Out & About: North Tartan Blue/Southern MN Elite 16u

#3 posting 5.8.2006

This game took place on Sunday in Hastings MN

MN 16u AAU qualifier
North Tartan Blue 48, Southern MN Elite 30 (I did not stay for the full game)

This is the second North Tartan Team. They did not have too many problems with the understaffed Southern MN Elite team. SME had players miss because of 1. prom; 2. volleyball; 3. religious obligations. With no bench, it becomes a war of attrition. Legs become tired, shots become shorter as the game went on.

But to start the game SME had a 14-8 lead. Kat Block had the hot hand early for SME. She had 8 of the 14 points, including two 3s. After that point NTB took over. They went on a 15-2 run to finish the half. NTB took the lead on Sam Morgan's 3. There was a personal mini battle going on with Morgan & Sikkink, and when Morgan nailed the 3, she had the cat swallowed the canary look on her face. SME had an 8 possession drought during this stretch.

In the second half the SME legs were shot, the times when SME went to the floor became labored exercises with exertion just to get up and moving again. It seemed the SME team wanted the game to end as they looked at the refs with pain in their eyes.
The first score of the half was a classic butt pass from out of bounds as Morgan basically passed to herself off the backside of an unaware SME player. SME cut the lead to 25-18, but the tank was empty. NTB went on a 23-12 run before I left. Jackie Kelly nailed two consecutive 3s on consecutive possessions. Katie Haas started to dominate the paint with six of the last eight points I saw.
NTB definitely had the height advantage, but had a hard time finding the mark inside most of the game. The trend was there, and the next game I was scheduled to watch was about to start so I took off.

What do the numbers mean? http://gbbrecruit.blogspot.com/2006/05/numbers-explained.html
Rosters: http://gbbrecruit.blogspot.com/2006/05/aau-rosters.html

player, high school, points, possessions, pp100, floor %
PLAYER EVALUATIONS
NORTH TARTAN BLUE
STARTERS
Michelle Burns, Champlin Park, 2, 4, 50.0, .250 point guard
Jackie Kelly, Blaine, 12, 6, 200.0, .833 3 pt specialist.
Sam Morgan, Benilde-St. Margaret's 9, 9, 100.0, .444 tough kid, uses her head, competitive, savvy court sense RF: foot speed
Brittany Holm, Benson 2, 6, 33.3, .167 RF: thin
Katie Haas, Tartan 8, 7, 114.3, .571 made her living off of missed teammate shots. RF: not as effective on her own intial shots
BENCH
Jenna Higgins, Maranatha 2, 7, 28.6, .143 big RF: foot speed,
Deena Ewert, Andover 8, 8, 100.0, .500 much more active than when I saw her in the winter.
Jenny Hooper, Tartan 1, 1, 100.0, 1.000 RF: strangely silent
Heather Cook, Eden Prairie 3, 4, 75.0, .125 RF: frame like a fire hydrant
Jamie Zelinsky, Park Center 0, 2, 0.0, .000 RF: in HS handles the ball. looked lost, and was invisible without the ball in her hands

SOUTHERN MN ELITE
STARTERS
Sam Sikkink, Roch JM, 8, 11, 72.3, .455 good shot, RF: size
Kat Block, Roch JM 9, 17, 52.9, .294 RF hot early, invisible or scoring was invisible later
Jesse Bartz, Roch JM 2, 7, 28.6, .143
Beth Christenson, Owatonna 9, 13, 69.2, .385 only big player for SME. pounded by the NTB contingent.
Katie Rosenow, Owatonna 0, 11, 0.0, .000
BENCH
AWOL

TRENCH PLAYER
Sam Morgan, the toughest, and most competitive

BY THE NUMBERS
NT Blue 48, 54, 88.9, .407
Southern MN Elite 30, 54, 55.6, .278
Again the numbers are about average (at least NTB) for the HS season.

Have questions??? news?? information? drop me a line. Go to the profile and email me.

Next up: tomorrow with the regular news, followed by a couple more games from the 16u qualifier.