Made my way down to Northfield on this halfway sunny but cool spring day to take in the two Minnesota Girls All-Star Games over at Carleton's West Gym on this Saturday afternoon. The players in this All-Star series were split into four different teams and the first game had this group of players:
Home Team
Cayla McMorris - Park Center
Sydney Lamberty - Park of Cottage Grove
Claire Lundberg - Anoka
Grace Sawatzke - Monticello
Ellie Thompson - Chaska
Madison Dean - Jordan
Amazih Eickhoff - Albany
Aunika Bastian - Mankato Loyola
Michaela Noga - Parkers Prairie
McKena Panning - Chaska
Head Coach - Jeremy Post - White Bear Lake
Asst Coach - Bryan Doughty - White Bear Lake
Player Rep - Brenda Niebuhr
Away Team
Kenisha Bell - Bloomington Kennedy
Tonoia Wade - Bloomington Kennedy
Brianna Rasmussen - Fergus Falls
Amanda Christianson - Alexandria
Jill Conrad - Centennial
Monica Vega - Ada-Borup
Alexis Alexander - Champlin Park
Shelby Kaster - Win-E-Mac
Melissa Gehl - Fulda
Darby Youngstrom - North Woods
Head Coach - David Smart - Ada-Borup
Asst Coach - Chris Kujava - Ada-Borup
Player Rep - Pat Buresh
The home squad got off to a good start in this one as early scores by Park's Sydney Lamberty and Jordan's Madison Dean made it a 4-0 game and two more Dean scores - a lay-up at the 16:08 mark and a drive and finish in transition at the 15:32 mark - made it an 8-2 game before the away squad finally got untracked. A lay-up in transition by Ada-Borup's Monica Vega; who was wearing a protective mask after an apparent nose injury, cut the home team's lead down to 8-6 by the 14:50 mark. Park Center's Cayla McMorris; playing loose and adventuresome on this day with a state title finally in her pocket, helped get the home team back up by six points with her back-to-back scores at the 14:35 and 13:31 marks for a 12-6 advantage but the away squad would scratch and claw their way back into this one. A score down low by Fergus Falls' Brianna Rasmussen at the 12:28 mark and a score in the paint by North Woods' Darby Youngstrom cut the home team's lead down to 12-10 at the 11:59 mark. Centennial's always-reliable Jill Conrad connected with a jumper from the left elbow area at the 11:07 mark to help keep the away team close; trailing 14-12 and two free throws by Alexandria's Amanda Christianson drew the away team even closer trailing 18-17 as the home team's early advantage suddenly seemed precarious.
The home team clung to that one-point advantage over the next two minutes before the away team finally captured their first - and only - lead of the game on a pretty move and finish along the left baseline by Champlin Park's Alexis Alexander with 8:12 left for a 23-22 advantage. But a "3" from the right top area with 7:19 left by Parkers Prairie's Michaela Noga allowed the home team to recapture the lead - this time for good - for a 25-23 advantage and a "3" by McMorris from the left top area with 5:48 left expanded that lead to 28-23 and two free throws by Albany's Amazih Eickhoff with 5:26 left suddenly upped the home team's lead to 30-23 to complete this decisive 8-0 burst. A "3" from the left corner by Dean with 3:51 left and a score in the paint by McMorris with 2:48 left now had the home team up by ten at 35-25 before the away squad finally was able to stop some of the bleeding right before the half when Win-E-Mac's Shelby Kaster snared an offensive rebound for a putback with :28 left that cut the home team's lead down to 35-27 at halftime.
After an interesting halftime shooting contest between players of the afternoon's second game that saw New Richland-H-E-G's (and future Minnesota Golden Gopher) Carlie Wagner barely miss her first half-court shot attempt - and then bury her second attempt off the glass to the delight of the crowd on hand, it was back to the business at hand as the home team slowly built on it's advantage it had established late in the first half. Chaska's Ellie Thompson snared an offensive rebound for a putback and got fouled in the process and the ensuing freebie had the home team up 38-27 at the 17:21 mark. At the 16:06 mark, Thompson struck again as she connected with a jumper along the left baseline and two Eickhoff free throws less than a minute later now had the home team's lead at 44-30. A lay-up in transition by the willowy Lamberty upped the lead to 46-30 at the 14:34 mark before the away team managed to get a bit of an offensive pulse. Rasmussen connected with a lay-up in transition at the 14:03 mark and two free throws by Bloomington Kennedy's Kenisha Bell got the away team back to within ten trailing 46-36 by the 13:11 mark. But two more Lamberty scores - down low off the glass at the 13:00 mark and a lay-up in transition at the 12:36 mark - put the lead back at fourteen for the home team at 50-36. Conrad tried to help the away team's fortunes as she connected on a lay-up at the 10:57 mark but a Noga "3" from the right corner at the 10:15 mark had the home team up 57-41 and the away team was now in a hole.
The away team certainly had no intentions of throwing in the towel, though, and a Conrad jumper with 9:51 left and a "3" from the left wing by Bell with 8:41 left helped slice some of the fat off of the deficit as the home team's lead was trimmed to 61-46. Two Kaster scores - a lay-up in transition with 7:56 left and a jumper off of an inbounds pass with 7:28 left - coupled with a Vega score in the paint with 7:02 left drew the away team to within nine trailing 61-52. But just when the away team looked to be on the verge of getting close, things suddenly went awry and the home team was able to put the finishing touches on this one. A score in the paint by Lamberty drew a foul and she made good on the obligatory freebie for a 64-52 advantage. Chaska's MaKena Panning scored in the paint with 6:18 left and a McMorris score with 5:40 left had the home team up by fourteen at 68-54. A Thompson "3" from the left top area with 4:31 left and a Dean lay-up with 4:01 left increased the home team's lead to sixteen at 73-57. Thompson snared an offensive rebound of her own miss for a score with 3:17 left for a 75-59 lead for the home team. The away team got late scores from two former Northwest Suburban Conference foes - Alexander and Conrad - but a score by Panning with :25 left was icing on the cake for the home team as they recorded a 79-66 victory.
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