The nightcap from Target Center on this night featured an intriguing match-up between Monticello and Minneapolis Wasburn simply because Monticello was the #5 seed and Washburn was the 4th seed. Of course, the Millers were anchored by Chase Coley; the 6'4 senior shot blocker headed for Iowa. The Magic were a senior-laden team and, while they didn't possess anyone close to Coley's presence in the paint, they had a few tricks up their sleeves that they hoped to utilize on this night.
Washburn was able to get out to a 6-2 lead by the 16:00 minute and a Coley block of Monticello's senior forward Emily Gruber sent the Washburn student section into a frenzy. The lead extended to 9-2 before Gruber was able to knock down two free throws at the 14:00 mark that shaved some of the fat off of the deficit for Monticello but the Magic were having considerable trouble making any serious inroads into the Washburn cushion until the 10:33 mark when senior forward Alyssa Lentner connected on a medium-range jumper that had Monticello to within three trailing 11-8.
Washburn looked to extend that margin when junior guard Lucia Renikoff connected on a lay-up in transition with just under nine minutes left for a 13-8 Miller lead and another Renikoff score; a jumper with 7:50 left had the lead back up to seven at 15-8. Chase Coley's offensive rebound and putback of her own miss with 5:07 left made it an 18-10 ballgame Junior reserve forward Kendall Zellner-Smith's free throws with 3:45 left allowed Washburn to keep that eight-point lead at 20-12 before a late Monticello push helped close the gap. Lentner connected on another medium-range jumper with 1:46 left that sliced the Miller lead down to 22-18 and a lay-up by junior post Olivia Downing with 1:27 left allowed Monticello to get back into this one when Washburn could have run away with things. Washburn was taking a 24-20 lead into the locker room at the half but the good news for Monticello was that they were keeping Coley in check from a scoring standpoint and if they could somehow make up for those missed opportunites they had in the first half, it could possibly push them over the top in the second half. Washburn's Coley did finish the first half with 11 points and Renikoff tallied 8 points but I still felt that Washburn Head Coach Tylor Coley would have to find a way to get his daughter - and star senior post - into a more prominent scoring role in the second half.
Monticello senior guard Gabby Laimer got the Magic out to a good start with her "3" from the right wing early on that drew Monticello to within one trailing 24-23 and a Lentner "3" from the left wing at the 16:40 mark put the Magic out in front for the first time in this one at 26-24. Washburn reserve senior Natalie Holdahl tried to counter with her own "3" from the left corner and another Holdahl "3" from the right wing at the 15:23 mark helped Washburn regain a 32-30 edge. A score in the paint by Coley and a Sheppard jumper helped fuel a Monticello push that enabled them to gain a 41-36 advantage by the 12:21 mark
A score in the paint by Coley that got her fouled and allowed her to sink the obligatory freebie upped the Miller lead to 45-38 by the 10:09 mark but a flurry of Monticello scores had the Magic back to within two trailing 47-45 with a mountain of time - 8:28 to be exact - left. Washburn's Tylor Coley called a timeout to try and get his team settled down and the break in the action seemed to help. Chase Coley got an offensive rebound for a putback with 7:20 left and got fouled in the process and the obligatory freebie upped the lead back up to five at 50-45. A Coley one-handed jumper in the lane with 6:40 left helped maintain that five-point edge at 52-47. At the five minute mark, Washburn tried taking some air out of the ball with a little cat-and-mouse delay game that drove the Monticello crowd nuts and was probably a dangerous tactic to employ with so much time left coupled with a relatively small lead. But Coley and Renikoff made it work to perfection and with 2:55 left Renikoff found Coley down low and Coley was fouled in her offensive rebound and putback attempt. She made the back-end of a two-shot situation and a Sheppard score in the paint with 1:59 left had the Magic behind the 8-ball trailing 57-49. The Magic could not find the range from behind the arc when they needed it most and the Millers did what they had to do from the charity stripe to secure a 62-53 victory to move into the semifinals against Park Center.
A happy Tylor Coley was explaining the various mechanics to his offense and while he freely admitted that Chase - who finished leading all scorers with 29 points - was the focal point of his offense, I asked him specifically about Renikoff, the point guard. "Lucia is our general" Coley said. "She's grown up a lot....She handles the pressure and orchestrates the team." Personally, I've witnessed earlier in the season how Renikoff has really grown into the point guard spot and how much she's elevated her game over the last year. In the Miller's semifinal match-up with Park Center which Tylor Coley thought should be the final, they'll need every bit of Renikoff's floor general's ability to pull off an upset victory for sure.
No comments:
Post a Comment