Out & About: Blaine/Centennial

#9 posting 3.6.2007
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

7AAAA SEMIFINALS
BLAINE bengals 73, CENTENNIAL cougars 62

#4 seed Blaine stunned #1 seed and #2 in the state Centennial 73-62. Blaine had lost to Centennial twice during the course of the year 85-70 and 92-69. The defensive efforts stopped that tonight.
By the way it was Black Tuesday for #1 seeds vs #4 seeds in AAAA. in section 4 Forest Lake upended White Bear Lake 47-45. Section 2 Hopkins fell to Eden Prairi in overtime 61-60. Mpls South was the only 1 to beat a 4 in their win over Burnsville. Osseo also won, but it was against #5 Cooper.

Blaine scored on their first two possessions with Heather Gillund scoring on a post up. and then on the next possession Jackie Kelly scored on a drive and was fouled. Blaine built it up to 7-2 when Centennial scored six points on two possessions. Emily Becken hit a 3 from the right corner. and then Megan Nipe scored on a drive, scored and was fouled. She made the free throw and that was Centennial's first lead at 8-7. Alex Suda answered on the very next possession. Kiara Allums gave the lead back to Centennial with a drive. Alyssa Hames answered on the next Blaine possession on a back cut. And Centennial would play catch up the rest of the night. Centennial had a 13 possession drought at that point. It was 10 possessions of missed shots, and only three turnovers. Blaine explointed that with a 13-0 run to go up 22-10. Centennial finished the half with a 9-8 run to make it 30-19 Blaine at half. Joelle Waytashek finished scoring with a 3 for Centennial.

Centennial tested the lead getting as close as 7 early at 17:24 after the first two possessions, but on their third possession Allums picked up four #4 and had to sit on the pine. That disrupted the early rhthym and Centennial got stuck in a 6 possession drought. Blaine, in the mean time, had a 6-0 run with two runners by Alex Suda. Centennial again came within 7 at 36-29 at 12:08 left. Blaine answered that four straight possessions right after that an the lead was back at 45-29. Suda started it with a three from the top of the key. Then five second chance points finished off the scoring., Any time Centennial looked as if they would have a resurgence Alex Suda was there. Centennial scored five straight to slice the margin to 45-34, but Suda was there and bang another three to make it 48-34. By this tiime Allums was back in the contest. But she only lasted two minutes before picking up #5 at 7:10. So Allums played a grand total of three minutes in the second half. When she was in the contest in the second half Centennial had a 9-5 advantage. After she sat down the game became one of Blaine shooting free throws and Centennial desperately driving in the lane trying to score the lay up or get the clock stopped on a foul or both. From the 6:42 mark Blaine only scored two field goals, both under the two minute mark and only because Centennial was pressing and Blaine went over the top. Alex Suda once again delivered the KO punch with two consecutive lay ups. So of Blaine's last 23 points in the last 7 minutes 19 came at the line. On Centennial's last 18 possessions they scored 26 points a 144.4 pp100, but the hole was too deep to crawl out of and too many players were watching instead of playing. Joelle Waytashek had 12 and Megan Nipe had 10 of those points. But Blaine was matching them in scoring. In Blaine's last 20 possessions they scored 23 points for a 115.0 pp100 and a .650 floor %. Blaine did have a 5 possession drought in the middle of this effort with 3 ending in turnovers. Centennial did mangae to get the margin down to 66-58, but as you know Suda came through with those lay ups.

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

BLAINE
STARTERS
Alex Suda 25, 17, 147.1, .647 in the right place with the right shot every time Centennial was about to make a move. 3s, runners, free throws. She also had key assists in the stretch.
Jackie Kelly 5, 5, 100.0, .200 guard. has 3 range. Does what it takes to win. good vision.
Heather Gillund 2, 6, 33.3, .167 lanky post. dominated early with defensive rebounding. Opened with three straight d boards. RF: got in foul trouble
Lindsey Baumgartner 11, 14, 78.6, .429 took cuts away defensively, also strong on the boards.
Alyssa Hames 22, 16, 137.5, .688 scored on back cuts. also went to the line early and often in the second half. made 13 free throws. RF; did take an off balance shot.
BENCH
Alexandra Pafko 2, 4, 50.0, .250 post, athletic
MacKenzie Suda 2, 6, 33.3, .333 RF: needs to work at her free throw shot
Alissa Dombek 2, 2, 100.0, .500 guard
Tracie Gillund 2, 1, 200.0, 1.000 post

CENTENNIAL
STARTERS
Emily Becken 7, 11, 63.6, .273 point guard. 3 range.
Kellie Schuneman 6, 9, 66.7, .333 RF defensively needs to be better at off ball defense. beat on cuts.
Megan Nipe 24, 19, 126.3, .579 was the most consistent player on both ends. mainly scored in the paint, also had strong drives. strong rebounder. RF toe isn't aligned with basket on free throw shot.
Joelle Waytashek 15, 15, 100.0, .400 strong in the desperate part of the contest with 12 points. scored on 3s and on drives. RF: only 3 points the rest of the night.
Kiara Allums 4, 9, 44.4, .222 RF: too many fouls = too much time on the bench. two of the fouls were offensive. tried to overdo when in the game instead of letting the game flow.
BENCH
Katie Huston 0, 2, 0.0, .000 enforcer.
Bridget Schuneman 4, 4, 100.0, ,500 post player. scored four points on two consecutive possessions in the second half.
Kayla Blom 2, 4, 50.0, .250 point guard.

TRENCH PLAYER
Alex Suda.

BY THE NUMBERS
Blaine 73, 71, 102.8, .493
Centennial 62, 73, 84.9, .384
made 3s: Blaine 6, Centennial 3
made fts: Blaine 27, Centennial 15
bench: Blaine 8, Centennial 6
Blaine did subtle things like bump players as they would make their cuts through the lane disrupting the offensive flow, pushing players out of their comfort range. Blaine also handled the ball without forcing too many things. I have seen Blaine three times this year and this was their best offensive show. They took good shots and didn't force issues too often. Their spacing and floor balance was right. They also moved without the ball. Defensively Blaine was again the best of the three tonight in floor %. (They were better against Holy Angels in pp100, but only slightly). Obviously peaking at the right moment of the year.
Centennial had a window from 84 to 112 in the 6 games I saw this year. They tested the 84 again tonight. However this was the lowest floor % of the six I saw. An interesting # is the pp100s and floor% for Centennial before and after the first of the year. Before Jan 1 the pp100 window was tops at 75 pp100 with floor % near .340. After Jan 1 it was near 100 pp100 and floor % of close to .500in the three games I saw. Somewhere along the way the strong Centennial defense didn't keep up with the offensive effort.

Now Blaine will face Champlin Park. CP has two wins 82-79 and 63-62. Four points over two games separate these two teams. With the win Blaine has everybody's attention now.

DEFENSIVE WRAPS
d rebounds, steals, forced turnovers, and blocks leading to offensive possessions
BLAINE
Heather Gillund 10
Lindsey Baumgartner 10
Alyssa Hames 4
Alex Suda 3
MacKenzie Suda 3
Jackie Kelly 2
Alexandra Pafko 1
Tracie Gillund 1
totals: 34

CENTENNIAL
Megan Nipe 12
Emily Becken 4.5
Kiara Allums 3.5
Bridget Schuneman 3
Katie Huston 2
Kellie Schuneman 1
Kayla Blom 1
totals: 27

next up: tomorrow morning.