Was up in Coon Rapids on this Wednesday night to take in the clash between Ridgewater College out of Willmar and defending national champion Anoka-Ramsey. I had the day off from work that enabled me to practice and work out that afternoon which, unfortunately, caused me to be a little late getting over there as I got settled in at the 17:29 mark with Ridgewater surprisingly up 4-0.
The visiting Warriors were able to push the lead to 6-0 when sophomore Alicia Koenen connected with a jumper in the lane at the 16:36 mark before Anoka-Ramsey finally got untracked at the 16:22 mark when athletic sophomore Tamarra Shorter scored inside. Still, Anoka-Ramsey looked quite sluggish and out of synch on offense as slow starts are nothing new for this year's squad and this allowed Ridgewater to up the lead even more. After two freebies by freshman Maria Loughlin, Koenen again connected with a jumper for an 11-4 Ridgewater lead and Anoka-Ramsey Head Coach David DeWitt had seen enough. He called a time-out, slammed a folding chair into position, and gave his team a rather vociferous chewing out. It must have worked as the Rams were able to slowly take control of the contest if not build up a sizable lead. First, the Rams chipped away at the free throw line on three consecutive possesions. At the 10:01 mark, strong sophomore center Tracy McGregor muscled her way inside and finished that cut the Ridgewater lead to 11-10. Then Shorter connected with a jumper at the 9:17 mark that gave Anoka-Ramsey their first lead at 12-11.
McGregor was able to increase Anoka-Ramsey's lead to 14-11 at the 8:16 mark with a shot off the glass but Ridgewater freshman sharpshooter Annie Winter knotted things up at 14 a piece with her "3" from the right corner at the 7:17 mark. Anoka-Ramsey took the lead for good at the 5:49 mark when Jenessa Tesch made one freebie and the Rams upped that lead to 20-14 by the 4:38 mark when sophomore PG Allison Ballstadt connected with a "3" from the right wing. Ridgewater freshman Shantel Kelly helped keep her team close, though, as she scored inside at the 2:52 mark and then connected off the glass at the 1:17 mark as the Rams took a rather shaky 24-18 lead into the locker room at intermission.
You almost have to figure that DeWitt gave his team another "woodshed"-type treatment during halftime as the Rams made no mistake as to who was going to control this game the rest of the way. Shorter started it off with a steal and a lay-up the other way at the 19:44 mark and then Ballstadt finished in transition at the 19:16 mark. Shorter scored inside at the 18:21 mark for a 30-20 Anoka-Ramsey lead and then the Rams decided not to let the visitors have a lot of breathing room as they applied a full-court press that caused a mountain of problems for the Warriors. While they still had life in the opening minutes of the second half, they had to work awfully hard just to keep the deficit manageable. Worse yet, the foul situation was becoming quite noticeable as Ridgewater had racked up 7 fouls to Anoka-Ramsey's 1 by the 12:00 mark. Just after the midway point of the second half the dam finally broke. Shorter snared a rebound and got a putback of her own shot at the 8:18 mark freshman guard Cami Bauer finally connected behind the arc at the 7:23 mark that pushed the lead to 49-35. Winter tried desperately to get her team back into it as she connected with a "3" at the 5:34 mark but that was quickly answered by Loughlin's "3" at the 4:46 mark from the left top which pushed the Anoka-Ramsey lead to 56-40. Shorter made an unbelievably explosive drive and finish at the 3:20 mark and Loughlin followed that with a lay-up at the 3:00 mark. Another steal by Shorter and lay-up the other way at the 2:43 mark sealed the deal for the home team as Anoka-Ramsey was able to come out on top by a final score of 65-45.
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