Out & About: St. Paul Central/Hopkins

#7 posting 12.14.2006
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

ST. PAUL CENTRAL minutemen 70, HOPKINS royals 58

In a rematch of the first game of the year St. Paul Central beat Hopkins at the Lindbergh Center before a good crowd 70-58. Central led most of the night, but Hopkins did pull in front 40-38 in the second half. Central then played shut down defense for the next six minutes limiting Hopkins to 1 point in 1/16 offensive sequence. Central outscored Hopkins 17-1 during this stretch.

Both teams were much more smoother in their offensive execution tonight compared to opening night. Central drew first blood with a free throw by Theairra Taylor. Hopkins scored on their next three possessions with Jackie Hiebert connecting for four and Sension delivering two. All points came via the paint. Ebony Black came off the bench and drilled a three from the left corner to tie it at 7 for SPC. That kicked off a five straight scoring string for SPC and an 11-2 run with Black scoring the first five and Angel Robinson mopping up with the last six of the run. Central's transition game came off steals and missed shots. The last four possessions came with attacks on the basket. Hopkins came back with a 13-4 run of their own to lead 22-19. Hiebert and Rowland each had four in the run. It was Central's turn next as they closed with an 11-5 run to lead 32-27.

To start the second half Central went up 34-27 on their first possession with a Jones basket from a Robinson assist. Hopkins then went on a 5/6 scoring possession streak and led at one stage 40-38. Things were breaking Hopkins way getting into the bonus with 12:55 to go. In fact they scored 8 points of the 15 from the line. The rest of the game they only scored five points from the line. Central took the lead for good on Ebony Black's rebound of a Steph Sension missed three, and she took the ball right down and hit a pull up jumper. The Hopkins momentum turned with a two missed 3s, and then two turnovers. A no look pass from Black to Jones put more distance between the two. But it was the 9 possession drought that damaged Hopkins' chances. Seven were the result of missed shots. Central went from a 48-43 lead to 59-43 lead with 8 points on transition, and three on a rebound plus one. Central led 59-43 at this juncture. Hopkins got their mojo back with four straight scoring possessions to close to 61-51, but Central was, if not matching them, also connecting. Hopkins aburptly went into another five possession mini drought. Central worked the ball inside and Jones deliverd 14 points in the second half including two old fashioned three point plays. Central ran out the clock and kept their record unblemished.

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

ST. PAUL CENTRAL
STARTERS
Angel Robinson 10, 11, 90.1, .455 point guard. strong passer. good quick step, quick leaper. RF: got into foul trouble. Sat too much as a precaution. Needs to avoid the reach fouls, needs to think of herself as a brick wall when in trapping situations. Late in game was a tad careless on some passes.
Theiarra Taylor 4, 10, 40.0, .300 smooth, threat on defense. erased some Hopkins shots in the paint. good body control, explosive. long wing span at the top of the zone makes life difficult for opposing guards. RF: took away one of her own free throws as she stepped on the line. picked up a charge
Kiara Buford 10, 17, 58.8, .294 was more relaxed and looked to create in the second half. Reached the 1000 point mark in her career. RF: was off her game in the first half. Never got into the transition flow that she thrives on. gets too high on defense
Georgie Jones 24, 15, 160.0, .733 has made tremendous strides from game #1. She was at 66.7 pp100 in that contest. Much better at catching, much better at shooting in traffic and finishing. making 3 point plays. much more aware of position. RF: still needs to use glass from angle. now she needs to take the improvement to her rebounding and defensive side. just add some Bill Russell to her game. If she adds that she will be a beast and a unimaginable force. She also needs to be consistent in this.
Megan Howard 5, 4, 125.0, .750 tough nuts and bolts player. brings hard hat every game. strong offensive rebounder. RF: didn't have a defensive wrap all night. needs to move her feet on defense, not reach.
BENCH
Ebony Black 15, 12, 125.0, .583 has some energy off the bench, has instincts, has sizzle. teammates are more aware, or she is more aware of who can do what. still has a great feel with Robinson. underrated defense off ball. RF: still has some street, but it is diminishing. on ball defense can get faked out of her shoes. needs to look at midsection, which won't be faked when kid hasn't dribbled yet.
Kyana Johnson 0, 2, 0.0, .000 back up point. RF: passed staring down target.
Cyonna West 2, 2, 100.0, .500 speedy defender. Hit a pull up jumper in transition.
Shayla Johnson 0, 1, 0.0, .000 RF: came in cold and tried to shoot a three without getting into flow.
Abby Gust, 0, 0, 0.0, .000

HOPKINS
STARTERS
Hanna Muegge 5, 10, 50.0, .300 improvement from game #1, more relaxed. RF: still needs to finish. avoid traps. needs to be aware of where the ball is on offensive and come to the ball hungry. ate the ball on a 10 second violation.
Ana Garcia 8, 10, 80.0, .300 again improved from #1. 3 point shot looks strong. RF: shooting on the move was off balance. needs to come to the ball when teammates are in trouble in trap.
Stephanie Sension 12, 13, 92.3, .462 nice shot in the elbows and posts well. RF: took some 3s that were rushed. needs to get stronger base on defense. needs to become hungrier when it comes to defensive wraps. drew a charge.
Caitlyn Rowland 16, 20, 80.0, .400 is the point. takes good shots, on balance, good decisions mostly. good body balance, pull up jumpers, good footwork. RF: was trapped by 3 SPC players, but maybe her teammates need to come to the ball hungrier. when trailing things became a bit rushed.
Jackie Hiebert 17, 16, 106.3, .563 big strides inside. makes her self big, good hands, strong rebounder. impact player defensively decent ball handling ability. strong with the ball. much better at the line. good aggressive baseline drive. moves without the ball. RF; duing the drought needs to step up. She only took one shot during the time. yanked her hand back on a distance shot instead of holding follow through.
BENCH
Rachael Johnson 0, 4, 0.0, .000 a tough perimeter player. RF: ball handling under pressure
Hannah Oliverius, 0, 1, 0.0, .000 post back up:
Jenna Lillemoe 0, 0, 0.0, .000 RF: needs to be able to score off the bench.

TRENCH PLAYER
Georgie Jones

BY THE NUMBERS
St. Paul Central 70, 74, 94.6, .446
Hopkins 58, 74, 78.4, .392
made 3s: Hopkins 3, SPC 1
made FTs: Hopkins 19, SPC 9
Bench: SPC 17, Hopkins 0
In game one Central's pp100 was 69.5 and floor % was below freezing at .317. Now did Hopkins play worse defense tonight? no I think the offenses are getting better and Central is getting up to speed on the coach Taylor's way of doing things. Hopkins also has improved. They were at 62.2 in game #1. The turnovers and sloppy play by both teams were limited tonight. But the improved play by Jones inside, especially Central's defense taking away the middle when they were in the bonus with almost 13 minutes to go showed discipline. They should only become better with flow as the season goes on. However looking at their remaining schedule SPC only has three games against teams that have a current winning record, and two of them are against Johnson which should have a winning record when all is said and done. (the other is Mpls SW). Of course the Twin City game will bring a strong team into the mix. (probably South)

Hopkins' numbers were better than game #1, but they were almost the same pp100 and floor % numbers they put up against Becker. They are off on floor % by about 100 from last season when they won it all in AAAA.

DEFENSIVE WRAPS
defensive rebounds, steals, blocks, and forced turnovers leading to offensive possessions
ST. PAUL CENTRAL
Ebony Black 7
Theairra Taylor 7
Angel Robinson 5
Kiara Buford 4
Georgie Jones 3
Kyana Johnson 1
Cyonna West 1
HOPKINS
Jackie Hiebert 14 highest total this year
Hannah Muegge 4
Ana Garcia 4
Caitlin Rowland 3
Steph Sension 3
Rachael Johnson 1
Jenna Lillemoe 1

Next up: tomorrow morning