All Iowa Attack Mauro vs Team Iowa 7-23-11

2011 NORTH TARTAN MELTDOWN

HOPKINS H.S.

7-23-11

4:10 P.M.

ALL IOWA ATTACK MAURO vs TEAM IOWA

1^st Half

Was looking forward to covering the All Iowa Attack team in this tournament as this was the first time I’ve been able to watch them since their only other visit this year to the Twin Cities back in May.  While the All Iowa Attack faces looked familiar to me, their opponent, Team Iowa, was not a team I was familiar with at all and, on paper anyway, this was a game that All Iowa Attack should have won.  As ESPN’s Chris Berman would say, “That’s why they play the games.”

Not terribly surprisingly this game was close from the outset with All Iowa Attack Mauro holding a slim advantage.  Alyssa Johnson started things off for AIAM by scoring inside but that was quickly countered by Team Iowa’s Liz Skotowski’s “3” at the 14:23 mark.  With AIAM clinging to an 8-7 lead they finally made a move to open a little distance between themselves and their opponent.  A “3” at the 12:10 mark made it 11-7 and then Taylor Shull (best player on AIAM team, IMHO) knocked down a “3” at the 7:13 mark.  Then Johnson knocked down a “3” off the glass at the 6:50 mark and AIAM had some breathing room with a 17-9 lead. 

But Team Iowa would not fade into the night in this one.  Carly Pagel’s bucket at the 6:10 mark got the underdogs going again.  Courtney Strait was able to knock down two freebies from the charity stripe as well a bit later.  Trailing 19-14 at the 3:46 mark, Team Iowa’s #34 knocked down a “3” at the 2:54 mark that cut AIAM’s lead to a scant two points.  Still another three by Team Iowa’s #34 gave it it’s first lead  since the 14:23 mark.  The lead was short-lived, however, as AIAM’s Morgan Mauro drained a “3” of her own with 1:35 left.  Team Iowa would briefly regain the lead thanks to Pagel’s free throw with a little over a minute left but Shull was able to knock down a turnaround jumper with just under a minute left in the first half and AIAM held a 24-21 halftime lead. 

But Team Iowa made it clear early on in the second half that they were in this thing to win it.  Strait muscled her way inside at the 15:34 mark to score and was fouled in the process.  Her ensuing freebie tied things up again at 24-all.  Still, AIAM was not about to be intimidated by the challenge either.  McKenzie Piper drained a “3” to put the AIAM team back in front at the 15:11 mark.  AIAM would maintain this slim, slim advantage over the course of the next few minutes before Team Iowa was able to knot things up again at 31 all at the 7:52 mark and then went ahead on Alexis Lozano-Dobbs’ jumper with 5:58 left.

The lead would bob back and forth for a bit but it looked as if AIAM had finally regained control of this game with just 2:22 left when Mauro canned a “3” from the top and gave her team a 37-35 lead.  Unfortunately for AIAM, it would be the last lead they would enjoy in this contest.  Team Iowa’s Madison Baier scored inside at exactly the 2:00 minute mark to tie things up again at 37-all.  Then, with just :43 left on the clock Team Iowa’s Alyssa Jones drained a “3” that gave her team the lead for good at 40-37.  Team Iowa applied some pressure defense as well and it caused a costly, costly double-dribble error on AIAM’s Tember Schechinger.  Team Iowa was able to get the necessary trips to the charity stripe to salt things away and, in the end, came up with a somewhat improbable 43-39 victory.