Thursday, November 29, 2007

Out & About: Armstrong/Hill-Murray

#10 posting 11.29.2007
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

ROBBINSDALE ARMSTRONG falcons 68
HILL-MURRAY pioneers 54

In a battle between two different classes it was AAAA Armstrong beating #7 AAA Hill-Murray 68-54. Armstrong built an early lead only to see HM scrap back to within four in the second half. Down the home stretch the Falcons clicked with nine straight scoring possessions to put the game out of reach.

Armstrong jumped out to an 8-0 lead. The Falcons started off with a Nicole Dooher lay up off the opening tap. HM turned the ball over on their first three possessions and never seemed in sync. In fact HM had to use their second time out at 13:45 when trailing 14-3. HM suffered through droughts of 5, and 8 in the first half. In their first 16 possessions HM was at 37.5 pp100 and had a floor % of .188. Krista Kaput only had two possessions in the first half. Despite the hot start by Armstrong, they too had a cold spell with a 1/12 sequence in the middle of the half, 8 of those possessions were turnovers. Armstrong tested the 15 point margin level and led 33-20 at half.

HM came out with a more attacking mentality in the second half. In the first half they were more content to shoot on the perimeter. The Pioneers tested the paint and Taylor Cross was fouled by Viehauser. HM started off the half with a 13-4 run to close the margin to 37-33 with 11:40 left. Armstrong recovered and pushed their margin back out to 44-33 thanks to a four point possession by Kristi Loobeek. She scored the basket on "&1" but missed the free throw. Eventually she got the ball back and was fouled and delivered both tosses. HM had one more run and cut the margin to 47-41. At that point Armstrong ripped off nine straight scoring trips. In that scoring spree Armstrong went on a 17-5 run. Steph Loobeek led the charge with 9 of the points. At that point it was 63-46 for the home squad. Kaput matched Loobeek with her own scoring spree at the end of the game. She scored the last 8 points for HM.

In the house was Lynx player Lindsey Harding as part of the Lynx Ballerz program.
photo: Nicole Dooher of Armstrong is sandwiched on a drive between two HM players with #22 Tessa Cichy. photos by kja

key: name, points, possessions, pp100, floor %

ARMSTRONG
STARTERS
Nicole Dooher 21, 19, 110.5, .684 guard, sometimes point, drove for most of her points. went to the line seven times so not afraid of contact. good speed, a soccer player. needs to cash in all chances at the line (missed 8)
Amanda Viehauser 6, 6, 100.0, .500 post player, hampered by foul problems. needs to stay lower on defense.
Alyssa Marschner 10, 12, 83.3, .417 perimeter shooter. can hit a three and also slash. Andrea Fossum 0, 6, 0.0, .000 guard. led the team in defensive rebounds with 6. offensively at times ran the point.
Steph Loobeek 18, 16, 112.5, .625 strong inside lunch bucket type post. physical, yet not saddled with fouls. crashed the offensive boards hard. Also gets out on the break with two transition baskets.
BENCH
Kristi Loobeek 10, 11, 90.9, .455 post player. went to the line six times. did have two chances at old fashioned three point plays.
Alli Hoefer 1, 5, 20.0, .200 point guard back up. travelled too often
Nikki Brown 2, 2, 100.0, .500 undersized post.
Maddie Smith 0, 1, 0.0, .000

HILL-MURRAY
STARTERS
Kristin Vasko 5, 8, 62.5, .375 more perimeter than post.
Chrissy Holm 14, 20, 70.0, .300 perimeter shooter. was the main force in the first half on offense. decent jump shot.
Taylor Cross 6, 8, 75.0, .375 post player, a bit smaller than Armstrong. had only one field goal on the day. fouled out. did draw a charge.
Rochelle Cichy 4, 5, 80.0, .200 perimeter player. ran the point when in. did have a 3.
Krista Kaput 20, 16, 125.0, .625 oddly enough only had two possessions in the first half. Needs to play with the urgency at the start of the game that she demonstrated at the end of the game. needs to take over. can hit the pull up jumper. can nail the 3. most of her baskets came off the dribble.
BENCH
Coco Booker 1, 7, 14.3, .143 post player. strong, hard to move, too many fouls
Mary Schafhauser 0, 6, 0.0, .000 needs to know her range
Tessa Cichy 4, 8, 50.0, .250 8th grader that is strong. She looks like a junior. When an 8th grader gets 7 defensive rebounds that indicates to me some toughness. The kick is she is a guard.
Amy Kuper 0, 1, 0.0, .000 thinner post

TRENCH PLAYER
Steph Loobeek

BY THE NUMBERS
Armstrong 68, 78, 87.2, .487
Hill-Murray 54, 79, 68.4, .329
made 3s: HM 4, Armstrong 2
made fts: Armstrong 20, HM 16
bench: Armstrong 13, HM 5
Armstrong missed 19 free throws or the margin would have been even greater.

DEFENSIVE WRAPS
ARMSTRONG
Andrea Fossum 9
Alyssa Marschner 8
Steph Loobeek 5
Amanda Viehauser 5
Nikki Brown 4
Nicole Dooher 3
Kristi Loobeek 3
Alli Hoefer 2
totals: 39

HILL-MURRAY
Tessa Cichy 7
Taylor Cross 6
Chrissy Holm 4
Coco Booker 4
Krista Kaput 4
Mary Schafhausser 3
Kristin Vasko 2
Rochelle Cichy 2
Amy Kuper 2
Totals: 34

Next up; tomorrow morning