Out & About: Wrenshall/Barnum

#5 posting 1.21.2008
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

WRENSHALL wrens 60, BARNUM bombers 54

And then there were three. There is one less undefeated team in Minnesota as Wrenshall, before a jam packed standing room only crowd, knocked off the #2 class A team Barnum 60-54. #4 A Wrenshall built up a 36-19 halftime lead and held on as Barnum mounted their comeback in the second half.

Every nook and cranny was filled in the Wrenshall gym on Monday. They put out folding chairs for extra seats on the stage. Fans stood in the doorways. Every school kid from 5th grade on was in attendance. No one could move in the stands, fans were sitting in the designated walk areas. We haven't experience that kind of crowd atmosphere this year. It was electric. We were fortunate to get a pair of seats (thanks to UW Superior who felt sorry for us).

That electricity gave a jolt to the home town Wrens in the first half. Wrenshall opened the scoring on a drive by Danielle Anderson. That was answered by a drive by Katrina Newman. Wrenshall's Emma Grover hit two straight 3s and the race was on. Wrenshall went on a 16-2 run as the Bombers were firing scuds. The Bombers were on a 1/12 sequence with were 1/10 from the floor and 0/2 at the line in this sequence. Wrenshall continued to score inside, outside, in transition and at the line. Their biggest lead came at 35-14 with 2:38 left in the half. Only two Bombers had scored at that point. Barnum did close with two of three scores, the last a three by Jaimee Wickstrom. That was to be a harbinger of things to come in the second half. It was 36-19 at the break.

Wickstrom got things going in the second half with her second 3. The half time break cooled off the sizzling Wrens. In the first half Wrenshall was firing away at 116.1 pp100. In the second Wrenshall only connected on five field goals. Wrenshall went through a six possession drought. Yet Barnum wasn't taking advantage of that down time as they had their own matching six possession drought. At the 10 minute mark Barnum brought in young gun, 8th grader Katie Myhre. She hit a three from the left wing and that sparked a resurgent Barnum attack. In their last 21 possessions Barnum was hitting on 123.8 pp100. Prior to the last 10 minutes of the game Barnum struggled to find the bottom of the basket with only a 59.6 pp100 mark. True to the name Bombers they bombed away striking for six from behind the arc in the last 10 minutes. When they weren't hitting they were crashing the boards for second chancers. 10 of their last 26 points were the result of second chance points. Wrenshall was going to the line more often than not in the last 10 minutes. When they did make a basket it was associated with a foul or came on a second chance basket. A couple of times Barnum narrowed the gap to seven, but Wrenshall scored on four straight possessions to keep the space between the two. With under a minute to go Katie Myhre nailed a three to cut the margin to 56-51. After a double dribble violation Barnum had a chance to narrow the deficit further, but Katrina Newman missed two free throws with 34 seconds left. Each team coughed the ball up and Samantha Anderson put through four free throws before Megan Myhre's buzzer beater three for Barnum.

The two teams will meet again in two weeks in Barnum. Expect the same kind of atmosphere for that one.

Photos: #1 A glimpse of the crowd on the stage. #2 Andrea Gould of Wrenshall goes up for a shot with Megan Myhre defending for Barnum. photos by Teas.

key: player (grad year) points, possessions, pp100, floor %
WRENSHALL
STARTERS
Andrea Gould (09) 9, 15, 60.0, .267 post player, uses her body well to seal. when she gets it in the low post she is looking to score. She also has deep 3 range. enthusiastic. on the perimeter her ball handling skills need polish.
Danielle Anderson (08) 11, 13, 84.6, .462 one half of the twin set. good anticipation on defense. alert, aggressive. never comes out. runs the floor well.
Emma Grover (08) 15, 10, 150.0, .600 her four 3s in the first half gave Wrenshall the big momentum out of the gate.
Samantha Anderson (08) 18, 19, 94.7, .526 main point guard. has decent vision. went to the line 7 times. moves without the ball.
Wendy Bowman (08) 6, 6, 100.0, .500 athletic post player. good jumper. got into foul problems and was put in late for defensive situations.
BENCH
Erin Laveau (09) 1, 4, 25.0, .250 perimeter. lefty

BARUNM
STARTERS
Megan Myhre (08) 16, 19, 84.3, .316 perimeter being transformed into post. can and did step out for 3s. Needs to square up in the paint.
Katrina Newman (10) 20, 22, 90.9, .455 the other post type player, but another that can play outside. good instincts on where to be on the floor. got after offensive rebounds. had six points on second shots in the second half. recipient of hi lows. needs to work on the free throw line 2/8 needs to be better.
Jaimee Wickstrom (10) 6, 8, 75.0, .250 perimeter shooter. hit two 3s on the day.
Darian Bushey (10) 0, 3, 0.0, .000 good athlete that is used hard on defense. On offense will step out and provide passing room. also looks to feed the post.
Leah Nordvall (10) 0, 1, 0.0, .000 primarily the point guard.
BENCH
Jessica Newman (11) 6, 10, 60.0, .200 perimeter shooter. canned two 3s. active defensively.
Katie Myhre (12) 6, 5, 120.0, .400 another in the 3 shooter. youngster. also feeds the post well. has a decent frame,
Sarah Myhre (10) 0, 0, 0.0, .000 perimeter.

TRENCH PLAYER
Emma Grover

BY THE NUMBERS
Wrenshall 60, 67, 90.0, .448
Barnum 54, 68, 79.4, .324
made 3s: Barnum 9, Wrenshall 5
ftm/fta-ft%: Wrenshall 19/30-.633; Barnum 3/14-.214
bench: Barnum 12, Wrenshall 1
Wrenshall had a huge differential in free throws made (+16). Barnum tried to make up for that with their advanatage at the 3 line (+12 points).

DEFENSIVE WRAPS
WRENSHALL
Danielle Anderson 13
Andrea Gould 8
Emma Grover 4
Wendy Bowman 4
Samantha Anderson 2.5
Erin Laveau 0.5
totals: 32

BARNUM
Jessica Newman 8
Megan Myhre 7.5
Katrina Newman 6.5
Darina Bushey 3.5
Leah Nordvall 3
Jaimee Wickstrom 2
Katie Myhre 2
Sarah Myhre 1.5
totals: 34

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Wrenshall used zones, with 3/1 or 1/2/2 the most common
Barnum used man most of the evening. They also pressed full court at times.
Match ups (Wrenshall offense/Barnum defensive) Gould/Megan Myhre; Samantha Anderson/Bushey; Bowman/Wickstrom; Grover/Jessica Newman; Danielle Anderson/Katrina Newman

It should be noted that Barnum coach Randy Myhre (father of Katie, Megan, and Sarah) is not coaching due to hernia surgery. He will be back in about six weeks according to sources. Assistant Jerry Erickson is running the team.

We have now been to all four corners of Minnesota. For those that don't know where Wrenshall is it is about 8 miles east of I35 between Barnum and Duluth.

If you haven't been to a small town game, check one out before the season is over. The atmosphere is something to experience.

Next up: tomorrow morning