Out & About: Eden Prairie/Eagan +

#8 posting 12.8.2006
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

EDEN PRAIRIE eagles 49, EAGAN wildcats 46

Because Eagan held the ball for six minutes in the first half, this game was over early. I hightailed it off to Burnsville to catch the final minutes of the Lakeville North game. Burnsville won that one 59-56. I will do synopsis of that too, but the numbers would be useless since it was only about 2:30 worth of ball. Burnsville is now 4-0 in the brutal Lake.

Eagan held the ball for over six minutes trying to get EP out of their 2/3 zone in the first half. At the 6:16 mark Eagan got the ball after a rebound tie up. Tess Lardie started holding the ball up by midcourt at the 5:50 mark. At 2:12 they started moving again. EP just sat in their zone even though they were trailing 17-13. The refs did nothing to force the trailing team to initiate play. I thought I was watching Hoosiers where they just held the ball for the last shot. I know something about holding the ball because for one year we ran a four corner offense, but the refs always forced the defense out of the zone because that is the rule. Today it was forgotten. Anyway for all that holding the ball the possession ended in a travel by Lardie. EP had one last crack at the basket but Cook's 3 didn't connect. Another overlooked part of the first half was the aggressive attacking attitude of EP to the paint. They went to the line six times and made 7/12. Eagan went to the line once all night and that was with 55.0 to go in the game.

EP came out with the first possession in the second half and attacked the basket again, this time with Kjersten Bradley scoring and getting fouled. Those were her first points of the game. But EP then failed to connect on the next 6 possessions. A Katie Hofstad 3 gave Eagan a 7 point lead, but on two straight EP possessions they cut it to 22-20, the last one a trey from Heather Cook. But Hofstad was on a role. She drained another trey and then scored on a drive to make it 27-20. The last time Eagan led was after a nifty crossover pull up jumper by Adrea Holler to make it 29-22. EP then rattled off four straight scores with Bradley making the first five points, and Laura Weber knocking down the next four points. That tied the game at 31. Lardie gave Eagan their last lead with a trey from the top of the key. Eagan then went on a six possession drought. In the meantime EP went on a 9-0 run. Bradley finished the run with five points on a drive and a trey from the left wing. The actual lead change came on a drive by Lindsay Sather. After Bradley's trey it was EP 42-36. The game was then a battle of splits with Eagan closing to two on a Holler basket 42-40. In the last five EP possessions they scored four times. At 58.6 and EP up 44-40 Dani Ramsey was fouled and went to the line. She missed the free throw but Weber got the rebound. She was fouled and converted both to make it a six point game. Eagan's Holler drained a three from the left side. Hall missed her free throw and Lardie picked up the rebound, but Toepfer took a three at that point, and Sather got the board, was fouled and she nailed them both to make it 48-43. One more free throw for EP followed by a Lardie three at the buzzer gave the game the final margin.

NUMBERS EXPLAINED
player, points, possessions, pp100, floor %

EDEN PRAIRIE
STARTERS
Tanya Hall, 9, 13, 69.2, .462 aggressive to the hole. Knows where the basket is. strong. active went to the line four times in the first half. RF: a bit off balance on the shot. also a bit frantic energy, not a 3 point shooter
Laura Weber, 15, 15, 100.0, .533 post player. decent movement. RF: needs to get stronger upper body. Needs to get defensive rebounds.
Dani Ramsey 0, 3, 0.0, .000 point guard. lefty
Kjersten Bradley 12, 12, 100.0, .417 shoot when you are on, and if you are off, shoot til you're on. That was her motto and it turned the trick. outside shooter. the mental part of the game is important and she kept her wits about her with her shot. RF: missed at point blank range when things were going bad in the first half.
Heather Cook 3, 5, 60.0, .200 tough, physical, decent outside shot. finds open person. RF: height/speed/quickness
BENCH
Lindsay Sather, 9, 8, 112.5, .625 RF: small, tendancy to reach on defense
Natalie Stoll, 0, 2, 0.0, .000
Carly Rothfusz 0, 2, 0.0, .000 tall rangy guard. played the top of the EP 1/2 court trap. Hard to pass around those arms. Lefty. RF: never got into the flow on offense, but has a nice shot.
Serenae Levine 1, 1, 100.0, 1.000

EAGAN
STARTERS
Lisa Weniger 2, 3, 66.7, .333 scored on a back cut.
Adrea Holler 17, 20, 85.0, .400 another tall lanky perimeter type. plays inside, but can step out and hit 3.
Dana Svendsen 0, 3, 0.0, .000 RF: footwork
Tess Lardie 6, 9, 66.7, .222 point guard. drained two 3s. has a feel for the game. is playing a bit more under control this season. RF: isn't looking to create shot, afflicted with happy feet most of the night.
Cassie Toepfer 0, 4, 0.0, .000 RF: took the 3 late in the game when not really in the flow.
BENCH
Katie Hofstad 19, 14, 135.7, .571 had a hot night shooting. had three 3s. shot form is not text book
Brittany Dyshaw 2, 2, 100.0, .500 another in the tall rangy perimeter types. RF: not in the offensive flow. needs to get stronger.
Jennica Adkins 0, 2, 0.0, .000 RF: taller, more postish. RF: strength
Molly Sinclair 0, 3, 0.0, .000 back up point. good stance on the ball defense. RF: passing execution on offense.
Meredyth Fredericksen, 0, 0, 0.0, .000 RF: postion on defense, got beat on the drive.

TRENCH PLAYER
Kjersten Bradley

BY THE NUMBERS
Eden Prairie 49, 61, 80.3, .426
Eagan 46, 60, 76.7, .333
Made 3s: Eagan 6, EP 3
Made Free throws: EP 12, Eagan 2
Bench: Eagan 21, EP 10
Both teams have new coaches. Both teams tried to milk their possession for the best shot possible. But EP was a bit bigger, a bit more physical, and a bit more relaxed in the late game situations. Eagan had too many unforced errors throughout the game. EP was also much more aggressive (as measured by free throws). Another key factor was Bradley's play in the second half. In the first half she was 0/6 on the possession measure; it was 12, 6, 200.0, .833 in the second half.

DEFENSIVE WRAPS
These players either rebounded, stole, blocked or forced a turnover that led to the start of a possession.
EDEN PRAIRIE
Heather Cook 6
Lindsay Sather 5
Dani Ramsey 4
Tanya Hall 3
Kjersten Bradley 2
Laura Weber 1
Carly Rothfusz 1
EAGAN
Adrea Holler 8
Katie Hofstad 4
Molly Sinclair 4
Tess Lardie 4
Brittany Dyshaw 2
Cassie Toepfer 2
Jennica Adkins 1

BONUS COVERAGE
BURNSVILLE blaze 59, LAKEVILLE NORTH panthers 56

Since I arrived late it was Burnsville up 53-50 with about 2:30 to go in the game. Each team had five possessions to finish the game. Burnsville's Abby Rittenhouse made 5 free throws of the six Blaze points to make it 59-56. The key possession was on Burnsville's 4th (since I arrived) when Lauren Safranski was fouled in a double bonus situation. She made her first, but missed the second. Molly Duehn got the rebound with the jump ball favoring Burnsville with 44.8 seconds to go and Burnsville up 56-54. In the insuing play Rittenhouse was fouled and made the second for a three point margin. LN's Latasha Wittmayer scored on a jumper from the short left corner with 22.1 seconds left to cut it to one. Burnsville got it to their money free throw shooter and Rittenhouse delivered both for the final margin. LN had a chance to tie, but Sygulla's shot bounced out at the buzzer.

Next up: tomorrow morning