had fewer and less severe. Their biggest was an 0/5 stretch. When they did put together scoring runs they were small. In one sequence Kelsie Kruger scored four of a six point run. Marshall led 28-12.

The second half started off about the same way the first played out. Worthington was 1/6 with three the result of turnovers. Worthington had a little better luck in the next six possessions but The score was 38-21. Then Marshall took off the press due to foul troubles, we guessed from the sidelines. From the 13th possession until the 35th or 23 possessions Worthington went on a scoring rampage of 35 points. This would translate into a 166.7 pp100 ratio. Kick starting the newly revved up offense was Maria Boever as she herself put together a three possession run with 6 points. She ended up with 18 in this sequence. But it was not enough. Marshall was also scoring on their possessions. In the last 35 possessions of the game only 9 possessions for either team did not result in points. So 74.3% of these possessions were the result of scoring. It wasn't that both teams quit playing defense, it was the sense of urgency that someone's season was about to end. There was a technical and it involved substitution patterns with Worthington. It didn't really hurt Worthington, other than the two free throws, since it already was Marshall's possessions.
Two key defensive possessions for Worthington were when Michelson missed her one and one free throw attempt, but Anna Full grabbed the rebound. Julia Schultz made both of her tosses to push the lead back to 51-40. The Trojans cut it quickly back on a three by Rachel Springman 51-43. Again with the fouls with 3:09 left and Michelson missed her second shot again Marshall got the rebound this time Amanda Beekman had the honors. They had six offensive boards in these two sequences. Kelsie Kruger eventually scored on a put back to make the score 54-43. Take those two rebounds out and the score would have been 50-45 with just under 3 minutes to go. But ifs, ands and buts. Marshall won by making plays when needed, being bigger, and playing aggressivley, attacking the basket the whole game. Both Michelson and Maria Boever had 18 in the second half, but Michelson had 30 for the game. Boever 25.

player, points, possessions, pp100, floor %
Marshall Player Evaluations
Starters
Macie Michelson 30, 19, 157.9, .842 big time energy, emotional player, tough player, money player. street fighter. has range with 3. goes hard to the glass. takes a licking and keeps on ticking. warrior. RF: may be out of control at times.
Julia Schultz 5, 8, 62.5, .500 big guard on perimeter. RF: didn't score from the floor
Jessica Onken 2, 2, 100.0, .500 RF: didn't have much time
Kirsten Haukom 3, 10, 30.0, .100 made a three; RF: shooting consistency
Kelsie Kruger 20, 18, 111.1, .611 inside force. strong in the post up. consistent. has improved the most of the Marshall players from what I have seen previously.
Bench
Amanda Beekman 4, 8, 50.0, .250 6-0 on perimeter. wide wing span on top of the zone. boards well. RF: finishing, execution
Danielle French 0, 1, 0.0, .000
Anna Full 3, 1, 300.0, 2.000 If you notice her floor % number is 2.000. This is because she was at the line and made one free throw missed the second. Another player got the rebound and evenutally scored. That person gets charged with the possession. Full still obviously scored. a rare occurance. Beyond that had a key offensive rebound on a missed free throw.

Worthington Player Evaluations
Starters
Holli Aggen 4, 7, 57.1, .286 point guard, has speed. RF: needs to take over and assert herself with the ball and with the team. I realize she is young (freshman) but the team feeds off a point guard's energy.
Rachel Springman 6, 13, 46.2, .231 RF: took shots too soon in the offense. Decisions with ball handling.
Maria Boever 25, 23, 108.7, .522 athlete, runs floor, main ingredient in Worthington's success. movement reminds me of Hana Peljto. good hands, quick movements. played with urgency in second half and that rubbed off on the team. RF: forced some passes/shots. Not in the right position post HS
Sarah Boever 4, 10, 40.0, .200 RF: needs to see the floor, missed some open players. sharper passing.
Ashley Aggen 5, 7, 71.4, .429 RF: size for position post HS
Bench
Rebecca Brignac 12, 7, 171.4, .857 scored inside with quick aggressive movements, slipping the defense. worked the offensive boards. RF: size post HS for position.
Alex Wetering 0, 1, 0.0, .000
Julie Ailts 0, 1, 0.0, .000
Trench Player: Macie Michelson, a player you hate to play against, a player you love to have on your side

BY THE NUMBERS
Marshall 67, 67, 100.0, .522
Worthington 56, 68, 82.4, .382
Again looking at the halves first half
Marshall 28, 33, 84.8, .424
Worthington 12, 33, 36.4, .182
second half
Marshall 39, 34, 114.7, .618
Worthington 44, 35, 125.7, .571

Next up a closer look at the Friday night results