Champlin Park Summer League: Minnetonka/Maple Grove

#6 posting 7.22.2008
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CHAMPLIN PARK SUMMER LEAGUE
championship
MINNETONKA skippers 36, MAPLE GROVE crimson 33

Minnetonka withstood a furious Maple Grove rally to dethrone the defending Champlin Park Summer League champions 36-33. The Skippers led 32-10 with 11 minutes remaining when MG went on a 23-4 run. A MG three point shot missed at the buzzer that would have forced an overtime.

MG made the finals with narrow wins over Totino-Grace and Champlin Park. In each case the contest came down to the last possession. All that energy left the MG tank empty. Minnetonka on the other hand had their quarter and semi games wrapped up by halftime without serious struggles.

Minnetonka broke free from a 8-6 contest with a 16-4 run to lead at half time. This game was looking bleak for MG. I thought I was reliving Saturday when the winning team had enough points at half time to win the game. Tonka scored the first 8 points of the second half to push their lead out to 32-10 with 13:45 left.

That is when Minnetonka hit the proverbial wall and MG caught their second wind. The Skippers endured a nine possession drought, followed by another six possession string. The last 18 possessions for Minnetonka ended up with only four points. Before that time Tonka was either scoring in transition, or moving the ball and making the one extra pass that put a player wide open position for the shot. Minnetonka's pp100 for the last 18 possessions was a ice cold 22.2 pp100. MG on the other had caught the Crimson Fire. They closed with a 23-4 run. But they really didn't start their rally until the last 7:27 to go. In that stretch they outscored the Skippers 21-4. MG had a miserable stretch to start the half (1/15). The Crimson started stoking with 6-3 Veronica Jakubovie getting things started with a put back and then another shot in the paint on two consecutive possessions. Then it was Jen Field's turn. She connected on two straight 3s and the insurmountable lead was now 34-22. The inside game worked for the Crimson with Hannah Reichel and Kelsey Eitel contributing six straight points making the score 34-28 with 1:21 left. Minnetonka took some ill advised shots, especially distance shots late. Field leveled the field (almost) with her third three to make it 34-31. Sarah LaCroix was fouled and she delivered the one shot (worth two) for a 36-31 lead. Field was fouled on a drive with 28 seconds left. She also converted bringing the margin back to 36-33. Minnetonka's Stephanie Comer went to the line with a one and one and missed with 15 seconds left. Eitel grabbed the board. Field was not given much room to breath at the end as a distant shot by #35 didn't fall. The comeback run ended when the clock struck zero.

This was the first meeting of these two teams. They were scheduled to play each other during the black out.

You can see the entire Minnetonka vs Maple Grove photo gallery at kevinanderson.photostockplus.com. The CP gym is a little dark.

key: player, points, possessions, pp100, floor %
MINNETONKA
STARTERS
Sarah LaCroix 12, 14, 85.7, .429
Stephanie Comer 5, 9, 55.6, .222
Sarah Tapani 6, 9, 66.7, .333
Alison McArthur 6, 5, 125.0, .600
Jenny Blackee 0, 4, 0.0, .000
BENCH
Hannah Wilson 2, 3, 66.7, .333
Taylor Peterson 5, 5, 100.0, .400
Sommerfeldt 0, 1, 0.0, .000
Nicole Goronowicz 0, 0, 0.0, .000

MAPLE GROVE
STARTERS
Marissa Lundy 0, 4, 0.0, .000
Hannah Reichel 4, 4, 100.0, .500
#35 0, 7, 0.0, .000
#13 2, 3, 66.7, .333
Makensie Becker 0, 4, 0.0, .000
BENCH
Veronica Jakubovie 6, 7, 85.7, .429
Jen Field 15, 10, 150.0, .600
Anna Gerdes 0, 2, 0.0, .000
Julie Kruse 0, 4, 0.0, .000
Kelsey Eitel 6, 6, 100.0, .500

TRENCH PLAYER
It doesn't happen often that the team that loses get the trench player, but Jen Field gets the nod.

BY THE NUMBERS
Minnetonka 36, 50, 72.0, .340
Maple Grove 33, 51, 64.7, .294
made 3s/&1s: MG 3/0
ftm/fta-ft%: MG 2/4-.500
bench: MG 27, Minnetonka 7

DEFENSIVE WRAPS
MINNETONKA
Jenny Blackee 5
Sarah Tapani 5
Stephanie Comer 4
Sarah LaCroix 3
Alison McArthur 3
Taylor Peterson 4
Nicole Gornowicz 2
Sommerfeldt 1
totals: 27

MAPLE GROVE
Kelsey Eitel 5
#35 4
Veronica Jakubovie 4
Anna Gerdes 4
#13 3
Marissa Lundy 2
Hannah Reichel 2
Jen Field 2
Julie Kruse 1
totals: 27

ASSISTS
MINNETONKA
Stephanie Comer 4
Jenny Blackee 3
Sarah LaCroix 2
Sarah Tappani 2
Alison McArthur 1
Taylor Peterson 1
Niocle Goronowicz 1
totals: 14

MAPLE GROVE
Marissa Lundy 2
#13 2
Julie Kruse 2
#35 1
Makensie Becker 1
Anna Gerdes 1
Kelsey Eitel 1
totals: 10

next up: back filling the games