Metro Stars Reiter vs Wisconsin Playground Elite 7-23-11

2011 NORTH TARTAN MELTDOWN

HOPKINS H.S.

7-23-11  5:20 P.M.

METRO STARS REITER vs WISCONSIN PLAYGROUND ELITE

1^ST Half

This was another intriguing matchup featuring one of the local AAU teams here in the Twin Cities; Metro Stars Reiter going up against a team I had not seen play yet – the Wisconsin Playground Elite team based out of Milwaukee.  This game would be a contrast of styles; the run and gun style of the Wisconsin team and the more deliberate, power-oriented Metro Stars team coached by former Blaine coach Steve Reiter and well- assisted by current Minnesota State (Mankato) player Sarah Wiens; a former Burnsville standout.

Wisconsin Playground Elite would show off their speed and athleticism early on as Terri Bender grabbed the opening tip and raced to the basket to get a quick lay-up and a 2-0 lead.  That lead increased to 5-0 when Dilonna Johnson drained a “3”at the 15:33 mark.  The Metro Stars team got on the scoreboard when Jackie Johnson out of state runner-up Eden Prairie was able to score inside and then Katybeth Biewen from Edina sliced Wisconsin’s lead to 5-4 with her lay-up at the 14:47 mark.  Johnson then gave Metro Stars a brief 6-5 lead when she scored off the glass at the 13:06 mark but then it was the Wisconsin Playground Elite’s turn to turn up the heat  as they used their speed and athleticism to help ignite an 11-2 run over the next few minutes that gave them a 16-8 run.  Wisconsin Playground Elite then upped things to 20-10 at the 8:56 mark on Eileen Van Horn’s lay-up at the 8:56 mark before Metro Stars Reiter was finally able to stop some of the bleeding.  Alexis Foley hit one “3” at the 8:36 mark and then another one at the 7:30 mark that cut the Wisconsin Playground Elite lead in half. 

Wisconsin Playground Elite was able to mount another charge soon thereafter that helped them to forge an eleven point lead by the 6:32 mark but again the Metro Stars team would not buckle.  Britney Scherber scored a lay-up with 5:13 left and then AnnMarie Healy  knocked down a shot of the glass with 4:07 left and the Wisconsin Playground Elite team’s lead was now only 28-21.  The Metro Stars kept chipping away at the Wisconsin Playground Elite team but perhaps, even more important was that Steve Reiter had his team go to a zone defense that effectively choked off the middle and really started to make things miserable for the Wisconsin Playground Elite team as they could not only get it down low to their big post but now they were forcing errant “3”s from behind the arc that would eventually catch up with them.     Still, the Wisconsin team managed to hold a lead coming down the stretch of the first half and held the advantage at the half 31-27.

2^nd Half

What advantage the Wisconsin Playground Elite team had in the first half evaporated in the second half.  Clogged up inside with the 2-3 zone defense the Metro Stars Reiter team employed on defense the Wisconsin Playground Elite team slowly wobbled into disaster.  The game was tied at 33-all when Scherber connected with a jumper at the 12:15 mark and Metro Stars Reiter took the lead for good at the 9:53 mark when Hannah Schonhardt put down two freebies.  The height and rebounding advantage of Metro Stars Reiter also took its toll on Wisconsin Playground Elite as the second half progressed.  Healy snared a rebound and got a bucket on a putback and Johnson was able to score as well at the 6:19 mark.  Johnson had another score at the 5:42 mark and then also knocked down an unlikely “3” with 5:01 left as Metro Stars Reiter enjoyed its biggest lead at 44-36.

But Wisconsin Playground Elite had one more run left in them to make this one a soul-tugger coming down the stretch.  Dilonna Johnson hit a “3” with 4:47 left  and then Mehryn Kraker who may be the best athlete on the team struck from behind the arc with her own “3” with 3:27 left that cut the Metro Stars Reiter lead to just 44-43.  Wisconsin Playground Elite actually grabbed the lead at the 2:16 mark and gave Steve Reiter and Sarah Weins just cause to hit the panic button but the Metro Stars Reiter team calmly responded with some key buckets and free throws.  Schonhardt’s freebie with just 2:04 left knotted things up at 45.  Despite another Kraker freebie that gave the Wisconsin Playground Elite team one more lead at 46-45 with just 1:16 left, it was then Biewen and Foley who came to the rescue for Metro Stars Reiter with just under a minute – Biewen’s improbable lay-up in traffic with :41 left and then Foley doing the same with only :04 left – that earned Metro Stars Reiter a hard-fought 49-46 win.