Out & About: Eastview/Park-Cottage Grove

#9 posting 12.14.2007
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

EASTVIEW lightning 61
PARK-COTTAGE GROVE wolfpack 56
overtime

Eastview broke open a tight first half game by building a 46-31 lead in the second half, only to see PCG make a furious rally capped by Katya Leick's 3 at the buzzer to tie it at 56. In overtime it was all Eastview with Brittnye McSparron scoring on the opening tip, and then adding two free throws later on. She finished with 25 points.

This game was important on a couple of levels. #1 it matched up two top 10 AAAA teams. #2 more importantly it was a section 3 game, one of the roughest sections in the state. No team wants to be the second or third seed. With three of the top 10 teams in this section (the other Lakeville North) the semifinal would be the equivalent of a region final. Eastview now holds the advantage. It was the quickness of Eastview vs the size and physical play of PCG. In the end it was guard play that differentiated the two squads. This game dripped with intensity.

To start the scoring off McSparron drilled a three. She was the only Eastview player to score early on. She had the first 8 Eastview points. PCG held a 14-8 lead with 10:40 to go in the half. PCG hit two 3s in the run. Eastview scored 7 straight points on three possessions to take a 15-14 lead. Then the lead see sawed back and forth between the two teams. There were three ties after that point. McSparron hit two free throws at the 2:15 mark to put the Lightning up 28-26. Neither team scored on their last four possessions.

Eastview started the second half with a 14-3 run. PCG had a five possession drought to start, and, if you add on the tail end of the first half their drought stretched over 9 possessions. Eastview started the run with three 3s. First it was Cassie Sheppard, then McSparron, two possessions after that it was Sam Mehr. The biggest Eastview lead came at 46-31. On the very next possession PCG started their rally. Christina Fisher scored, was fouled, and missed the "&1" opportunity, but Leick snatched the board and scored the put back for a four point possession. The big PCG push came with 9:50 to go when they started a four possession run (7-0) to cut the margin to 48-44 in 1:50. Jackie Voigt opened the run with two straight baskets. Eastview was mired in an eight possession drought. PCG further narrowed the margin to 49-46 when the first of four scoreboard outages marred the experience. Any momentum that PCG had built up dissipated. Mehr put the Lightning up 54-48 with her third 3 on the night. With two minutes left PCG had their back to the wall. Eastview led 56-50 with 1:14 left when they left the door open. First off they missed a potential four points at the line. Second, McSparron fouled Sarah Nohrenberg with 37.9 ticks left on a three point attempt. Nohrenberg made each and every one. PCG tied up the inbound pass, with the possession arrow pointing to Wolfpack. The PCG attempt was off. DaNae Moore rebounded and eventually was fouled with 18.2 seconds left. It was double bonus and she missed both. Nohrenberg rebounded and that led to the game tying buzzer shot by Leick.

But the situation was tenuous with PCG. They had foul issues and, after the climb back to overtime, squandered chances with three straight turnovers to start OT. Eastview didn't seize advantage either with Moore still not connecting at the line and then two straight turnovers as the game got sloppy. The overtime was marred by the shorts in the scoreboard clock. Three times the screen went dark. With less than a minute to go PCG missed a couple of chances at the basket. Moore picked up a key rebound and McSparron iced the contest with a pair of free throws. PCG tried to connect behind the arc, but the clock struck midnight, or at least 0. The Lightning now hold the upper hand in Section 3.

photos: #1 Katya Leick and Samantha Hilldebrandt go up for a rebound for PCG; #2 Jackie Voigt of PCG scoring with her off hand inside. #3 DaNae Moore finishing a fast break. Photos by Teas.

key: name, points, possessions, pp100, floor %
EASTVIEW
STARTERS
Brittnye McSparron 25, 23, 108.7, .522 point guard, thisquick. likes to penetrate. can pull up. has 3 range if defense sags off. was doubled late. when Leick started to guard her, the game changed.
Cassie Sheppard 7, 6, 116.7, .500 hit a three in the second half to open the gates. picked up fouls
Sam Mehr 15, 10, 150.0, .600 3 point shooter. nice shot. runs the floor, anticipates well.
Brittany Rud 0, 4, 0.0, .000
DaNae Moore 5, 14, 35.7, .214 quick defender. Started off on Voigt. was the top D rebounder. offensively needs to get much better at the line. needs to make better choices/decisions when the heat is on.
BENCH
Emily Kaus 5, 7, 71.4, .429 post player. Strong, physical, hard to move. Too many fouls kept her sitting
Haley Thomforde 4, 8, 50.0, .250 perimeter. quick release

PARK-COTTAGE GROVE
STARTERS
Tina Fisher 7, 10, 70.0, .300 rugged post player. worked high low, game. drifted out side. picked up a couple of traveling turn overs.
Jackie Voigt 8, 10, 80.0, .400 has ability that was untapped tonight. part of that was foul situations. part of that was team not being able to feed the post when she was posted with mismatches. She had success inside. Did a strong job on the d boards.
Samantha Hilldebrandt 3, 8, 37.5, .250 started off as point. started off guarding McSparron. passes need to be shorter, snappy
Katya Leick 22, 20, 110.0, .550 relentless. made key 3 to send game to ot. strong defender. eventually shifted to McSparron. has 3 range. runs the floor. great on offensive boards.
Sarah Nohrenberg 12, 17, 70.6, .294 was the prime ball handler later in the game. needs to shorten passes, take the ball down closer to the 3 point line before initiating offense. has 3 range.
BENCH
Holly Riesselman 4, 6, 66.7, .333 reserve post
Jaimee Lurken 0, 2, 0.0, .000
Meghan Nelsen 0, 2, 0.0, .000

TRENCH PLAYER
Brittnye McSparron

BY THE NUMBERS
Eastview 61, 72, 84.7, .403
Park-Cottage Grove 56, 75, 74.7, .360
made 3s: Eastview 6, PCG 3
made fts: PCG 15. Eastview 11
bench: Eastview 9, PCG 4
This was the second straight overtime game for PCG. They beat Cretin-Derham Hall on Tuesday.
Today their momentum ground to a halt with all the stoppages with the fritzy scoreboard. Also teams have a sense of relief when they climb the mountain. That could have been a factor.

DEFENSIVE WRAPS
EASTVIEW
DaNae Moore 13
Brittnye McSparron 5
Sam Mehr 4
Brittany Rud 4
Haley Thomforde 3
Cassie Sheppard 2
Emily Kaus 1
totals: 32

PARK-COTTAGE GROVE
Katya Leick 12.5
Jackie Voigt 11.5
Sarah Nohrenberg 4.5
Tina Fisher 3
Jaimee Lurken 2
Samantha Hilldebrandt 0.5
totals: 34

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Both teams played an "in your face" man. PCG extended it full court early.
Eastview also used 1/2/2 press. Eastview also used a 1/3/1 exclusively in OT with McSparron on the bottom.

In other games tonight it was Becker over Hopkins 63-54. Last year Hopkins gave Becker their only loss.

At the Ballard tournament in Iowa it was Cedar Rapids Washington beating Lincoln East 72-53. Ballard beat Sioux City Heelan 68-53. CRW now faces Ballard tomorrow