Out & About: WI Heat/Southern Stars

#6 posting 5.15.2007
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

This game took place on Sunday, May 13
Richfield AAU Tournament
15u Semifinals
WI HEAT 44, SOUTHERN MN STARS 42

I reported on this game earlier on Sunday with Gabcast episode #17.

WI Heat was the only non Minnesota team in the tournament this weekend. And this contest with the Southern MN Stars turned out to be the most dramatic of the weekend. A last second basket by Courtney Falk at the buzzer capped a late game rally to put WI Heat in the finals 44-42.

The contest started off a little slow with SMS holding a 3-2 lead at the 13 minute mark. The Heat, after scoring on their opening possession, suffered through a six possession drought. The Heat struck for six on two possessions. A trey by Kelly Stewart. LeTaya Mulhern had an "and one" on a crawler that creeped over the rim to put the Heat up 8-3. The Heat pushed the lead out to 18-11 with scoring on a four of five possessions. The SMS came back with a 10-2 run to go up 21-20. Nytor Longar had three straight scoring possessions all inside. A oldfashioned three point play on a drive by Kendra Schiell put the lead back in the Heat's hands 23-21. The SMS scored the last five points for a 26-24 lead at half.

In the second half Jasmine Diettrich took a stairstep lay up to put SMS up 30-26. At this point the Heat was stuck in a 10 possession drought. SMS didn't seize the advantage going 2/14 for their first 14 possessions. SMS tested the four range again at 36-32. The Heat came back and tied it on two consecutive baskets by Kaitlin Haag. Abbey Arends immediately answered back with a three from the left wing. A problem for SMS came back to bite them in the rear. On their next two possessions they got one free throw each time. They had a chance for more as they actually went to the line twice in the same possession, but they only made one free throw out of three. And to top it off they got the rebound again on the missed free throw, but Arends second chancer didn't drop. It was the Heat's turn to make only one free throw and it was 41-37. Stewart added a free throw to make it 41-38 with 1:30 to go. Diettrich came back again with the one made free throw disease to make it 42-38 with under 1:20. Schiell scored on a dish from Mulhern to make it 42-40. SMS was milking the clock when Diettrich's inside feed pass was snatched by Tessa Wells. Wells found Falk down court and the game was tied 42 all. SMS's Longar got the ball inside but didn't connect. Mulhern got the key rebound and Wells again found Falk. She scored at the buzzer and was fouled for the dramatic come from behind 44-42 win.

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

WI HEAT
STARTERS
44 Courtney Falk, Wausau West 10, 12, 83.3, .500 post. made the key shots late. good concentration when hit.
25 Tessa Wells, River Falls 3, 9, 33.3, .111 point guard. delivered key assists late. RF: too much spins
21 LeTaya Mulhern, Osseo-Fairchild 7, 12, 58.3, .250 had nice height on transition basket. competitive. RF: needs to finish transition
15 Kendra Schiell, Amery 8., 7, 114.3, .571 uses body to seal well inside. hung in the air. physical. RF: size post HS inside.
23 Jamie Mattison, Osseo-Fairchild 0, 3, 0.0, .000 RF: came in at too flat of an angle.
BENCH
24 Alex Michol, Wausau West 0, 2, 0.0, .000
33 Kelly Stewart, Amery 12, 11, 109.1, .455 canned three 3s. rangy, can get up.
43 Kaitlin Haag, Hudson 4, 8, 50.0, .250 post player. gets up and snatches ball. RF: needs to develop a head or ball fake.

SOUTHERN MN STARS
STARTERS
11 Julie Rainey, Stewartville 10, 10, 100.0, .600 likes to drive baseline. RF: needs to fake/be deceptive when passing ball in.
21 Abbey Arends, Albert Lea 10, 14, 71.4, .357 nice stop and pop. zeroed in on action. made big 3 late. looked like a leader. had a nice floater as a pass.
23 Jenna Henry, Faribault 0, 3, 0.0, .000
12 Ariel Berhow, Fairmont 3, 7, 42.9, .286
20 Apiew Ojulu, Rochester JM 0, 1, 0.0, .000 like Longar, long, lean and lanky. RF: very green. I would like more physical play.
BENCH
2 Nytor Longar, Rochester JM 11, 11, 100.0, .545 long lean and lanky. worked screen and roll game. still learning game. RF: exposes ball. I would like more d boards
3 Kacie Lukes, Austin 3, 4, 75.0, .500 small point guard. RF: size
25 Marie Morem, Blooming Prairie 2, 8, 25.0, .125 RF: needs to be ready for the ball.
34 Jasmine Diettrich, Rochester JM 3, 5, 60.0, .400 stairway lay up. active on defense boards. RF: fakes (more)/forces (less).

TRENCH PLAYER
Coutney Falk, making the tying basket, and game winner is good enough for me.

BY THE NUMBERS
WI Heat 44, 65, 67.7, .323
Southern Stars 42, 63, 66.7, .389
made 3s: WI Heat 4, Southern Stars 2
made fts: Southern Stars 10, WI Heat 4
assists: WI Heat 14, Southern Stars 11
bench: Southern Stars 19, WI Heat 16
Take a look at the floor %. Southern Stars held an advantage on that score, but Heat had four 3s and two :"& 1s" whereas the Southern Stars had 9 possessions with one free throw made and one missed so only squeezing one point off the possession.

DEFENSIVE WRAPS
WI HEAT
LeTaya Mulhern 8
Kelly Stewart 6
Courtney Falk 5
Tessa Wells 5
Kendra Schiell 5
Jamie Mattison 4
Alex Michol 2
Kaitlin Haag 2
totals: 37

SOUTHERN STARS
Jasmine Diettrich, Rochester JM 8
Abbey Arends, Albert Lea 7
Ariel Berhow, Fairmont 6
Apiuw Ogulu, Rochester JM 6
Jenna Henry, Faribault 4
Nytor Longar, Rochester JM 4
Marie Morem, Blooming Prairie 1.5
Julie Rainey, Stewartville 1
Kacie Lukes, Austin 0.5

Next up: another 15u game from Richfield