Out & About: Metro Stars/MN Stars 14

#2 posting 5.25.2006

This game took place on Sunday at Forest Lake
MN AAU 14 Championship
Minnesota Metro Stars 52, Minnesota Stars 39

The first half was pretty even. Metro Stars did push the lead to 19-13 on Alyssa Marschner's three. She finished a three possession run for MMS. That was the best run of the half. However there were more non scoring possessions and part of that was due to the speed of the game. The game was rushed by the players. Their adrenaline was pumping and jumping. MMS had a 9 possession drought, MN Stars at the same time was 1/8. So out of 68 total possession by both teams 27 ended in turnovers or .397. That number is higher than the scoring possessions for both teams with 20/68 .294. MMS led 22-20 when Brianna Tisch made a basket and free throw to end the half's scoring.

Kara Elofson broke open the game with three straight scoring possessions for six points and a 28-20 lead. On the third score Elofson was able to finish on the fourth attempt. But then they were 1/9 in their next possessions. The fact was MN Stars did not take advantage of this opportunity with 2/13 possession run. The only MN Star player to score at this point was Megan Waytashek with a shot from the left corner and one free throw. A flurry of points soon descended upon the arena. MN Stars had a three possession run with Waytashek, again, leading the way with four points and a Thiesfeld 3. This put the score at 35-30 for Metro Stars. The game's doubt was soon ended with a 13-0 explosion by Metro Stars. Marschner got things going with a trey, Karin Gibson finished it with a three. MN Stars suffered through a seven possession drought. MN Stars did cut the lead to 48-39 with a 9-0 run, but the hole was just too deep. Keely Brennen provided seven of those points. Ali Schmidt scored the last four points for a 52-39 final.

AAU ROSTERS

NUMBERS EXPLAINED

player, high school, points, possessions, pp100, floor %
PLAYER EVALUATIONS
MINNESOTA METRO STARS
STARTERS
Alyssa Marschner, Armstrong, 7, 11, 63.6, .273 has 3 range, aggressive, speedy. RF: but rushes the game/decisions.
Lizzi Nauman, Totino-Grace 5, 7, 71.4, .429 big body. good feet, hands. can run the floor. RF: could even be more aggressive.
Molly Duehn, Burnsville 2, 2, 100.0, .500
Kara Elofson, Breck 11, 12, 91.7, .500 great leaper. can sky. active on the offensive glass. provided the initial boost in the second half. RF: turnovers, again moving too fast
Rachel Moen, Burnsville 0, 4, 0.0, .000 point guard. RF: foot speed
BENCH
Brianna Tisch, Chaska 9, 10, 90.0, .400 big body, takes away middle. RF: shot consistency, passing decisions
Jennie Kalbfell, Lakeville South 0, 3, 0.0, .000
Karin Gibson, Eden Prairie 6, 7, 85.7, .286 3 range. RF: shot selection
Ali Schmidt, Champlin Park 6, 4, 150.0, .750 solid performance.
Lauren Safranski, Burnsville 2, 7, 28.6, .143 RF: again with the speed/rush of the game
Chelsea Garcia, Blaine 3, 1, 300.0, 1.000 can shoot. RF: only one possession

MINNESOTA STARS
STARTERS
Keely Brennan, Eden Prairie 7, 11, 63.6, .273 Burst of activity late in the game. RF: consistency on shooting
Megan Waytashek, Centennial 12, 10, 120.0, .600 most reliable scorer. has range.
Lauren Wittman, Eden Prairie 7, 9, 77.8, .444 made most of the points at the line. RF: experience
Kellie Ring, Somerset, WI 0, 6, 0.0, .000 RF: small, pressure defense bothered her. went down with an injury in the second half and did not return.
Brittany Thiesfeld, Glencoe-Silver Lake 5, 5, 100.0, .400 can hit outside. RF: ball handling
BENCH
Briane Gonzales, Armstrong-Ringsted, IA 0, 3, 0.0, .000
Michelle Tobin, Eden Prairie 5, 6, 83.3, .667
Gabrielle Boever, Worthington 3, 16, 18.8, .063 very active, has a lot of energy RF: forcing the issue either on passing or shooting.
Rachel Gilbert, Becker 0, 2, 0.0, .000

TRENCH PLAYER
Kara Elofson

BY THE NUMBERS
Team, points, possessions, pp100, floor %
Metro Stars 52, 68, 76.4, .338
MN Stars 39, 68, 57.4, .324
If you notice both floor % numbers are pretty close. The Metros scored one more possession than MN Stars. And when the Metro Stars did score they had more 3 point plays, whereas the MN Stars only were able to squeeze a point on some of their free throw attempts. Metro Stars had six 3 pt plays (5 3s, 1 basket&one) while MN stars only had three. MN Stars only took one point away on each five free throw attempts.
Actually the 14s had bigger bodies than the 15s. But the 15s had the speed.

Thanks to the readers for keeping me informed, and correcting any problems
Next up: tomorrow morning--regular news plus the Lynx/Detroit numbers