Out & About: Centennial/Osseo

#11 posting 1.18.2008
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

CENTENNIAL cougars 83, OSSEO orioles 40

In a battle between the top two teams in the Northwest Suburban, and section 5AAAA, #1 Centennial left no doubt who was the better team by more than doubling up #10 Osseo 83-40. Centennial had five players in double figures, Osseo had none.

Scoring was hard to come by for the Orioles as Centennial contested everything. The man defense match ups neutralized the 3 point Oriole attack. The key match up I felt was Kiara Allums on Danielle Mangen. The much bigger Allums never gave Mangen much space to operate. Allums is just as quick as well. The scoring started with an Emily Becken 3. The game was never seriously in doubt as Centennial built up a 7-1 lead after their first four possessions. The Cougars pounced on every chance to run. Osseo is built to run and they were feeling the effects of the racehorse nature of the game. Yesterday in the Alex/Brainerd contest time of possession was an important feature of the game. Tonight possessions sometimes were hot potatoes and didn't last more than 8 seconds. Speed and execution favored Centennial. The Orioles had frustration on the other hand. Osseo had drought of 7, and a 1/12 offensive sequence. During that time Centennial went on a 9-2 run. At that point the pp100 for Centennial was clocking in at 88.0, not bad, but not up to Centennial standards. Both teams then turned on the offensive spigot. 7 straight combined scores put the score at 30-20 Centennial. The Cougars finished the half up 36-25.

The game maintained a 9 point margin until 42-33 with 14:35 left. After that Centennial slammed the door shut on the Oriole offense. The pace was taking its toll. Oriole droughts of 10, and 7 didn't help matters. Combined, it was a 1/18 sequence or 11.1 pp100. Centennial did not slow down, but gathered steam. They blew the doors off the game with a 21-2 run. Even though the margin was never in doubt Osseo kept scrapping. Centennial finished with a flourish with a 10/15 offensive sequence on a 21-5 run. That would make their pp100 140.0 to close the game.

photos: #1 Jennie Sunnarborg of Osseo goes up in the lane with Megan Nipe defending. #2 Nipe shoots over Chiamaka Okonkwo. photos by Teas.

key: player (year) points, possessions, pp100, floor %
CENTENNIAL
STARTERS
Megan Nipe (09) 23, 18, 127.8, .556 built up steam as the game wore on. scored on all variety of ways from a 3 to post ups, to pull ups to second shots. smart, quick release. and competitive.
Emily Becken (08) 10, 9, 111.1, .444 composed guard. understands the game and has focus. Deceptive passing
Kiara Allums (08) 19, 16, 118.8, .500 her improvement over the past year has made Centennial even tougher. The big thing is she is playing tough defense without getting into foul trouble. She had a double/double with defensive wraps and points. Can score when hit. She is much more composed, and not as forced as last year. She always had the explosive athletic ability. Now she is more grounded on defense and that also translates to much more effective offense. Allums on the floor is much better than Allums on the bench.
Kayla Blom (08) 0, 6, 0.0, .000 a guard that is kind of like a glue that every team needs. Does little things that don't get much attention. is tough nosed on defense.
Bridget Schuneman (09) 10, 9, 111.1, .556 post player. uses her body well inside. got into foul trouble.
BENCH
Megan Waytashek (10) 13, 9, 144.4, .667 would start on many, many teams in the state. can go in and out. hit a 3. fluid. did foul out however. needs to stay lower on defense and not buy fakes.
Micha Sater (09) 2, 5, 40.0, .200 is a tough nosed defender and gets after rebounds.
Emily DeWitt (08) 0, 3, 0.0, .000 guard.
Kaylee Buffalo (08) 4, 2, 200.0, 1.000 back up post. scored in the end
Hannah Steele (09) 2, 1, 200.0, 1.000 guard
Holly Hofland (10) 0, 0, 0.0, .000 guard

OSSEO
STARTERS
Danielle Mangen (09) 4, 15, 26.7, .133 small guard defended by bigger Allums prevented Mangen from getting off her 3. did scrap and work on defense preventing even more transition baskets for Centennial.
Jennie Sunnarborg (08) 6, 12, 50.0, .333 post player. only scored one field goal all night. has the strength/speed, but needs to finish inside.
Chiamaka Okonkwo (09) 9, 17, 52.9, .235 another post. has speed, is a battler. needs to work on shooting/scoring in traffic.
Kendra Ware (08) 8, 8, 100.0, .500 Was the only Oriole with more than three field goals. has 16 foot range. like the rest of Orioles has speed.
Brianna Olson (08) 1, 3, 0.0, .000 another small guard with scrappy defensive play.
BENCH
Marny Ferrara (08) 4, 7, 57.1, .286 another typical Osseo guard. small and scrappy
Kylie Gottsman (09) 7, 7, 100.0, .429 post player. space eater. hard to move. was able to score and get hit. needs to get quicker, a lot quicker to play the Osseo pace.
Amy Hildebrand (08) 0, 5, 0.0, .000
Jessica Fife (10) 1, 2, 50.0, .500
Stephanie Pilgrim (09) 0, 1, 0.0, .000
Rachel Wiinanen (09) 0, 1, 0.0, .000
Tina Ewing (09) 0, 1, 0.0, .000
Emily Larson (09) 0, 1, 0.0, .000

TRENCH PLAYER
Kiara Allums

BY THE NUMBERS
Centennial 83, 78, 106.4, .474
Osseo 40, 80, 50.0, .250
made 3s: Centennial 4, Osseo 2
ftm/fta-ft%: Osseo 14/25-.560; Centennial 10/13-.769
bench: Centennial 21, Osseo 12
Osseo only made 10 two point field goals, 8 on the initial offense.

Here is one more point--I think Centennial can even be better than what they showed tonight. That might not be good news for the rest of the state.

DEFENSIVE WRAPS
CENTENNIAL
Kiara Allums 14
Micha Sater 9
Emily Becken 8
Kayla Blom 7
Megan Nipe 6
Bridget Schuneman 5
Megan Waytashek 4
Kaylee Buffalo 2
Emily DeWitt 1
Hannah Steele 1
Holly Hoffland 1
totals: 58

OSSEO
Jennie Sunnarborg 7.5
Danielle Mangen 6.5
Chiamaka Okonkwo 6
Brianna Olson 5
Marny Ferrara 4
Jessica Fife 2
Kendra Ware 1
Kylie Gottsman 1
Tina Ewing 1
totals: 34

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Both teams opened in man and stayed in it most of the night. Osseo tried to full court zolne press which Centennial scored lay ups. They reverted to full court man after that.
The match ups to start (Osseo Offense/Centennial Defense) Olson/Blom; Ware/Becken; Mangen/Allums; Okonkwo/Schuneman; Sunnarborg/Nipe
(Centennial offense/Osseo defense) Nipe/Sunnarborg; Blom/Mangen; Allums/Ware; Becken/Olson; Schuneman/Okonkwo.

next up: tomorrow morning.