Out & About: North Tartan16s/Metro Stars19s

#3 posting 6.5.2006
Your Daily Dose of Girls Basketball News & Information

This game took place Sunday, June 4 at Hopkins
North Tartan 16s 69, Metro Stars 19s 52

In what was the championship of the Hopkins 16 North Tartan beat up on a short handed Metro Stars 19 team 69-52. NT never trailed in this contest jumping out with Hannah Draxten's 3. Schurle scored off an out of bounds play and then Draxten scored again. The game was fairly tight early on 11-9 NT, but then the game turned big. NT went on a 17-0 run helped in part by MS's 14 possession drought. The futility was spread evenly with turnovers and missed shots each with seven. NT took advantage of the sputtering MS team with a 9/11 scoring possession run including five in a row. Breanna Bauer delivered big during this stretch. She had the hot hand and NT milked it. She knocked down two 3s, then scored on a layup and made an old fashioned three point play. So she scored 11 points in the space of 7 NT possessions. For MS nonthing seemed to go right. Even with a steal they missed the transition basket. NT led at half 40-19. At this point NT had a better than 1 point for each possession ratio.

The second half started much like the first half ended. NT opened with four straight scoring possessions as the NT team played with a swagger that youngsters schooling their older siblings usually have after reaching the top. NT led 47-22 at their largest margin. To the MS credit they battled back from the deep hole they found themselves in. Mullaney and Salley relentlessly crashed the boards trying whatever they could to spark their team. The lack of legs and the lack of practice time was hard to overcome the hungrier NT team. The 19s are all taken care of, they don't really have the carrot in front of them. NT is active and looked like they were on a mission. MS did work back with a 20-7 run on a 7/9 possession string. Givens, Mullaney, Schurle, and Salley each popped a three on the run and MS cut the lead to 54-42. Jenny Gilbertson answered back with a 3 of her own and the lead was back to 15. NT had one more 4 possession string where they outscored MS 7-4. The NT sqauad left no doubt who the most talented squad in the state.

NUMBERS EXPLAINED
player, points, possessions, pp100, floor %
NORTH TARTAN
STARTERS
Alyssa Karel, Cretin-Derham Hall 8, 10, 80.0, .400 magician with passes. Wonderful floor general. Great presence of mind to put the right english on SportsCenter type highlights. RF: body control when trying to force the game.
Hannah Draxten, Fergus Falls 7, 9, 77.8, .333. Got off to a quick start and was much more visible than in previous games. RF: needs to maintain energy entire game.
Janessa Wolff, Park Rapids 4, 5, 80.0, .400 steady, but RF: not as dominating this contest. deferred to the rest. Only five possessions. She needs to have about 10, but she needs to crash boards and demand ball from teammates. I didn't get that feeling yesterday.
Tara Steinbauer, Bloomington Kennedy 18, 17, 105.9, .588 Nose for the ball on offense. Likes to score. RF: Needs to improve free throw shooting.
Caitlin Rowland, Hopkins 6, 8, 75.0, .375 mixes it up inside without getting knocked around. RF: actually two possessions were at the end of the half and game so her numbers should be more like 6/6/100.0, .500. had a couple of turnovers that were forced passes, or footwork issues.
BENCH
Macie Michaelson, Marshall 8, 7, 114.3, .571 always all out. Always. Full speed ahead. Enjoys performance. RF: Tips hand with facial expressions.
Bri Zabel, Northfield 2, 2, 100.0, .500 immovable object. RF: foot speed. offense has not been evident.
Breanna Bauer, Sioux Falls Lincoln 11, 5, 220.0, .800 a flurry of points in all sorts of way. RF: invisible for most of the rest of the game.
Jackie Voight, Park-Cottage Grove 1, 4, 25.0, .250 lefty. RF: needs to step up and play likes she belongs with this group instead of playing in the shadows.
Jenny Gilbertson, Winona Cotter 5, 3, 166.7, .667 6-1 with 3 range. RF: needs more defensive domination.

METRO STARS 19S
STARTERS
Breanna Salley, St. Francis 12, 13, 92.3, .462 never quit. slipped through block outs, active. had range, pick & chose times to drive. RF: complained about calls (or lack of them)
Emily Neal, Breck 4, 14, 28.6, .214 RF: off night passing, shooting. Needed more rest.
Jillian Schurle, Hopkins 13, 11, 118.2, .545 Big second half. RF: took a while to heat up. Needs to be more of a leader.
Kelly Mullaney, Breck 10, 11, 90.9, .364 another player that goes full bore. RF: some times shoots off balance. Not visible in second half offensively
Krissy O'Toole, Wayzata 7, 12, 58.3, .333 physical, strong. RF: needs to use body to draw more fouls. needs to attack, go right through defenders.
BENCH
Megan Givens, Breck 5, 7, 71.4, .286 RF: better decisions, quicker sharper decisions.

TRENCH PLAYER
Alyssa Karel

BY THE NUMBERS
Team, points, possessions, pp100, floor %
North Tartan 69, 70, 98.6, .471
Metro Stars 52, 66, 78.8, .348

NT is one of only two teams I have seen all AAU Season that is pushing the 100 pp100 level twice. They haven't climbed over the top, but they are headed in that direction. And they did it against a quality opponent, even if they were shorthanded, today. But their consistency in floor % is outstanding. I have seen them three times and they are #2, #3, and #4 in floor % for all AAU teams I have seen this season. Today was their best effort with a .471. Only the Team WI 17 have cracked the .500 barrier, but they did their damage against a team that was thrown together for the weekend. Metro Stars is a quality team with quality players.

I have seen Metro Stars 19 three times and they never have really kicked tail like a group of future collegians should. It has to be due to the fact that they don't practice that often, and they never have had a full squad when I have watched. I don't know if in the back of their mind they are coasting, they don't have to play for anything, but the younger teams have drawn blood from them twice. This last game NT did what they wanted on offense. The defensive intensity has to step up. Their competitive fire needs to burn. They need to flat out need to dominate each and every opponent. They need to play with the opponent the way my dog plays with a dead squirrel.

Next up: tomorrow morning with regular news. Next Out & about--tomorrow evening with the Metro Stars White 16s vs Summit Blue 16s