After leaving St. Peter on a somewhat dejected note considering how the Gusties were "manhandled" by UST, I hustled back to the Twin Cities and over to Minneapolis South High School as they were playing host to #1 ranked Eden Prairie in one of the most important regular season games of the year. I got over there and inside the gym right before halftime with Eden Prairie up 25-18. I had seen Eden Prairie play a couple times already this season but had yet to see South in action.
True, South is a much different team in the post-Tayler Hill era but they are still winning and came into this game ranked #4 and were undefeated. But I really wasn't sure what to expect. In any event, the visiting Eagles started off the the second half strong. Senior Claire Willeck scored inside at the 16:47 mark and fellow senior Morgan Van Riper-Rose put down two freebies at the 15:49 mark. Then, senior Aubrey Davis drove inside hard (her specialty) and scored and was fouled in the process. Although she missed the subsequent charity-strip shot, junior post Jackie Johnson hit a layup at the 15:02 mark to expand Eden Prairie's lead to 33-18 and put the host Tigers behind the 8-ball. But South senior guard Sattoria Rule had different ideas. This South team is a squad that seemingly lives off nothing but three-point shooting and Rule showed the crowd what they would be in store for as she hit two "3's" at both the 14:44 and 13:25 marks to cut Eden Prairie's lead to a somewhat more manageable 35-24 count. Rule would hit another "3" from the right corner at the 11:19 mark that again cut the Eagles lead to 11.
A real scary moment for Eden Prairie took place just before the 9-minute mark as they saw two players go down with injuries back-to-back: Junior Rebecca Sparkman and Davis who suffered knee and ankle injuries, respectively. Still, the Eagles were able to maintain the roughly ten-point cushion for the next few minutes - that is, until Rule decided it was time to light up the scoreboard again which is exactly what she did as she two "3's" at the 5:54 and 4:44 marks that suddenly cut the Eden Prairie lead down to a scant four points at 43-39 as South appeared ready to steal the show and pull off a huge upset of the #1 ranked team in the state. But credit the Eagles and their head coach; former NBA veteran Chris Carr as they kept their compsure down the stretch as they were able to hold on despite a wild flurry of missed three-point shots by the Tigers before the horn sounded.
Although this was just a regular season game, I think this win was huge for Eden Prairie as they went into a potentially hostile road environment against a very fast, very quick and athletic Minneapolis South team which is obviously no slouch itself. Winning a game like this has to give the Eagles a lot of confidence as the section tournament slate grows nearer. South, I think, can certainly be a factor but it would help their cause if they were able to develop some semblance of an inside game.
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