Out & About: St. Paul Central/Becker

#10 posting 12.8.2007
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

ST. PAUL CENTRAL minutemen 60
BECKER bulldogs 54

In a battle between last years AAAA and AAA State champs in was home team Central prevailing over Becker. It was Becker's second game against a AAAA power in as many days.

Central started the game without two players--Theairra Taylor, and Cyonna West--who were both wrapping up their ACT test. That put a crimp in the Central rotations. Taylor starts, so Brittany Dorsey replaced her in the line up. In the beginning Central rose to the occassion with a 8-0 lead after their first six possessions. Becker had six empty possessions with three ending in turnovers. Then Brianna Mastey scored on three straight possessions to make it 8-7. Central went on a 1/13 dry spell---a fridid 15.4 pp100. Only four possessions ended in turnovers. It was during this stretch that Becker took their first lead. Their biggest lead came at 15-10 after a drive by Reyan Robinson. Central got their offense back on track with a 5 of 6 offensive run. Taylor eventually warmed up and hit for five in the 10-5 run. Seven of those points were second chancers for Central. 15 of their 24 points came after an initial shot in the first half. Becker again took a five point lead at 25-20 after a "&1" by Nicole Mastey. Becker led at the break 27-24.

Central wasted little time before retaking the lead in the second half. The scored on their first three possessions and went on a 12-2 run to lead 36-29. Leading the charge was Megan Howard. She had 8 of the points and had four defensive stops to ignite Central. The pendulum swung back to Becker with an 11-6 run to close to 42-40. It started with a Brianna Mastey 3. She had five in the burst. Robinson tied the game at 46 on a drive with 6 minutes to go. Taylor scored on a put back to put Central up 48-46 three possessions later. Stemper tied it with another drive with 4:51 left. The rest of the way Central would go 9/12 on their possessions--all scored at the line. The problem was Central would only go 1/2 at the line on six of those possessions. With 2:11 to go Kiara Buford put Central up 52-49 with two free throws. Stemper closed it to 52-51. Becker too was scoring at the line. With 43.3 seconds left Georgie Jones fouled Robinson. She missed her free throw, but Stemper rebounded. Eventually Brianna Mastey was fouled and she made the the first but missed the second. Brittany Dorsey came up with the key rebound. Both teams traded free throws at this point. With 10.1 seconds left and Central clinging to a 56-54 lead Becker had the ball at mid court. However they couldn't break free and were called for a five second call. Buford was fouled and gave the insurance free throws. A travel call and two more Buford free throws wrapped up the action.

This game saw some summer teammates facing each other. Buford and Robinson were with North Tartan Larson over the summer while the Masteys, Stemper, and Jones and Taylor all played with MN Stars Hested.

photos: #1 Kyana Johnson of Central has Shelly Stemper by the pants. #2 Brianna Mastey taking the ball up court. #3 Georgie Jones going up for a second chancer. photos by Teas.

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

ST. PAUL CENTRAL
STARTERS
Kiara Buford 17, 15, 113.3, .600 smooth stroke, sweet pull up shot. delivered at the line at the end and made sure she was available. ice water in veins
Georgie Jones 12, 12, 100.0, .583 much more active, more assertive inside. crashed the offensive boards. mixing it up. drew fouls and went to the line. is able to clear herselft by taking the ball up court quickly if needed to. alters shots. offensively too low on the block so when she turns to the basket no angle for glass. free throw shot is flat.
Kyana Johnson 2, 5, 40.0, .200 point guard. needs to pass first. should not shoot without others touching the ball in half court situations, especially 3s. passing needs to have a sense of urgency or zip on the ball.
Brittany Dorsey 0, 5, 0.0, .000 active on defense, offensively a blank
Megan Howard 12, 14, 85.7, .500 the hard hat worker. provided a key spark at the start of the second half. does her damage in the paint. is strong with the ball. seems to be around the ball.
BENCH
Samantha Robinson-Ricks 2, 1, 200.0, 1.000 had a nice pull up jumper. limited time
Theairra Taylor 14, 15, 93.3, .467 another smooth performer. a little off at the start due to late arrival after ACT test. can get up. had six points on second shots.
Cyonna West 1, 3, 33.3, .333 quick disrupter on defense.

BECKER
STARTERS
Jessie Althoff 0, 4, 0.0, .000 needs to establish herself. needs to be more active on defense.
Brianna Mastey 25, 26, 96.2, .462 does it all from boards, to defense, to shooting. Strong, great hands, good jumper. runs the floor very well. range out to 3 land. can score off the drive.
Chelsea Lieser 0, 3, 0.0, .000 point guard. needs to see the floor and avoid drops
Shelly Stemper 12, 11, 109.1, .636 strong physical, active. takes it hard to the glass.
Reyan Robinson 8, 11, 72.7, .364 left handed perimeter. starting to take the ball to the glass. runs the floor. still could be more aggressive on defense. On offense the next step will be using her off hand on the drive and stop and pop.
BENCH
Nicole Mastey 5, 7, 71.4, .286 scored inside on tranistion. Not afraid of contact.
Rachel Gilbert 2, 5, 40.0, .200 point guard. vision and keep ball low on dribble.
Alex Crasper 2, 4, 50.0, .250 three point specialist that didn't get a clean look. Is a good shooter in general. took the ball hard to the basket.

TRENCH PLAYER
Kiara Buford

BY THE NUMBERS
St. Paul Central 60, 70, 85.7, .471
Becker 54, 71, 76.1, .380
made 3s: SPC 1, Becker 1
made fts: SPC 23, Becker 19
bench: SPC 17, Becker 9
Central had 8 more points on second chancers in the second half. That put their grand total 23 for the game. Becker had 1 second chance point the whole game.

DEFENSIVE WRAPS
ST. PAUL CENTRAL
Megan Howard 8
Theairra Taylor 7.5
Brittany Dorsey 7
Georgie Jones 5.5
Kiara Buford 4
Kyana Johnson 3
Cyonna West 2
totals: 37

BECKER
Brianna Mastey 13.5
Shelly Stemper 7.5
Nicole Mastey 4
Rachel Gilbert 3
Reyan Robinson 2
Alex Crapser 2
Jessie Althoff 1
totals: 33

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Central opened with a full court press and a 1-3-1 half court zone. Eventually they took the press off.
Becker opened man. they shifted to a 2/3 later in the half court.

Also today DeLaSalle beat Lakeville South 50-44. LS had a late lead before DLS rallied for the victory.

next up: tomorrow morning