Out & About: Albany/New London-Spicer

#8 posting 1.11.2007
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

ALBANY huskies 81, NEW LONDON-SPICER wildcats 55

Albany's shooting eye was sharp tonight as they moved the ball and controlled the offensive boards in a 81-55 win over New London-Spicer in a West Central North matchup. The game feature two veteran coaches with over 950 wins between them in NLS's Mike Dreier (600+), and Albany's Jon Noreen (350+). The game also featured a good sized crowd along with a band. It seems when ever I go to a AA game out side the Metro area the game is more of a community event. When Albany took the floor the football team and others slapped hands with the team as they ran by to start their warm up routine. Some football players had jerseys with the girls nicknames on the back. The place had atmosphere.

Albany started off up 5-0 and the offensive rebounding theme was already an important part of Albany's offense with a put back by Maddie Johnson. Justine Dammermann drained a 3 to break the ice for NLS. Albany had a 7-0 spurt to go up 12-4 with four more points off put backs. Then the flood gates opened up and both teams together scored on 10 straight possessions. NLS worked to get the ball in to Renae Henjum. Albany, against the zone, had quick shooters, and they delivered. All five starters had five or more points by half time. NLS did manage to get back in the contest and closed to 30-29 with 3:42 to go in the half. Albany closed with a 14-5 run. Sam Larsen started the run with six points while Jennie Noreen had the next five. Albany led 44-34 at half.

Albany kept up their sizzling shooting with 7 of 9 scoring possessions to start the half. That translated into a 15-2 run with Larsen delivering six as Albany led 59-36 with 12:54 to go. NLS had an 8 possession drought during that stretch. Albany did come out in a 1/3/1 and 1/2/2 zone in the second half. NLS scored on three straight possessions with two consecutive 3s to make it 59-44. Albany cooled off as they had their own drought of seven possessions. There wasn't a lot of movement off that 25 margin the rest of the game.

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

ALBANY
STARTERS
Taylor Voss 15, 8, 187.5, .750 3 point shooter (4 3s on the night), quick release, active defensively. Along with Noreen confident and poised. RF:
Jennie Noreen 16, 16, 100.0, .438 guard, strong passes, good footwork, body control, good court awareness, 3 range, good elevation. good defensive anticipation. as a coaches daughter, and sister of a pair in college she understands the game. RF: some passes too long, off back rim on missed shots. good get stronger.
Maddie Johnson 5, 9, 55.6, .222 slipped inside for the low in the high low. RF: needs to be ready for ball
Sam Larsen 25, 18, 138.9, .722 post player, good speed, good rebounder on both ends. had 10 points on second chance shots. good elevation. quick off her feet. caught and scored in the air on an out of bounds play. will step out to the short corner in zone offense. RF: foul trouble if blocks are closely called. passes could be sharper
Rachel Bruns 10, 10, 100.0, .500 plays high post on offense. on defense matched up with Henjum. another with quick release. RF: likes to block shots too much. could lead to foul trouble. passing not as sharp as the others.
BENCH
Kayla Gretsch 4, 4, 100.0, .500 back up guard.
Hannah Hylla 2, 6, 33.3, .167 rangey kid. RF: forced some shots, needs to get a wider base when blocking out.
Holly Terres 2, 3, 66.7, .333
Amanda Ahrenholz 2, 1, 200.0. 1.000 scored at the buzzer, back up post

NEW LONDON-SPICER
STARTERS
Ellary Asche 4, 7, 57.1, .286 RF: spins dribbles into double team
Cassie Ziemer 3, 9, 33.3, .111 canned a 3. F: ball control, vision, stronger choices,
Lindsey Imdieke 0, 2, 0.0, .000
Jenn Wendlandt 14, 16, 87.5, .438 has weak side responsibilities. RF: size post hs
Renae Henjum 22, 20, 110.0, .600 lefty, post, starts on right block, patrolled middle in the 2/3 zone. rebounded well on both ends. not afraid to get hit. made 10 free throws, went to the line 7 times. can dribble off the d rebound. shot with both hands RF: didn't touch the ball on offense until the 4th possession, didn't shoot until 12th.
BENCH
Justine Dammermann 6, 5, 120.0, .400 3 point shooter. RF: needs to get open to get her shot off. Strength.
Taylor Thompsen 3, 6, 50.0, .333 RF: needs to get stronger, and make stronger choices with the ball.
Kelsey Cors 2, 3, 66.7, 333
Kelsey O'Fallon 0, 2, 0.0, .000
Karli Wendlandt 0, 1, 0.0, .000
Jennesa Johnson 0, 1, 0.0, .000
Brianna Jacobsen 0, 1, 0.0, .000
Lauren Larsen 1, 1, 100.0, 1.000

TRENCH PLAYER
Sam Larsen

BY THE NUMBERS
Albany 81, 75, 108.0, .507
New London-Spicer 55, 74, 74.3, .378
Made 3s: Albany 6, NLS 3
Made FTs: NLS 20, Albany 5
2nd Chance points: Albany 16, NLS 8
Bench: NLS 12, Albany 10
Albany delivered the 4th best pp100 and 5th best floor % so far this season. They are the only team to achieve this in January. Albany checked in at half time with a 115.0 pp100 and .553 floor %. If you add in the next 9 possessions of the 2nd half they were humming at 125.0 pp100 and .596 floor %.
One odd factor was that Albany didn't make a free throw in the second half. Usually teams that win make more free throws than the other team, but Albany made more 3s than free throws.
Albany was more in sync, moved the ball and found the open player against the zone. The guards were confident and in command. The posts moved well. Albany has more than one weapon.
NLS uses 3 freshmen quite a bit. They are on the perimeter and have some shooting ability. They will get stronger with more experience.

DEFENSIVE WRAPS
d rebounds, steals, forced turnovers, and blocks leading to offensive possessions.
ALBANY
Sam Larsen 11
Taylor Voss 11
Jennie Noreen 4
Holly Terres 4
Maddie Johnson 3
Rachel Bruns 3
Hannah Hylla 2
Kayla Gretsch 1
Totals: 39

NEW LONDON-SPICER
Renae Henjum 9
Jenn Wendlandt 8
Kelsey O'Fallon 4
Lindsey Imdieke 3
Cassie Ziemer 3
Justine Dammermann 3
Taylor Thompson 2
Ellary Asche 1
Kelsey Cors 1
Lauren Larsen 1
Totals: 35