Made the short drive over to Park Center High School on this Friday night to catch the last regular season home game for the Pirates as they hosted visiting Armstrong. This was also Parents Night as all the players and parents were introduced before the warm-ups. Unbeknownst to me was the fact that junior point guard Hannah Schaub was now out of action for the rest of the season with an ACL injury to her left knee that she suffered on Tuesday night during the win over Maple Grove. Because I was out with the flu for a couple of days, I wasn't aware of it at the time but my heart sank like the Titanic when I saw her come out with that covering on her left leg.
But despite the loss of one of their top players, the Pirates came out of the gate in this one with a grim resolve and determination and quickly bolted to a 9-0 lead in the first few minutes of the game thank to senior Cayla McMorris' free throws and a "3" from junior sharp shooting guard McKenna DuBois and a lay-up in transition by lanky freshman post Mikayla Hayes that had Armstrong Head Coach Antiwan Easley calling for a timeout by the 16:13 mark. The Pirates would extend the lead to as much as 14-1 by the 15:00 mark as DuBois connected with a lay-up and McMorris knocked down a "3" from the left wing. Armstrong's strong junior guard Lyrik Williams finally got Armstrongs first FG of the game when she used her 5'9" frame to snare an offensive rebound for a putback at the 14:41 mark and followed that up with a jumper from the right top area at the 13:24 mark that got the Falcons back to within single digits trailing 14-5. But Park Center moved quickly to counter this as freshman guard Ann Simonet drained a "3" from the right top area at the 13:07 mark and freshman point guard Danielle Schaub; now filling in the role normally held by big sis Hannah, calmly connected with a lay-up in transition at the 12:46 mark for a 19-5 Pirate lead. Armstrong senior guard Hana Sacic knocked down a short jumper along the left baseline at the 11:52 mark but Park Center reserve freshman forward Feyisayo Ayobamidele; arguably the "X-Factor" on this Pirate team, connected with a short jumper of her own in transition at the 10:26 mark for a 21-7 Park Center lead and Armstrong's Easley; knowing full well his squad was in trouble, called another timeout to halt this Pirate blitzkrieg.
To their credit, the Falcons refused to break out the panic button that was easily at their disposal but instead stayed patient in their offense; looking for opportunities and slowly whittled away at the Park Center advantage. Williams muscled inside for a score that got her fouled with 9:57 left and though she wasn't able to knock down the obligatory freebie, she followed that up with another score in the paint with 8:29 left that cut Park Center's lead down to 23-11. A Williams jumper from the left top area just inside the arc got Armstrong to within ten with 7:02 left and another Williams foray into the paint for a finish completed this 8-2 Falcon burst that now had Armstrong back to within single digits trailing 23-15 and left Park Center Head Coach Chris VanderHyde scratching his head and calling a timeout. Whatever was said during this break seemed to hit the right tones as the Pirates regained control and responded with a 9-0 burst to end the first half. Two free throws by Hayes with 5:22 left and a drive and finish by the Wisconsin-bound Morris had Park Center back up by double-digits and then the wily McMorris uncorked a "3" from the left top area with 4:06 left that doubled up the Falcons by a count of 30-15. A drive and finish by DuBois with 1:56 left finished things off in the first half as Park Center took a cozy 32-15 lead into the locker room at the half. While not a completely satisfying first half for the green and gold, they certainly recovered from the nice little burst by Armstrong to regain firm control of things.
The Pirates came out in the second half with the same intensity and determination as they started the first half and soon had Armstrong reeling. Simonet snared a steal and dashed the other way for a lay-up at the 17:25 mark and then Hayes got a lay-up of her own at the 16:56 mark to get Park Center up by twenty at 36-16. Armstrong's Williams tried to single-handedly keep her team in contention with scores but the Pirates would not let go of their vice-grip. The willowy Simonet snared a long offensive rebound and then made a hard drive along the right baseline to finish at the 14:42 mark and then two scores by McMorris - a defensive rebound and coast-to-coast lay-up the other way and a lay-up in transition - helped Park Center expand their lead to a 46-21 count. By this time, things were looking bright and sunny on the Park Center front, right?
Well, not completely anyway. VanderHyde; unhappy with some of the calls/non-calls over the last few minutes, expressed his displeasure with the game officials during the ensuing Armstrong timeout and grew increasing agitated as the conversation with the lead official progressed. VanderHyde was then hit with a technical foul at the 11:26 mark and had to be guided away by Assistant Coach Dana Joubert-Hayes before he could be hit with another one that would have brought a premature end to his night in the gym. Fortunately for the Pirates, VanderHyde regained his cool and his players stayed hot. Sophomore reserve forward Oliva Peterson connected with a lay-up with 9:55 left that once again allowed Park Center to double-up the Falcons by a score of 50-25. Williams would continue to make stabs and jabs for Armstrong but the Falcons simply could not handle the transition opportunities the Pirates were getting at an increasingly alarming rate. With Park Center holding a comfortable 56-33 lead, McMorris connected on a lay-up in transition and got fouled in the process and knocked down the obligatory freebie for a 59-33 lead. A score in the paint by McMorris upped the lead to 61-37 with 4:42 left and then both Ayobamidele and DuBois got easy lay-ups in transition in the closing minutes as Park Center emerged victorious in their regular season finale with a resounding 65-45 win.
With the players signing posters for the younger kids in attendance afterward, a happy and somewhat remorseful VanderHyde, while happy with the victory, admitted he let himself get baited by the officials that eventually lead to the technical foul. IMHO, he was looking out for his players which is absolutely the right thing to do and sometimes you have to pay the price for doing so (Heck, I've garnered my share of code violations in arguments with USTA officials in my matches and I'll probably get some more before I'm done). More importantly, I asked him how the injury to Hannah Schaub changes up the mix for his team. We both felt that Danielle Schaub did an excellent job in filling in for her older sis on this night and the rest of the team will certainly be more than willing to step up their games as well. Just as important has been the emergence of that "6th" player; Ayobamidele who has an incredible knack for scoring. And while it's certainly a downer for Hannah Schaub to have to sit on the bench, she's certainly going to be there for her teammates in practice and in games; doing whatever she can to help her team. That's one of the things you've got to like about this team and I feel strongly that they're going to be around at the end.
No comments:
Post a Comment