Out & About: St. Paul Johnson/West Lutheran

#3 posting 12.11.2006
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

ST. PAUL JOHNSON governors 79,
WEST LUTHERAN warriors 42

In a deep cross class (AAAA vs A) game it was the public city school over the private suburban school in a profound way. SPJ's harrassing intimidating physical press did its work often to give them operating room. Their quickness, and aggressiveness forced WL into 12 turnovers it their first 17 possessions. WL had 29 for the first half alone. SPJ either had lay ups or, in the half court game, or 3s with five in the first half. Alex Moore had 16 and Sasha Barnes had 13 at half for SPJ. The governors led 46-19 at half. Strangely enough WL led at one point 5-4. But a 1/19 sequence killed any chance in this game.

Johnson scored 7 of 8 times to start the second half with a 13-0 run to make it 59-19. SPJ didn't press and allowed West Lutheran to cross the 10 second line. When that happened WL was able to get some flow. They scored on six straight possessions in the second half and outscored SPJ 11-5 at one stretch. The final question to be answered was "how big a margin?" the answer: 37

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

ST. PAUL JOHNSON
STARTERS
Tacita Gonzalez 10, 12, 83.30, .417 one of the speedy guards. sets trap, can hit the three. A thief: RF: needs to keep feet on the floor defensively. needs to know where her feet are at the 3 pt line
Alex Moore 22, 15, 146.7, .667 very good shooter from the perimeter. had nice crossover move that froze defender. RF: could be more of a force on defense.
Sasha Barnes 20, 14, 142.9, .571 left handed point guard. stroke on fire tonight from behind the arc. Made her 3s from both left wing, right corner, top of the key. . good quickness, aggressive. Leader, communicator. walked like she owned the court. (she did tonight). all business. made heads up smart plays to keep ball alive. more in the defense section RF: favors left hand in ball handling. still smallish.
Mykal Suggs 12, 15, 80.0, .400 has flash, can jump, was experimented at point late in the game when it was decided. RF: at point needs to keep better vision, needs to involve other players on her own team.
Nichole Lewis 11, 7, 157.1, .571 small inside player. recipient of Barnes passes. in transition a nice pull up jumper. RF; needs to finish free throws. stoppages. reach on defense
BENCH
Jessica Kuehlwein 2, 4, 50.0, .250 bigger post. RF: slower a foot than rest of the team. picked up elbowing call.
Brittany Murphy 2, 7, 28.6, .143 RF: needs to get feet set on screens. was ball faked and drove on.
Stephanie Walker 0, 1, 0.0, .000
Adrienne Brown, 0, 2, 0.0, .000
KoKo Xiong 0, 1, 0.0, .000

in general for all WL RF: ball handling against pressure and being bumped. need to get stronger both upper and lower body. also balance--travel calls.
WEST LUTHERAN
STARTERS
Ashley Jensen 8, 16, 50.0, .250 point guard. Has good shot when feet set. RF: dribbled too high.
Caitlin Seichter 6, 12, 50.0, .250 shot from the free throw lane.
Holly Rrecht 6, 15, 40.0, .200 active on the defensive boards. RF: favored the spin during the press.
Jenna Gehl 2, 7, 28.6, .143
Sarah Janisch 4, 5, 80.0, .400 RF: needs to keep hand up in follow through, turns to right
BENCH
Olivia Smith 6, 11, 54.5, .273 moved well with out the ball. went down with an ankle in the second half.
Abria O'Neel 2, 3, 66.7, .333
Taylor Mejia 2, 3, 66.7, .333
Morgan Obraske 6, 5, 120.0, .600 made all her shots from the right short corner.
Amber Paulson 0, 1, 0.0, .000
Ashley Geistfeld 0, 1, 0.0, .000

TRENCH PLAYER
Sasha Barnes

BY THE NUMBERS
St. Paul Johnson 79, 78, 101.3, .449
West Lutheran 42, 79, 53.2, .266
made 3s: SPC 8; WL 1
made FT: WL 11, SPC 3
To give you perspective on both teams

West Lutheran just hammered two teams early in the year 82-10, 81-9 over charter schools, and 74-17 over an even smaller Christian school. Their first conference game was a 57-46 win over Winsted Holy Trinity.

SPJ, on the other hand, opened with three losses including a 68-38 loss to Park-Cottage Grove, and 95-55 to #4 AAAA Mpls South.

Those are the differences between small schools and large schools. Speed/quickness, intensity. SPJ learned their lessons, &, I heard in the West Lutheran stands, they thought this game was much better for the long term development of their team. They are right. I don't know if this game was good for the SPJ long term development. why? West Lutheran will not face that kind of play in their conference. It was a nice win for SPJ, they stroked their shot, but they will be going against players that know how to handle pressure and are stronger with the ball. Their half court defense still needs more work. WL isn't that big. Going against a larger team SPJ will need to play stronger 1/2 court defense.

DEFENSIVE WRAPS
Defensive boards plus steals, plus blocked shots leading to possession, plus forced turnovers leading to possession
ST. PAUL JOHNSON
Sasha Barnes 10--mostly off the press, good anticipation, eyes are hungry for the ball.
Mykal Suggs 9
Tacita Gonzalez 6
Brittany Murphy 6
Nchole Lewis 5
Alex Moore 5
Jessica Kuehlwein 2
WEST LUTHERAN
Holly Recht 7
Ashley Jensen 5
Jenna Gehl 3
Abria O'Neel 3
Morgan Obraske 2
Caitlin Seichter 2
Jenna Gehl 1
Sarah Janisch 1
Olivia Smith 1
Amber Paulson 1

INTERESTING FACT:
Alex Moore and Sasha Barnes both played (Barnes started) at St. Paul Central. Transfers apparently are a two way street.

BLUE MONDAYS:
Mondays have had the biggest margins which don't make for good reading or interesting writing. The closest game was a 13 point win by MeadowCreek over Columbia Heights.

next up: college report & an out & about later tonight