North Tartan Nike Elite Coury vs Metro Stars Reiter

AAU Summer Jam

Red Lake North 15/16/17U Championship

North Tartan Nike Elite Coury vs Metro Stars Reiter

Bloomington Jefferson High School

6-19-11

1^st Half

Got over on the other side of town to Bloomington Jefferson a little before 2:00 P.M. that allowed me to catch a good portion of the North Tartan Nike Elite’s team come-from-behind win over Minnesota Stars Taylor that set up this championship game against the Metro Stars team coached by Steve Reiter and assisted by Minnesota State-Mankato standout Sarah Wiens.  This had the look of an entertaining battle shaping up and you had to wonder how much gas in the tank Gerard Coury’s North Tartan team would have left after battling the Minnesota Stars in the previous semifinal game.

The answer was A LOT.  North Tartan got off to a fast start in this one as Marissa Janning snared the opening tip and raced to the hole with a lay-up and a quick 2-0 lead.  A bit later on the ensuing possession, Mariah Monke bullied her way inside and scored and then Braham’s superstar Rebekah Dahlman poured in a “3” from the left corner shortly thereafter and before Steve Reiter’s team knew what happened they were already down by a touchdown.  Still, the Metro Stars took a deep breath and made an answer of their own.  Ann Marie Healy from Providence Academy got the Metro Stars on the board at the 14:31 mark and then Britney Scherber; feeling right at home on her own Bloomington Jefferson floor,  cut North Tartan’s lead to 7-4 at the 13:49 mark.  Then White Bear Lake’s Alexis Foley helped the Metro Stars creep to within a point of the North Tartan team when she hit a jumper to make it a 7-6 game and get the contest on more even terms.

North Tartan would maintain a bit of an edge thanks to Dahlman’s two freebies at the 12:39 mark and Kali Peschel’s one freebie shortly afterward but the Metro Stars would soon pull even in this one.  Taylor Meyer of Farmington cut North Tartan’s lead to 10-8 with her finish inside and then Foley; despite being a southpaw, finished with a sweet right-handed layup that knotted things at 10-all at the 11:04 mark.  Then, things got a bit rough – physically anyway – for the Metro Stars; particularly for Edina’s Katybeth Biewen who took two hard shots in the span of less than a minute – one from Dahlman and one from Tessa Cichy; the latter that got Cichy to the line to sink a pair and forge a 12-10 lead for North Tartan.  Meyer would knot things up again at 12-all with her score at the 9:39 mark. 

Then it was time for North Tartan to really kick things in gear as they proceeded to go on a 13-4 tear over the next three minutes.  Joanna Hedstrom knocked down a “3” at the 9:25 to start the North Tartan artillery barrage that featured Peschel, Dahlman, and Cichy that gave North Tartan a 25-16 lead.  But Metro Stars would again stop the bleeding and get on a run of their own.  Meyer completed a three-point play at the 4:50 mark and then Scherber connected with both a long two-pointer and a layup that cut North Tartan’s advantage to 25-23 by the 4:09 mark.  And, once again, North Tartan would maintain a slim advantage coming down the home stretch of the first half with the lead bobbing back and forth from anywhere to two points to as many as six.  Foley would cut the North Tartan lead to a scant point at 31-30 when she buried a “3” with 1:27 left and North Tartan would only have a 34-32 advantage at the break but more ominous signs pointed ahead for the Metro Stars when Biewen picked up her fourth foul with just :46.3 remaining.

And it didn’t take long after the second half began to see how this game was going to go.  North Tartan would get on yet another run but this time the Metro Stars would not be able to answer.  Dahlman started things off by scoring inside at the 15:46 mark and scoring in transition as well just 30 seconds later.  Janning then drove inside and finished at the 13:49 mark and then Peschel drained a “3” (her specialty) at the 12:45 mark.  Khadijah Shumpert then got inside and scored at the 12:21 mark to bulge the lead to 45-34 that really set the pace for the rest of this championship game.  Dahlman was practically unstoppable in the second half as she buried “3’s” at the 10:47 and 9:25 mark that sandwiched a Hedstrom “3” at the 10:15 mark.  Monke found her way inside on the suddenly porous Metro Stars defense at the 8:43 mark and finished and now Gerard Coury’s team was comfortably out in front 60-41. 

The Metro Stars, to their credit, didn’t quit.  They were just out-athleted on this day – and minus a key player in Eden Prairies Jackie Johnson.  Still, Foley was working hard; driving inside at every possible opportunity to either score or draw a foul.  The Metro Stars did cut the North Tartan lead to almost in half by the 5:38 mark but could never get any closer than that.  The last few minutes were pretty much academic as North Tartan closed this one out winning 68-54 and showing why they’re the premier AAU team in Minnesota.