Out & About: Worthington/Mankato West

#5 posting 1.25.2007
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

WORTHINGTON trojans 74, MANKATO WEST scarlets 65

In a key 2AAA game for seeding Worthington rallied from 13 down in the first half to race by Mankato West 74-66. This was a whipsaw game in which Worthington established tempo and flow early. MW thrived for awhile, but soon their tanks were empty.

In the beginnning MW was firing on all cylinders. They score on their first 3 possessions and 13 or their first 16. If they kept this pace up they would have had 146.2 pp100 and a floor % of .813. At one point in the run MW led 16-3 at about the 13:30 mark. Allison Downs had 7 for MW in the stretch. Both teams were pressing, both teams were running. It was to Worthington's advantage to have a chaos game. MW had a string of six straight scoring possessions, and Worthington had a drought of six, but still they kept attacking, and pushing. But as MW had the hot hand early it turned a bit more frosty as the half progressed. In their next 17 possessions they only managed to score 3 times for seven points, a pp100 of 41.2 and a floor % of .176. 8 of the possessions ended in turnovers. By that time the lead was gone. Worthington took its first lead at 27-26 on Holli Aggen's steal and 3. Allison Downs came down and delivered a 3 for MW for their last lead at 29-27. Worthington came back on a 14-3 run in a five minute stretch. But Worthington wasn't finished with their offensive explosion. They had another 15-5 run after being tied at 30. In the last 16 possessions of the first half Worthington scored 23 points for a pp100 of 143.8 and floor % of .750. In most situations the possession never got beyond three touches. Gabrielle Boever had 10 of her points in the last three minutes of the half. Worthington led at half time 45-35.

The second half was much calmer than the first half. In the first half both teams were in the double bonus early. In the second half MW didn't get into the bonus until the last minute. In the first half the possessions totaled 45 for each team. It was 31 in the second half. MW was trying to work the ball a bit more on offense in the second half instead of the run and gun approach. Worthington also slowed down, but it was extremely late in the game when they were milking the clock waiting to get hit and be sent to the line. MW did have one last push in them where they cut Worthington's lead to 51-48 with about 11:30 to go. But Holli Aggen answered right away with a trey from a shade to the right of the top of the key. The game maintained a six point spread until Holli Aggen again nailed a three from a shade to the left of the top of the key. From the 4:50 mark to the end Worthington had eight possessions and scored on six of them. MW's comeback produced 14 points the last five minutes with scores on five of the nine possessions. But MW was not able to close the gap due to foul troubles, and, more importantly, the exhaustion of the first half pace. Worthington beat MW on West's own floor 74-65.

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

WORTHINGTON
STARTERS
Holli Aggen 13, 12, 108.3. .417 knocked down 4 3s on the night. drew a charging foul. RF: picked up charging foul.
Gabrielle Boever 20, 20, 100.0, .500 freshman point guard. good vision. good decisions. stays low on the dribble. nice pull up jumper. can penetrate, and dish. She was also active on the defensive boards leading Worthington with 7 d boards. keeps her follow through nice and high on her shot. follows her shot aggressively. runs the floor. can score getting hit on the move. RF: 3 shot was off a tad.
Sarah Boever 13, 14, 92.9, .500 has 3 range. had a nice reverse lay up, something I don't see too much of. also follows her shot. runs the floor. RF: still needs to work on ball handling. for example double dribble.
Ashley Aggen 9, 9, 100.0, .444 also had 3 range. was money at the line. RF: picked up a charging foul. at times off balance
Alex Wetering 6, 4, 150.0, .750 post player. lefty. RF: got into foul trouble the first two minutes and wasn't involved much.
BENCH
Alyssa Smith 9, 11, 81.8, .455 banked in free throws. crashes offensive boards. RF: tried to challenge Rothenbuehler in the low post and was rejected twice.
Jenna Donkersloot 0, 1, 0.0, .000 RF: defensively out of position, too high.
Rachel Pavelko 0, 1, 0.0, .000
Kaele Weise 4, 4, 100.0, .500

MANKATO WEST
STARTERS
Krissy Schemmel 5, 6, 83.3, .333 has 3 range. RF: passing needs to sharpen up.
Allison Downs 21, 17, 123.5, .529 made four 3s in the first half. had 19 at half time. RF; both ankles taped, left the game for a stretch in the second half due to either leg cramps, or ankles. when handling ball will spin. passes too long.
Ashley Veroeven 6, 3, 200.0, .667 has 3 range. looks like an athlete, but RF: too many fouls meant more time on the bench than on the floor. showed displeasure over a call. one foul was a charge.
Joey Pipal 4, 13, .308, .154 point guard. strong, scrappy. RF: press and pressure wore her down and she picked up turnovers due to being tired. mainly traveling.
Emily Stenzel 11, 16, 68.8, .375 RF; needs to be stronger with the ball.
BENCH
Abby Rothenbuehler 14, 12, 116.7, .583 6-2 soph. thin. wiry. has quickness and jumping ability. Surprising explosiveness. has some passion, showed a fist after a basket, like "yeah, let's go". good shot blocker. has decent touch and range up to free throw line. can feed from high. has decent open floor dribbling skills. is physical. passes zip. RF: needs more strength.
Megan Duffee 4, 7, 57.1, .429 took two charges. scrappy defender. RF; needs to deliver more at the line., needs to polish ball handling.
Amanda Zrust 0, 1, 0.0, .000

TRENCH PLAYER
Gabrielle Boever

BY THE NUMBERS
Worthington 74, 76, 97.4, .474
Mankato West 65, 75, 86.7, .413
made 3s: Worthington 6, Mankato West 6
made fts: Worthington 18, Mankato West 17
bench: Mankato West 16, Worthington 13
Pretty even with the numbers, but Worthington had more transition baskets. Right before half, after MW scored going over the top of the press with about four seconds left, Worthington came back and scored a lay up at the buzzer. Worthington didn't stop and kept their game plan rolling.

Worthington would penetrate every chance they could. They would push the ball up the floor and eventually found MW out of position.

MW was bigger, but Worthington ran better the entire game.

DEFENSIVE WRAPS
d rebounds, steals, forced turnovers, and blocked shots
WORTHINGTON
Gabrielle Boever 10.5
Sarah Boever 8
Holli Aggen 5.5
Ashley Aggen 4
Alyssa Smith 3
Alex Wetering 1
totals: 32

MANKATO WEST
Joey Pipal 9.5
Abby Rothenbuehler 8.5
Emily Stenzel 5
Allison Downs 5
Megan Duffee 4
Krissy Schemmel 2
Ashley Veroeven 1
totals: 34

Worthington's coach is Eric Lindner who played at Adrian when I, once upon a time, coached at Adrian. He married one of my ex-students from Ellsworth, MN Patty Heironimus. She is intensely involved in the games.

next up: tomorrow morning