Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Out & About: Princeton/St. Michael-Albertville

#9 posting 1.29.2008
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

PRINCETON tigers 50,
ST. MICHAEL-ALBERTVILLE knights 49

Princeton rallied from five down in the second half to beat St. Michael-Albertville in a dramatic Mississippi 8 contest. Gopher recruit Katie Loberg poured in 25 points in the nip and tuck battle. There was four lead changes in the last 1:30 as both teams scored on eight of the last ten possessions. Princeton won their 4th in a row and is now 13-6, and STMA is now 14-6 on the year. STMA is 7-3 in the conference and Princeton 6-5.

First off, Coach Teas, for some unknown reason, flew out of the state today, so I was flying solo. He went out to sunny Renton, Washington while I toil in -14 temps. I barely made the tip off and I couldn't point the finger at Coach Teas this time. I went left instead of right and took a tour of the deserted warehouse district of Princeton. Luckily I arrived prior to the tip.

I might be the angel of injuries this week. Brittani Wiese went down in the first 1:30 for STMA.

Both teams struggled to find offensive rhythm in the first half. Princeton struck first up 4-0. STMA scored three times in a row and the score was tied at 6. STMA broke free from a 9 all tie with a 12-4 run to lead 21-13. At this point Princeton hit for 25.0 pp100 and had a floor % of .188 in those 16 possessions. Much of this time Loberg was on the bench. Free throws were a big part of first half with each team hitting 8. Loberg had 9 points at half, 7 at the line. STMA led at half 25-21.

The first 8 combined possessions in the second half were empty. Princeton took their first lead at 30-29 with 11 minutes to go. It was a 12-4 run with Loberg providing 7 of the points. STMA had a seven possession drought in this stretch. In their first 13 possessions STMA was 30.8 pp100. Princeton was in at 85.7. The lead didn't last very long. Lauren Kessler tied it up at 31. That started a four possession scoring string for STMA. That also led to a 39-34 lead with 7:11 left. As quickly as STMA heated up, they cooled off. Their next seven possessions were empty. With the STMA offense in hiatus, One Princeton sequence had Nicole Dehn make her first free throw, but missed her second. Mariah Clarin got the rebound for the Tigers and she too went to the line. She too made the first and missed the second. The ball remained with Princeton when Loberg rebounded the miss. They didn't score any more, but it highlighted the board power of Princeton. The Tigers did take a 40-39 lead on the next possession when Kadie Savage drained two free throws. This set up the dramatics give and take in the last two minutes. Loberg scored again from the floor to make it 42-39 Princeton. STMA's Maria Berning drove the baseline and hit the shot to cut the margin to one. Krista Koebnick was fouled as Princeton was in the delay game. She missed both free throws and Kessler made sure Princeton didn't get another crack at scoring. Berning drove the lane, scored and was fouled. She missed the "&1" portion but STMA was back in front 43-42. Koebnick then knocked down a three from the left side with 54.8 seconds left for a 45-43 Princeton advantage. A time out by STMA set up their own three by Angy Gavere in the right corner. STMA was now up 46-45 with under 40 seconds left. Loberg delivered once again with a basket &1 to put the Tigers in front 48-46 with 31.5 left. Anna Valerius was fouled for STMA but her front end free throw didn't find the mark. Loberg gathered the rebound and Dehn was fouled. She converted both with 16.3 seconds left for a 50-46 lead. STMA did get another three at the buzzer from Valerius to end the game 50-49.
photos: #1 Maria Berning of STMA is on her knee passing out of the lane surrounded by Tigers. #2. Katie Loberg goes airborne by Lauren Kessler on her way to 25 points. photos by kja

key: player (grad year) points, possessions, pp100, floor %
PRINCETON
STARTERS
Allie Johnson (08) 4, 7, 57.1, .429 wing player. strong, opened scoring with a basket, but didn't score from the floor the rest of the night. picked up a back court foul.
Nicole Dehn (08) 7, 16, 43.8, .188 point guard. aggressive defensively and a pest getting her hands in the way disrupting STMA's offense. threw a soft, creamy pass that was snatched against the press.
Katie Loberg (09) 25, 17, 147.1, .765 post. headed to the Gophers. for real. can run the floor. was the total focus with a Loberg sandwich most of the night with one STMA player in front and another behind. went to the line seven times. was 11/13 at the line. finds the open spot on cuts. came up big in the end with essential 3 point play and then key defensive rebound.
Krista Koebnick (08) 6, 7, 85.7, .286 made two threes. perimeter player.
Kadie Savage (11) 3, 3, 100.0, .667 perimeter player. was nice and low on defense.
BENCH
Mariah Clarin (11) 5, 7, 71.4, .286 post reserve. rebounded on the defensive end. had a nice reverse lay up.
Brooke Karst (11) 0, 6, 0.0, .000
Trista Meyer (08) 0, 0, 0.0, .000

ST. MICHAEL-ALBERTVILLE
STARTERS
Lexi Thompson (08) 0, 6, 0.0, .000 guard. fouled out, ball handling skills/decisions need polish.
Angy Gavere (08) 8, 10, 80.0, .300 bigger perimeter player. made two 3s on the night. doesn't leave her follow through up long enough.
Lauren Kessler (08) 16, 15, 106.7, .533 post player. has elbow range. Set a screen Janel McCarville would have been proud off. needs to square up every time. She also fouled out.
Kaitlyn Baldridge (08) 0, 2, 0.0, .000 needs to chin the ball.
Brittani Wiese (09) 0, 0, 0.0, .000 injured in the first 1:30.
BENCH
Maria Berning (09) 6, 10, 60.0, .400 Late in the game provided key driving baskets. missed a chip shot early. was a force rebounding in the first half with six d boards, zero in the second half.
Courtney Barthel (09) 10, 8, 125.0, .625 guard. had 8 points in the first half, went in and challenged Loberg in the paint.
Anna Valerius (09) 9, 12, 75.0, .333 anticipates well on defense. hit the buzzer beater. needs to convert at the line.

TRENCH PLAYER
Katie Loberg

BY THE NUMBERS
Princeton 50, 63, 79.4, .397
StMA 49, 63, 77.8, .381
made 3s: STMA 3, Princeton 2
ftm/fta-ft%: Princeton 20/29-.690; STMA 9/16-.563
bench: STMA 25, Princeton 5
There were 8 traveling calls tonight, not as bad as 13, but still 6 too many for this late in the season.

DEFENSIVE WRAPS
PRINCETON
Katie Loberg 6
Mariah Clarin 6
Nicole Dehn 4
Kadie Savage 4
Allie Johnson 3
Brooke Karst 3
Krista Koebnick 2
Trista Meyer 1
totals: 29

ST. MICHAEL-ALBERTVILLE
Angy Gavere 6
Maria Berning 6
Lauren Kessler 6
Anna Valerius 6
Lexi Thompson 2
Courtney Barthel 1
Kaitlyn Baldridge 1
totals: 28

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Princeton used both man and 2/3. They opened man and went back and forth.
STMA used 2/3 most of the night. They also had a 2/2/1 press that morphed into 2/3
match ups: (STMA off/Princeton def) Thompson/Johnson; Kessler/Loberg; #23/Dehn; Gavere/Savage; Baldridge/Koebnick

IN OTHER GAMES
Chaska picked up a big win tonight with an all around team effort. The Hawks beat Burnsville 62-47 at Burnsville (without Courtney Boylan). Brooke Brown led the scoring for Chaska with 19 points.

Next up: tomorrow morning