Out & About: MN Stars Borowicz/North Tartan Larson

#7 posting 5.24.2007
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

this game took place on Sunday, May 20
Forest Lake AAU Tournament
Gold Championship
MN STARS BOROWICZ 62, NORTH TARTAN LARSON 55

I reported on this game on Sunday on my Gabcast channel Episode 27. I said it was 61 for MSB, but I failed to mark on the right hand column in my notes the final free throw point for Hintz.

After a grueling two overtime game against the gbbrecruit #1 team NC Heat in the semis, North Tartan had to come back after about an hour rest and play MN Stars Borowicz. The conventional wisdom said that the top three teams were in the top bracket with NC Heat bumping off MN Stars Hested in pool play on Saturday morning in a controversial seeding. North Tartan had to rally from 10 down to beat NC Heat in the semis in what many thought was the championship game, and a classic at that. MN Stars Borowicz didn't get the memo. They came out strong in the real championship game and withstood a furious NT comeback attempt to claim a 62-55 win and in the immortal words of Jesse Ventura "shocked the world."

NT scored on their first possession with Jackie Voigt doing the honors. But then MSB's Leah Dietel struck from behind the arc and on the next possession made a two pointer and the MSB early avalanche was on. MSB pushed the lead out to 9-2. NT had a drought of five after Voigt's basket, including two turnovers. Sarah Hintz of MSB set the tone defensively with three D wraps on those five NT possessions. On MSB's first 14 possessions they scored 23 points a rate of 164.3 pp100 and a floor % to match at .714. MSB was on fire and NT didn't have any hoses to douse the flames. The largest lead was 32-8 after a pull up jumper by Brittany Chamers. The Jordan duo of Chambers and Dietel combined for 19 points during the initial flurry. NT was flat and reacting after the fact. Offensively NT was stuck in neutral with another five possession drought at the tail end of the 32 point start. MSB had their own five possession drought after that, but NT didn't really jump on the opportunity at that time. NT did start to come to life at the tail end of the half with a 9-5 run to finish the half. Kamile Wahlin had four of the points in the run for NT. Chambers nailed a 3 before the end of the half to make it MSB 37-19.

After halftime NT came out with a bit more passion. Starting with their 4th possession NT ran off seven straight scoring possessions on a 15-5 to start the half. Leading the charge for NT was Kiara Buford who simply took over. She had 8 points in the stretch as she played possessed. NT did close to 45-39 with 9:30 left. Then a six possession cold spell fell over NT and MSB rebounded with a 6-0 run to extended their lead and get breathing room 51-39 with 7:57 left. NT tried double teamming as they did successfully in the NC Heat game but MSB handled the pressure with a calm demeanor. MSB did have one more dry spell starting at the five minute mark for four possessions. NT narrowed the gap with a trey from Wahlin to make it 56-50 with 1:20 left. Dietel answered the challenge with a basket for MSB. Hannah Draxten dropped a second straight 3 for NT from the left wing and it was 58-53 with under a minute to go. Colleen Doerr was fouled and drained both. Wahlin came back with a driving lay up that no one stopped to make it 60-55. With 21.3 ticks left Chambers was fouled and she made the front end of two free throws for a six point margin. Wahlin's 3 effort fell short and Hintz picked up the board for MSB. She also made the front end of the free throw for the final margin 62-55. Draxten had another crack at a 3 but it missed and Chambers boarded and ran out the clock on the stunning upset.

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

MN STARS BOROWICZ
STARTERS
Leah Dietel, Jordan 18, 14, 128.6, .571 long tall perimeter player. 3 range, can move and score inside. smooth. good feet. good hands. her baskets gave MSB the confidence early. can drive baseline. score when getting hit. runs the floor. RF: needs to have more than zero defensive wraps.
Sarah Hintz, Woodbury 3, 8, 37.5, .250 physical, strong, aggressive. gets after ball. RF: won't score much against the bigger post defenders, but could take them outside and then go.
Kate Thompson, Wayzata 10, 10, 100.0, .600 another tall perimeter player. wiry, went to the line four times in the second half. can see over traps. RF: strength
Brittany Chambers, Jordan 20, 21, 95.2, .476 plays without fear. plays with confidence. plays to win. Will take it inside. has good body control. likes baseline drives. did things like knock aways that aren't D wraps but shows the constant motion involved in her game. kept vision and head when the NT pressure got intense. delivered at the line late too.
Deena Ewert, Andover 0, 1, 0.0, .000 post player. rebounds. can also pass from the post.
BENCH
Casey Christian, Prior Lake 4, 5, 80.0, .400 guard. scores off the dribble. runs the floor.
Colleen Doerr, LeSueur-Henderson 5, 2, 250.0, 1.000 delivered on her possessions and also delivered the ball to back cutting teammates. NT wanted to foul her late. She canned both free throws. 3 range.
Ashley Allevan, Fairmont 2, 3, 66.7, .333 post
Alia Cook, Hibbing 0, 1, 0.0, .000 post
Jessica Thone, Woodbury 0, 1, 0.0, .000 guard RF: spin dribble is not my favorite move.

NORTH TARTAN
STARTERS
Jackie Voigt, Park-Cottage Grove 7, 12, 58.3, .417 in & out player. RF: wasn't ready for the ball
Caitlin Rowland, Hopkins 2, 8, 25.0, .250 guard. RF: Timing not quite on yet.
Hannah Draxten, Fergus Falls 5, 7, 71.4, .286 Silent until the end. RF: needs to make noise earlier in the contest.
Kiara Buford, St. Paul Central 14, 9, 155.6, .778 played the strongest I have seen her play. Stepped it up, took over. explosive and competitive. This may be her team now. led NT with four assists. RF: sometimes likes the spin.
Amanda Viehauser, Armstrong 4, 6, 66.7, .333 post. worked hard on d boards. RF only one field goal. Needs to keep her seal, and demand the ball. Then she needs to make contact and make the basket.
BENCH
Rey Robinson, Becker 2, 3, 66.7, .333 tall perimeter. lefty. RF: exposes ball.
Hannah Linz, Eden Valley-Watkins 6, 7, 85.7, .429 lefty. for the amount of time in had quite a few D wraps. runs the floor.
Jenny Gilbertson, Winona Cotter 0, 4, 0.0, .000 in & out. RF: needs to get feet stopped. needs to be more of a leader and deliver. She has been through the NT wars last year. This is her time to step up.
Kamille Wahlin, Crookston 15, 12, 125.0, .583 point guard. lefty. played much better than in the NC Heat game. Maybe more comfortable with the speed/intensity. started to hit shots. RF: passes sailed too high at times.

TRENCH PLAYER
I went back and forth on this one. Looking at both offense and defense it is Brittany Chambers.

BY THE NUMBERS
MN Stars Borowicz 62, 66, 93.9, .470
North Tartan 55, 68, 80.9, .426
made 3s: MSB 4, NT 3
made fts: MSB 16, NT 16
assists: MSB 12, NT 9
bench: NT 23, MSB 11
Earlier in the year at Skyview (two weeks ago) MSB was dreadful at the line. It was .379 % against MN Stars Smith in the Skyview Semis. Today it was .762 % This flaw has been corrected.
The poise at withstanding the NT defensive onslaught was also a key factor in the win.
The MSB bench needs to step up their share. Benchs are more important in the summer than in the winter. Only three MSB players scored from the floor in the second half.
The win should help boost MSB's confidence level. They will need to approach all games like this. They are no longer going to be overlooked and taken for granted.
NT needs to come out of the gate hard. It is draining trying to come back from the brink time and time again.

DEFENSIVE WRAPS
MN STARS BOROWICZ
Sarah Hintz 9.5
Brittany Chambers 8
Kate Thompson 4.5
Deena Ewert 3
Alia Cook 2
Jessica Thone 2
Casey Christian 1
Ashley Allevan 1
totals: 31

NORTH TARTAN
Amanda Viehauser 7
Hannah Draxten 6
Hannah Linz 6
Kiara Buford 4.5
Jenny Gilbertson 2.5
Jackie Voigt 2
Kamille Wahlin 2
Caitlin Rowland 1

Next up: tomorrow morning. later tomorrow the AAU week that was #8 with polls, players and team of the week.