Made the short hop over to Park Center High School on this Monday night to take in Senior Night and a big regular season finale for both visiting Maple Grove and host Park Center. Pirate seniors Hannah Schaub, McKenna DuBois and Camille McCoy were all recognized before the game for their contributions to this Pirate program over the years they have been a part of it.
In addition to this game being the regular season finale with a Northwest Suburban Conference Divisional title on the line, this game was also a fun one to be a part of as well as not only did host Park Center have a raucous student section on hand this night, but visiting Maple Grove had a nice contingent of students supporting their Crimson as well. So this was a great atmosphere to be a part of this night and it helped make this game even more special. In this physical, defense-dominated contest, scoring would come at a premium but it still didn't prevent Maple Grove from getting out to a great start. A score in the paint by junior guard Mackenzie Barta at the 17:08 mark that got her fouled and allowed her to sink the obligatory freebie and a "3" from the left wing area by lanky fellow junior forward Maddie Tharp had the Crimson up 6-1 by the 14:41 mark. Park Center would battle back, however as a "3" from the top of the key by Hannah Schaub at the 14:28 mark and a score in the paint by sophomore post Mikayla Hayes had the Pirates trailing by a scant point at 8-7 at the 10:22 mark. Despite the fact that Maple Grove found itself in the bonus with 7:32 left, turnovers were rearing their ugly head for the Crimson which opened the door for Park Center coming down the stretch of the first half. With Maple Grove holding a tenuous 12-11 advantage, Pirate sophomore reserve forward Fey Ayobamidele drained a "3" from the top of the key with 5:04 left and a steal in the backcourt and lay-up by DuBois with 4:54 left had Park Center up 16-12. With 4:27 left, DuBois struck again; this time with a three-point bomb from the right wing that increased the Pirate lead to 19-12. Barta would get two free throws for the Crimson with 2:38 left but Park Center sophomore guard Ann Simonet would add one freebie as well as the Pirates took a 20-14 lead into the locker room at intermission.
Park Center would maintain a bit of a cushion in the opening minutes of the second half with the lead bobbing back and forth between four and six points but back-to-back scores in the paint by Hayes allowed the Pirates to stretch the lead to eight at 26-18. At the 13:08 mark, the lanky sophomore post for Park Center struck again; this time on a lay-up in transition that got her fouled and allowed her to sink the obligatory freebie for a 29-20 Pirate advantage. Then it was the flashy sophomore reserve Ayobamidele's turn to shine. A tip-in of a missed lay-up in transition at the 11:11 mark and a jumper from the left wing at the 10:17 mark now stretched the lead to 33-20. Maple Grove could have hit the panic button right then and there but the Crimson dug deep and fought their way right back into the thick of things with a 10-0 run of their own with Barta and junior forward Allie Schmidt doing the damage from the charity stripe that chopped the Park Center lead down to 33-30 with 3:15 left and had Pirate Head Coach Chris VanderHyde clamoring for a timeout. That stoppage in play did the trick as Maple Grove; in the face of a stingy Park Center defense in the critical moments in the home stretch, could only find iron - or worse - air - with shots. Even with the Crimson in the double-bonus with 2:17 left, Maple Grove saw Park Center close the door on their hopes of an undisputed divisional title. A lay-up by Hayes with 2:31 left stretched the lead to 35-30 and two free throws by Danielle Schaub with 1:23 left stretch the lead to six at 37-31. Insurance free throws by Simonet and DuBois within the last minute sealed the deal for the Pirates as Park Center claimed a tough 45-35 win that not only successfully closed out the regular season on Senior Night but also gave the Pirates a share of the divisional title with Maple Grove as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment