Spy Out & About: 4AA Semifinals

#12 posting 3.6.2008
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

Here is another Spy Out & About

4AA SEMIFINALS
Mpls. Roosevelt and Jordan jumped out to big early leads in their section 4AA semi-final games at Mounds Park Academy, and both advanced to the Saturday afternoon final at Delano High School. But that is where the similarities between the two games end.

Mpls. Roosevelt 67 St. Croix Lutheran 63

Roosevelt roared out to a 35-13 lead over St. Croix Lutheran at the 6:00 mark of the 1st half behind a mix of full and half court pressure defenses and the strength and leaping ability of Kiara Strickland and Suriya McGuire in the paint. Strickland and McGuire had already combined for (an unofficial) 20 points, 10 rebounds (5 on the offensive glass), 6 blocks, 4 assists and a steal by this time. The Crusaders were unable to get comfortable in their offensive sets and were forced to hurry their shots. The result was (unofficially) 6 for 24 shooting.

Still, St. Croix Lutheran was able to settle things down from that point forward, working their way back within 42-27 at halftime. Freshman guard Kayla Hulsebus scored 6 of the Crusaders’ 14 points down the stretch, and a put-back by Andrea Huessner at about 0:03.5 brought St. Croix within 15.

None of that seemed to matter as Roosevelt stretched their lead to 49-32 at 14:52 of the 2nd half. But the Teddies appeared to call of the dogs at that point, abandoning the full court pressure that previously had been so successful. Only on two additional possessions did Roosevelt apply full court pressure. And its half court zone was repeatedly penetrated by the Crusaders the rest of the way. St. Croix was able to easily penetrate the zone with passes to their posts at the free throw line, and good things usually happened after that. The Crusaders scored 8 points in a row to get within 49-40. Then after going almost 3 minutes without scoring, they out-scored Roosevelt 20-12 to get within 62-60 at 2:45. There were 3 consecutive 3s in less than a minute from 9:25 to 8:27. Huessner provided one of those and 3 more 2 pointers during the run.

But Strickland and McGuire scored the last 7 Roosevelt points, and McGuire provided the final exclamation point by blocking a St. Croix 3 with about 1 tick remaining on the clock. Strickland finished with an unofficial 25 points and McGuire unofficially with 13, 7 rebounds and 6 blocks.

Jordan 72 Mpls. Washburn 41

Jordan got out to a double-digit lead over Washburn at 17-7 at 10:52 of the 1st half. The last time Washburn was within single digits was at 33-24 at about the 1:00 mark. But Jordan scored the last 3 points of the half to lead 36-24 at intermission, and after Washburn opened the 2nd half with a free throw, Jordan scored 10 points in a row to open up a 46-25 lead and never looked back. Washburn never got the lead below 20 points after that, and the Jaguars finally doubled Washburn up at 66-33 at 5:14 of the 2nd half.

Brittany Chambers took control of the game from the beginning, hitting a 3 on Jordan’s first possession. By the time Jordan led 17-7, she was already 3 for 3 from the field, 2 of them on put-backs, with 3 rebounds and 4 steals. At the half she was 5 of 6 from the field with 6 boards, 5 of them on the offensive end, and a total of 12 points. Leah Dietel (unofficially) had 9 points and 10 rebounds at the intermission. Liz Shay was pretty much the whole story for Washburn with 7 for 16 shooting and 16 of Washburn’s 24 1st half points.

Chambers sat down at the 2:41 mark of the 2nd half with Jordan safely ahead 70-39. She had added just 4 more points in the 2nd half, for an unofficial total of 16, plus 5 rebounds in the half. Leah Dietel added 16 2nd half points for an unofficial total of 25, plus 17 rebounds total. She scored on a couple pretty give-and-go plays, a baseline drive and several put-backs. She threw up two or three 3s without success, however.

Jordan made some defensive adjustments at half-time, too and Shay was unable to score for Washburn in the 2nd half.

Tonight’s MVPs—Kiara Strickland of Roosevelt, and Leah Dietel of Jordan

Marc Hugunin

Thanks for the report.

Next up: Tomorrow morning

Out & About: St. Croix Lutheran/Concordia Roseville

#7 posting 12.17.2007
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

ST. CROIX LUTHERAN crusaders 56
CONCORDIA ROSEVILLE beacons 47

In a TriMetro contest it was St. Croix Lutheran holding off Concordia Roseville 56-47. SCL led by 9 at halftime, but saw CR storm back with an 11-0 run to take a 40-36 lead with 10:48 to go. After that SCL finished up with a 20-7 run.

Freshman shooter Kayla Hulsebus of SCL started the contest with a corner 3 on the first possession. CR struck right back with an 8-2 run started with five straight by Liz Spielman. CR led 8-5. SCL went on a 15-3 run to go up 20-11 on a 6/7 offensive sequence.. The big push came with three straight 3s, the first two by Hulsebus. CR was forced to use two time outs in the push. Both teams were cooking with gas soon thereafter. Together there were nine straight scoring possessions. All CR points in this sequence came from the hand of Sarah Christoffersen. SCL then went dry for six possessions, CR wasn't burning up the nets either at 1/6 sequence. CR did cut the margin to 29-27 with two minutes left in the half on a shot by Amanda Kramer. Erin Schmeling scored the next five points for SCL after a Crusader time out. It was 36-27 at the break.

CR came out to start the second half with an 11-0 run to take the lead. SCL was mired in a 13 possession drought, five of which they never got shot off. That 40-36 lead lasted all of one possession as Hannah Palmberg made an old fashioned three point play after a pass from Hulsebus. SCL took the lead back on two straight steals and lay ups by Hulesbus. SCL had a three point advantage. Schmeling finished up with the last 8 SCL points. She had a couple of runners, and went to the line twice. CR finished the contest with a 1/9 sequence with 3 turnovers in that mix.

In a non basketball related issue--during the national anthem there was a lot of jabbing, and poking going on by the JV and or C team of SCL that was standing by me. They were not paying attention. Of all the games I have been to it was quite noticeable.

photos: #1 Hulsebus launches from the right corner. #2 Jessica Rupprecht of SCL runs into a Concordia Roseville trap by Hannah Naefke and Liz Spielman. photos by kja

key: player, points, possessions, pp100, floor %
ST. CROIX LUTHERAN
STARTERS
Kayla Hulsebus 19, 20, 95.0, .400 3 point corner shooter. made four on the night. only three 2 point field goals (2 on steal-layups). has a good stroke. was at 150.0 pp100 at half time. has a nice hesitation dribble. She can penetrate and see the open player. Second half didn't get the shots to drop on the drive. did pick up a charge. is a natural shooter, but is also needs to take the ball up court. defensively deflected many balls. She had 12.5 wraps too. Steals-lay ups keyed the return to the lead.
Jessica Rupprecht 2, 8, 25.0, .125 perimeter. had some travel calls when she started the move.
Ashley Gould 0, 2, 0.0, .000
Andrea Heussner 4, 12, 33.3, .250 was active and provided defensive steals. scored all her points in the first half. Needs to make free throws opportunities. needs to be ready for the ball.
Mikaela Zierden 0, 4, 0.0, .000
BENCH
Hannah Palmberg 10, 8, 125.0, .625 scored inside, but undersized
Erin Schmeling 19, 14, 135.7, .714 scored in transition, took a hit and kept on standing. also has range with a 3. also hit a couple of runners. needs to squeeze more out of the free throws attempts. 50% can be higher. needs to keep the hand up on the follow through longer.
Maggie Eisenbeis 2, 1, 200.0, 1.000

CONCORDIA ROSEVILLE
STARTERS
Liz Spielman 7, 8, 87.5, .375 perimeter, had a quick start, but then only had 2 points the rest of the way. did score when hit.
Sarah Christoffersen 14, 9, 155.6, .778 post player. had a hot sequence with 10 straight points on five straight possessions.
Abby Morris 6, 13, 46.2, .231 perimeter. did hit a 3. also took some long 2s.
Hannah Naefke 6, 12, 50.0, .250 athletic post that also faced the basket. Has some nice moves. Needs to finish. got into foul trouble and eventually fouled out
Amanda Kramer 5, 9, 55.6, .333 young point guard. rebounded well from her position.
BENCH
Lauren Walker 4, 6, 66.7, .333
Jen Otte 5, 8, 62.5, .250
Annie Johnson 0, 1, 0.0, .000
Rachel Comfort 0, 2, 0.0, .000

TRENCH PLAYER
Erin Schmeling

BY THE NUMBERS
St. Croix Lutheran 56, 69, 81.2, .406
Concordia Roseville 47, 68, 69.1, .338
made 3s: SCL 5, CR 2
made fts: SCL 9, CR 5
bench: SCL 31, CR 9

DEFENSIVE WRAPS
ST. CROIX LUTHERAN
Kayla Hulsebus 12.5
Andrea Heussner 7.5
Mikaela Zierden 5
Jessica Rupprecht 4
Erin Schmeling 2
Hannah Palmberg 1
Maggie Eisenbeis 1
totals: 33

CONCORDIA ROSEVILLE
Hanna Naefke 7
Amanda Kramer 7
Liz Spielman 6
Sarah Christoffersen 4
Abby Morris 4
Rachel Comfort 3
Lauren Walker 2
Jen Otte 1
Annie Johnson 1
totals: 35

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
CR used man primarily the whole night.
SCL used zone with 1/3/1 with traps in the lower corners to start. Later they also trapped high.

Next up: tomorrow