The second game on tap on this Saturday afternoon from Osseo High School featured St. Paul Como Park going up against perennial powerhouse DeLaSalle. As it was with Fridley, my knowledge on the Cougars was virtually nil but this DeLaSalle squad is a year older and stronger than last year's team that wound up losing to Park Center in the Section3AAA final and all signs were pointing to yet another rematch. Still, the Islanders would have to take care of business on this afternoon. Still, I was curious about this Cougar squad; particularly with all the hype surrounding junior sensation Andrayah Adams.
St. Paul Como Park would manage to keep things close and uncomfortable in the opening minutes of the contest as freshman guard Mikayla VanNett connected with a jumper from the right elbow at the 16:54 mark to give the Cougars a 2-0 lead. The Islanders would respond with an 8-0 flurry; highlighted by a "3" from the right wing at the 16:22 mark by senior guard Patiance Griffin for an 8-2 DeLaSalle lead but the Cougars would respond with two three-point bombs to tie the score at 8 - one from the left wing by freshman reserve guard (and younger sis) Raiyne Adams at the 15:22 mark and another from the top of the key by big sis Andrayah Adams at the 15:02 mark. So while it looked like for a short time that things could stay relatively tight, things began to quickly fall apart for St. Paul Como Park at the 12:45 mark when a technical foul was assessed to both Griffin of the Islanders and Cougar senior reserve forward Monique Baker after an overzealous struggle for a loose ball. With DeLaSalle holding a 14-10 lead, junior forward Camryn Speese connected with a lay-up in transition after a steal at the 12:20 mark and then senior forward Taylor Toney got a lay-up in transition as well at the 11:50 mark that made it an 18-10 ballgame and St. Paul Como Park Head Coach John Robinson called an immediate timeout to try and get his rattled squad settled down. Unfortunately for the Cougars, things seemed to further unravel as the Islanders went on a 9-0 spree in a little over a minute's worth of time as two treys by junior reserve guard Aiza Wilson and another from senior reserve guard Jada Haynes suddenly made it a 27-10 game with 9:10 left. After two free throws by Andrayah Adams with 7:54 left that temporarily stopped the bleeding, DeLaSalle went on 9-2 spurt as another Griffin "3" and two score by Haynes made it 37-14 with 5:37 left. Haynes would continue to have the hot hand for the Islanders down the stretch of the first half as well as the speed and athletic superiority of DeLaSalle became plainly evident. Haynes connected with a lay-up after a steal in the backcourt with 4:53 left and shortly afterward scored in the paint and got fouled in the process and the ensuing free throw made it 43-16. VanNett tried to come to the rescue for her Cougar teammates with her "3" from the left wing with 2:41 left that temporarily shrunk the Islander lead down to 46-21 but an offensive rebound and putback by Haynes with 2:11 left and a "3" from the left top area by senior guard Hazae'lee Sellers with 1:41 left increased the lead to 51-22. Speese dropped two charity stripe shots with :48.4 left and a Wilson "3" from the top of the key with just :02 left before the buzzer gave DeLaSalle an insurmountable 55-24 halftime lead.
Not satisfied with the huge cushion it achieved in the first half, the Islanders kept the pedal to the metal once the second half got underway. Another three-point bomb from Griffin; this one from the right wing at the 17:38 mark helped spark a 9-3 burst that made it 65-26 by the 14:37 mark. The youngster from St. Paul Como Park; VanNett, still had a "bombs away" state of mind and she uncorked a "3" from the top of the key at the 14:24 mark as did Andrayah Adams did from the left corner at the 11:47 mark. But, for the most part anyway, DeLaSalle kept the Cougars star guard in check all game long and, with a 67-33 lead by this point, the Islanders kept pounding away. Griffin launched another "3" at the 11:21 mark from the right wing area and a Toney lay-up with 9:49 left made it 72-36. As it did in the first game on this afternoon, the "Mercy Rule" promptly kicked in with 9:00 mark. VanNett uncorked another "3" from the right corner with 5:34 left and Andrayah Adams got free throws to go down with 4:49 left and 4:39 left but nothing was going to make a sizable cut at the deficit St. Paul Como Park was facing at this stage. Islander junior forward Teja Bodden got one lay-up with 3:47 left and connected with another one in transition with 3:05 left as the Islanders won this one going away by a final count of 80-44 to set up the much-anticpated rematch with Park Center in the Section 3AAA Championship Game Thursday night (3-12-15) at Anoka at 6:00 P.M.
No comments:
Post a Comment