Out & About: Mpls North/Mpls South

#7 posting 1.31.2007
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

MINNEAPOLIS NORTH polars 79,
MINNEAPOLIS SOUTH tigers 76

North snapped a 17 game win streak and upset South on the road in a battle that had big implications for the Twin City Game. Even if they split the series it will be North facing what looks like St. Paul Central for the TC title. Tonight's contest was a make up from Dec. 21 which was postponed due to snow. South's record is now 17-1, North is now 12-3 and they have an 11 game win streak. They have not lost since Dec 2 in a loss to Duluth East. This was a marquee game.

These two teams have major talents in the back court: South with Tayler Hill and Maurika Hickman (used to be Carlisle) for North. Both had strong first halves with Hickman with 19, Hill with 18. Hickman scored with 3 balls, and on penetration. Hill did have one 3, but it was on drives and transition that she delivered early. Hickman struck first on a baseline drive. Hill answered with two free throws. South had an early advantage at 14-8. North then had a 9/10 offensive sequence. The Polars took the lead at 19-18 and maintained a one point lead to 25-24. South then went on a 7-0 run topped off by Tyisha Smith's 3 from the left wing to lead 31-25. South's biggest lead of the night came at 37-29 off a Hill steal and lay up off the press. North then connected on 6/7 possessions to take a 43-41 lead (14-4 run). Hickman had 10 in this out burst. North took the lead on Briana Edwards two free throws after she was fouled after grabbing a missed free throw by Hannah Cheese. Hill then drove down off the press and scored and was fouled. She missed the free throw and the gane was tied at 43 at half.

The pace slowed slightly in the second half. In the first half each team had 37 possessions; in the second half it was 34. Just as in the first half Hickman opened scoring with a runner. Holmes answered with a pull up jumper. North pushed the lead to 49-46 on two scores by Chaundera Riley, one off the press for a lay up, the other on a hustle save pass by Olivia Omoyayi. A drive by Hickman gave North a 51-48 lead with 15:00 to go. South went on a 8-2 run to go up 56-53. Gabrielle Roberts scored in the paint on two consecutive possessions. Both teams traded leads for awhile. North led on Edwards' pull up jumper 60-58. South's Roberts agains slipped under the back defense and was fouled for a three point play and the Tigers led 61-60. Another Edwards' pull up and North was back in front. All in all there were five ties, and 10 lead changes in the second half, which makes for great viewing. South took their last lead at 64-62 on a Hill rebound and coast to coast lay up. They built on that up to 69-62, their largest of the second half, with 6:45 to go on two free throws by Hill. North was mired in a six possession drought. Part of that was due to the fact that Hickman wasn't involved in either shooting or passing in the half court offense, so things were a tad off. At the 5 minute mark I asked my spotter what percentage of South's points would come from the line. At that point the Tigers were in the double bonus and North had three players on the floor with four fouls. Hill made four free throws on two straight possessions to lead 73-68, and then South fell into a five possession drought to the 30 second mark. North took advantage of that drought to go on a 8-0 run. North tied it on a three by Europe Guy from the left corner as it looked like the ball was going out of bounds. They then took the lead at 2:16 on Riley's basket off a penetration and dish from Buckner. They wouldn't trail again. Riley added af free throw to make it 76-73 with 38.4 seconds to go. Hill drove down and scored to make it 76-75. North worked the clock and Hill fouled Hickman with 14.1 ticks left. She missed the first and canned the second for a 77-75 lead. Holmes drove the right baseline and was fouled at 6.5 seconds by Riley. Many in the crowd originally thought Riley was fouled on the rebound. Holmes made the first, but missed the second. Edwards grabbed the miss and was fouled in a dejavu of the first half. And just like the first half she nailed both tosses with 5.9 seconds left for a 79-76 lead, which was to be the final result. South's Roberts fouled out on the foul on Edwards. South had one last chance to tie, but Hill drove down the lane and lost the ball as the horn sounded. North had a hard fought win on the road.

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

NORTH
STARTERS
Maurika Hickman 26, 22, 118.2, .545 a smooth operator. leader. quick, vision/handles top notch. inspires team. good stroke. good feet. squeezes through tight spots. can find open players. a good defender as well. can use either hand. RF; size, but if you have seen Ivory Latta, not that big of a RF.
Apiphany Asberry 2, 7, 28.6, .143 perimeter player. good speed/quickness. RF: 3 shot not on today.
Olivia Omoyayi 0, 4, 0.0, .000 made great hustle save on a ball sailing out of bounds that resulted in a basket. RF: needs to develop offensive game.
Briana Edwards 12, 8, 150.0, .750 had big rebounds. Long lean active good off the floor. delivered at the line. scored on pull up jumpers and press lay ups.
Nadvia Davis 5, 5, 100.0, .600 crashed the boards at both ends.
BENCH
Chaundera Riley 17, 10, 170.0, .900 big strong aggressive inside. hard to move. good hands, active. look at the numbers. RF; too many fouls kept her on the bench
Kendria Buckner 6, 7, 85.7, .429 perimeter player. has 3 range. can feed, RF: still would prefer Hickman to make the decisions.
Europe Guy 11, 8, 137.5, .625 3 point shooter, lefty, was in position to be fouled. made 6 for North the most on the team. RF: speed, quickness.

SOUTH
STARTERS
Tayler Hill 33, 30, 110.0, .533 others explode. She accelerates and cruises by others. Long strides take a lot of space. she handled the point in the late game situations. RF: forced offense at times, took shots off balance. needs to be aware of time/score.
Jenny Houle 6, 3, 200.0, .667 3 point specialist. RF; needs to be more active on defense, block out, anticipate more. on offense may need to develop a drive game.
Tyisha Smith 7, 7, 100.0, .429 perimeter player. handles point at times. good composure for a freshman. quick and aggressive defender. 3 Range. RF: size.
Ephesia Holmes 16, 19, 84.2, .421 guard, handles point at times. can jump, has quickness and speed. RF; size, also forced offense late in the game. pull up was short late in the game. picked up fouls in the first half and when she sat team was off kilter.
Garielle Roberts 8, 6, 133.3, .667 inside player. able to slip in and score off the bigger players. RF; too many fouls, so needs better positioning. also needs to cash in at the line.
BENCH
Hannah Cheese 6, 6, 100.0, .500 strong, aggressive inside. Gets to ball, initiates contact. gets position. Scored on out of bounds play on weak side twice. uses arms to get open. RF; outsized. needs to cash in at the line.
Taquoia Hammick 0, 0, 0.0, .000 big player RF: that needs more experience with the ball and more court experience. North out quicked her to the ball.

TRENCH PLAYER
Mauika Hickman

BY THE NUMBERS
North 79, 71, 111.3, .549
South 76, 71, 107.0, .507
made 3s: South 6, North 5
made fts: North 20, South 20
Bench: North 34, South 6
North has improved greatly from the first contest of the year at the Hamline tournament against Centennial. Their pp100 went from 58.6 to 111.3 tonight, and their floor % went from a frigid .257 to .549. Obviously the extra two months of practice have helped. Then on offense there was a lot of standing around watching Hickman. Now the offense has everyone involved. Everyone does what they need to. They played with heart and emotion and made some hustle plays that turned out to be big.
South in the end of game situations forced offense when they were in the driver's seat. They were in the double bonus and could have milked points at the line. Also in the second half the inside game was closed off and usually South would try the penetration game. Players weren't moving as much as they were earlier in the game.
Also I need to mention the great crowd at the game. There was electricity in the air even in the JV game as the crowd was getting ready for the main course. Since it was the only game in town many section opponents for both teams were in the house. Everyone was witness to a treat of a game.

DEFENSIVE WRAPS
d rebounds, steals, forced turnovers, blocks leading to offensive possessions
NORTH
Briana Edwards 8
Olivia Omoyayi 4
Chaundera Riley 4
Europe Guy 4
Maurika Hickman 3
Nadvia Davis 2
Kendria Buckner 2
totals: 27

SOUTH
Hannah Cheese 6.5
Tayler Hill 5.5
Gabrielle Roberts 5
Ephesia Holmes 3
Tyisha Smith 2
Jenny Houle 1
Totals: 23

North is on the move. AAA teams overlook them at their own peril.

Next up: tomorrow morning