Saturday, January 20, 2007

Out & About: Braham/Grantsburg

#8 posting 1.20.2007
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

BRAHAM bombers 67, GRANTSBURG pirates 56

In an interstate battle it was Braham, behind the one two punch of Devin Diedrich and Hannah Dahlman besting Grantsburg, WI 67-56. Braham is in the Great River conference which doesn't get a lot of media attention because they are not in any daily paper coverage area. Grantsburg is the same way in Wisconsin. Both are about the same size (AA in MN, D3 in WI). Braham was 10-5 going into the game. Grantsburg 8-2. Also this was the first game of a boy/girl doubleheader and the crowd was packed. But then going to smaller towns there always is more support.

Braham came out scoring on their first two possessions including a 3 by Diedrich and they eventually stretched the lead out to 9-0 before Grantsburg found the bottom of the net with 13:25 to go. Grantsburg opened with a 7 possession drought. Braham extended that lead to 20-8 with a little more than six minutes to go in the half. Diedrich scored the last 7 points for Braham in that stretch. That is when Grantsburg awoke from their offensive slumber. They closed out the half with a 16-7 run. The Pirates had a 6/7 offensive sequence to start the run. Miranda Kammeyer had six of the first 11 points. 8 of the points of the 16 Grantsburg points came off second chance points. The half ended when Megan Finch was fouled after getting a rebound 88 feet away from the Grantsburg basket with one second left. Finch drained both free throws and Braham's lead had dwindled to 27-24.

Both teams started off the second half matching each other. Grantsburg was 5/7 in their possessions with Kammeyer delivering four. Braham was one better at 6/7. Diedrich had 9 of the 12 Braham points. Braham led at this stage 39-34. A Five possession drought by Braham ended the lead and saw Grantsburg take the lead. Grantsburg was in clover with five straight scoring possessions. They took their first lead on a set shot by Abbey Vaksdal. 40-39. Mollie Bjelland made it 42-39 on a rebound basket with 10:48 to go. Braham took a time out to regroup. After the timeout 8th grader Dahlman nailed a three. This was the start of a Dahlman run of 8 points as Braham regained the lead 47-45. Bjelland answered two possessions later with her own three to tie it at 48. Dahlman drove the right baseline and fired a pass to Jessica Koch on the left side of the hoop for a basket and Braham never trailed again. This happened with about 7:30 to go in the game. Grantsburg was caught in a 4/2 split, but the last time they were as close as 2 was at 54-52 after a steal and lay up by Bjelland. Braham finished the rest of the game with a 13-4 run. Dahlman had 7 of those points. Dahlman had 17 second half points, all after the time out with 10:48 to go.

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

BRAHAM
STARTERS
Emily Bendickson 2, 2, 100.0, .500 small guard, knows her role, and does it. handles the ball when Diedrich can't. RF: smallish
Devin Diedrich 23, 21, 109.5, .476 long lean and lanky perimeter player. smooth shot, drained three 3s on the day. also scored on transition, and pull up jumpers. long arms made her tough to pass around. strong on defensive boards. "passion" on the back of her warmup jersey. guarded Bjelland. RF: largely unknown because of the lack of media coverage.
Hannah Dahlman 20, 17, 117.6, .471 2011, brothers Isaiah, now at Michigan State, and Noah have had success and it looks like she will too. grandfather John Kundla. Hannah delivered 17 points in the last 10 minutes of the game. PP100 in that stretch was 170.0, and her floor % was .700. She has a good stroke, decent size, good jumper, can create space, and just blew by Grantsburg defenders as she grabbed a rebound and went coast to coast. sees the floor and got the ball to open players. long arms on defense cause problems. RF: will get stronger physically, after all she is in 8th grade.
Laura Schmitz 10, 13, 76.9, .462 likes to score on drives to the basket. RF: fouled out. Needs to move feet and get in better position. picked up charging call. needs to be aware of the floor and use better body control. needs to work on footwork. Showed displeasure over calls.
Brittney Peterson 5, 7, 71.4, .429 post player. strong frame. defensively stronger. "tenacity" on her warmup jersey RF: needs to be ready for ball, needs to polish offense.
BENCH
Annie Vavra 1, 5, 20.0, .200
Jessica Koch 6, 4, 150.0, .750 delivered and played within herself. RF: size for position.

GRANTSBURG
STARTERS
Miranda Kammeyer 14, 11, 127.3, .636 lefty, strong, scored mainly in the paint. does what she needs to do, doesn't force things. RF: needs to work on ball handling and speed.
Mollie Bjelland 20, 19, 105.3, .474 Strong, athletic point guard, lefty, good vision, good jumper, hang time. got a rebound in mid air, and scored without landing. can glide. has a pull up jumper. hit a 3. crashes the boards on both ends. able to feed players with lob. competitor/scrapper. RF; needs to get off to a better start, had a stronger second half compared to the first half.
Megan Finch 3, 9, 33.3, .222 RF: needs to be more active on defense.
Vanessa Kleiss 4, 9, 44.4, .222
Lindsey Hedlund 0, 2, 0.0, .000
BENCH
Ingrid Ames 5, 9, 55.5, .222 RF: needs to be stronger with the ball, needs to be ready for ball.
Abby Vaksdal 6, 8, 75.0, .375 small set shot shooter.
#52 2, 2, 100.0, .500
Stephanie Jensen 2, 1, 200.0, 1.000

TRENCH PLAYER
You can argue one way or the other, but with the offensive explosion in crunch time I go with Hannah Dahlman.

BY THE NUMBERS
Braham 67, 69, 97.1, .464
Grantsburg 56, 70, 80.0, .386
made 3s: Braham 6, Grantsburg 1
made fts: Braham 11, Grantsburg 9
Bench: Grantsburg 15, Braham 7
Braham had a better start, and better finish. They had more shooters, and better athletes at more positions than Grantsburg. They also were more aggressive in attacking the basket. they made 8 trips to the line in the second half, while Grantsburg only had a couple. Grantsburg was able to come back thanks to second chance points. Once that door was shut it was Braham's game.

DEFENSIVE WRAPS
d rebounds, steals, forced turnovers, blocks leading to offensive possessions.
BRAHAM
Devin Diedrich 13
Hannah Dahlman 8
Brittney Peterson 8
Jessica Koch 4
Emily Bendickson 3
Laura Schmitz 2
Annie Vavra 1
totals: 39

GRANTSBURG
Mollie Bjelland 11
Miranda Kammeyer 7
Ingrid Ames 5
Vanessa Kleiss 3
Abbey Vaksdal 2
Lindsey Hedlund 1
totals 29

more to follow