The second Class AA quarterfinal game on this day featured at least one team that I've seen before - Section 4AA champ and #4 seed Minnehaha Academy taking on Section 5AA and #5 seed Annandale; located just west of the Twin Cities on Canadian Pacific Railway's Paynesville Sub mainline. The Redhawks have been a perennial contender for several years and previous team's under Head Coach Josh Thurow have won the whole ball of wax before. The Cardinals, with a 23-7 record were less well-known but a #5 seed vs a #4 seed game can always be interesting.
The Redhawks raced out to an 8-0 lead in the game's opening minutes as two scores by senior post Lilly Thomey - a lay-up at the 17:00 mark and a short turn-around jumper off the glass at the 16:16 mark helped spark the run. A jumper in the lane by junior guard Sarah Kaminski at the 15:55 mark and a lay-up by senior guard Gracia Gilreath at the 15:04 mark completed the run. Meanwhile, the Cardinals were having a devilish time trying to figure out Minnehaha Academy's somewhat unconventional 2-3 zone and it wasn't until freshman reserve post Kamryn D'Heilly's score in the paint at the 14:37 mark that Annandale finally got on the board. The Cardinals, however, closed the gap to 8-6 with 9:30 left on another D'Heilly score in the paint and the Redhawks, whose offensive output momentarily had stalled, didn't get back into the scoring column until 8:56 left on a score in the paint by 8th grade reserve post Avery New. Minnehaha Academy's lead would stay at the four-point margin until Kaminski launched a "3" from the top of the key with 5:05 left that upped the Redhawks lead to 17-10. Annandale, though, hung tough. Junior guard Hannah Groth scored in the paint with 4:11 left and D'Heilly was able to knock down a freebie with 2:09 and 1:36 left that shrunk Minnehaha Academy's lead down to 17-14. The Cardinals had a shot to draw even closer just before the half on their last possession but the freshman, D'Heilly, got impatient when she had the ball and launched up an errant shot with :06 left on the clock. The Redhawks got the rebound and got the ball off to freshman guard Terra Rhoades who dashed down the floor to get a lay-up with just :02 left on the clock to up Minnehaha's lead at the half to 19-14 in this low-scoring affair.
Minnehaha Academy stretched the lead out to eight on two occasions early on in the second half. Rhoades connected with a lay-up at the 16:26 mark and got another one off of an inbounds pass at the 15:04 mark for a 23-17 lead and Thomey's score in the paint at the 14:16 mark made it 25-17. A Rhoades lay-up in transition after a steal at the 13:55 mark maintained that eight-point edge at 27-19 but the Cardinals clawed back as a "3" from the top of the key by senior post Hannah Spaulding at the 12:36 mark trimmed the Redhawk lead down to 29-25. A 7-0 Minnehaha Academy run stretched the lead out to 36-25 near the midway point of the second half and two Thomey freebies with 8:50 left made it 38-28 and the Redhawks appeared to be in good shape. But this pesky Annandale team was not about to go away just yet as a 4-0 spurt fueled by a Spaulding jumper from the right top area with 8:24 left and a D'Heilly score in the paint with 7:18 left chopped the Minnehaha Academy lead down to 38-32 and an alarmed Thurow called a timeout to discuss things with his squad. That stoppage in play had the Redhawks come out with a new determination down the stretch as they dug in their heels and put a halt to any more Annandale runs. Smart play and free throws by the reliable Kaminski with 4:14 left upped the lead to 42-34. Though things were still dangerous for Minnehaha Academy with the eight-point advantage and the fact that Kaminski was saddled with her fourth foul with 4:09 left, others picked up the slack for the Redhawks. One free throw by Rhoades with 3:03 left and another by senior forward Angela Scharf with 2:52 left not only made it a double-digit lead at 44-34 but now Minnehaha Academy was in the double-bonus as well. Insurance free throws by Thomey with 1:10 left helped seal the deal for the Redhawks as Minnehaha Academy claimed a tough 49-38 win to advance to the semifinals.
I asked Thurow afterward about that critical moment in the second half when Annandale had cut the Redhawk lead down to six at 38-32 and what happened during that timeout. "We needed to get back to full-court pressure and force turnovers" he said. That strategy seemed to work as the Cardinals could do little offensively afterward. I also asked Rhoades about the game and her big showing on this day. She said that the scoring aspect really isn't that big of a deal for her. She thought that "our press was a big factor today" and that "we still have a better game in us." I also spoke with Thomey about that second half when their lead got reduced to six points and if there was ever any worry. She did admit that, at first anyway, there was some panic but that feeling soon dissipated when she remembered all the hard work that they've done during this season. "All the work we've done really helped calm us down" she said. And this win today certainly provides the Redhawks with a boost of confidence as well. "It's quite a bit of reassurance" Thomey added.
No comments:
Post a Comment