Was back over at venerable Hutton Arena on this Black
Friday of Beat ‘SC week to take in some games from the annual Pat Paterson
Memorial Thanksgiving Tip-Off Tournament that is wonderfully put on and hosted
by Hamline Head Coach Kerri Stockwell and her players. One of the games that I covered on this day
was the clash between New Prague and perennial powerhouse (and two-time
defending Class AAA state champ) De La Salle.
But this De La Salle team lost a lot of talent that helped propel them
to the top over the last couple of years and there are a lot of young, new
faces on the team that Head Coach Faith Johnson-Patterson has to blend together
– and go through some growing pains that was quite apparent as this game got
underway.
Junior guard Taylor Toney would gave De La Salle it’s
only lead of the game when she connected with a jumper off the glass at the
16:18 mark to get things going but veteran New Prague Head Coach Ron Gunderson
wasted no time having his team make life miserable for the Islanders by
applying some full- and half-court pressure that forced several Islander
turnovers and mistakes and allowed the Trojans (uh, bad nickname this week J) to capitalize and
turn those into easy points. Freshman
phenom Maizie Deihl was instrumental early on for New Prague as they bolted to
an 8-2 lead before a “3” junior guard Patience Griffin from the left wing at
the 13:54 mark and a “3” from sophomore guard Aiza Wilson from the left wing –
off the glass no less – at the 13:25 mark had the Islanders right back in the
thick of things; trailing only 9-8. But
New Prague would not let up on defense and the Islanders were quite generous in
turning over the ball to their opponents as the Trojans embarked on a 15-2 run
over the next five minutes that really changed the course of the game for good
and it was paced mainly by Diehl along with some help from sophomore Jess Allar
and sophomore Maddie Giesen that made it a 24-10 game with 8:21 left and had
Faith Johnson-Patterson yelling for a thirty-second time out to assess things
with her staff.
But the short break in the action did not deter the
Trojans as they continued on their assault.
Diehl connected with a lay-up after a New Prague steal with 7:31 left
and senior guard Rachel Haecherl knocked down a jumper on the ensuing Trojan
possession. Allar made good on a lay-up
with 4:22 left and fellow senior Ella Grote at the post spot was able to muscle
inside for a score that got her fouled as well with 1:17 left. Giesen was able to get into the paint for a
score with just :42 left and, when halftime finally rolled around, De La Salle
was staring at a 41-17 deficit; something that is almost unheard of when it
comes to Islander Girls Basketball.
And things did not get any better for the Islanders
either once the second half got underway.
Two lay-ups by Diehl at the 16:02 and 14:57 marks really set the tone
for the rest of the game. Allar connected
on a lay-up after a steal at the 13:27 mark and senior reserve Mikayla Giles
scored down low at the 11:45 mark that made it a 56-23 game. With the Trojans up by thirty at 58-28 by the
10:00 mark, Gunderson called off the dogs and sent his reserves in for mop-up
duty which gave New Prague junior Kenzie Trewartha a chance to shine. A lay-up with 9:03 left that got her fouled
as well; a drive and finish in the paint with 7:13 left and a lay-up in
transition with 6:45 left made it a 65-31 game.
Fellow junior Sarah Goblirsch also contributed to the effort coming down
the stretch with a charity stripe shot with 3:37 left and a lay-up a mere
twenty seconds later. Freshman Keegan
Mulvihill snared a rebound of her own miss for a putback for some icing on the
cake as New Prague rolled to an easy 71-37 romp over the Islanders. Afterward, Faith Johnson-Patterson was quick
to point out that “We lost a lot” in terms of talent and experience to
graduation. For De La Salle, it’s now a
matter of going back to the drawing and getting the young, new players better
and better every day in practice. As I
mentioned at the top, there’s going to be some growing pains for sure, but you’ve
got to go through those to take it to the next level.
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