Made the short hop over to Park Center High School on this Tuesday of Christmas week to take in the much-anticipated game between two defending state champions - defending Class AAAA champ Hopkins going up against host and defending AAA champ Park Center. The Pirates; now shoved up to Class AAAA themselves, looked to have righted the ship somewhat with recent victories over both Maple Grove and Armstrong but this match-up with the Royals would be a stern test. With a handful of former Park Center alumni players along with other current college players in attendance as well, this indeed looked like a fun night.
One of the big questions surrounding this game was if Park Center could possibly find a way to stop powerful senior guard and future Michigan State Spartan Nia Hollie or at least neutralize her. In reality, the Pirates would have a lot more than just Hollie to worry about as Hopkins bolted out to a 7-2 by the 15:40 mark and they would increase the lead to 9-3 after a lay-up in transition by senior guard K'Aezha Wubben at the 15:16 mark. The Pirates would finally gather themselves and work their way back into the contest. Sophomore guard Sommer Blakemore knocked down a "3" from the right corner at the 15:03 mark and two Blakemore free throws at the 14:20 mark narrowed the Royals lead down to one at 9-8. A short jumper by Hollie off the glass at the 14:08 mark stretched the lead to three at 11-8 but a 6-0 Park Center spurt had the defending AAAA champs on their heels for a bit. Lanky 6'3" junior post Mikayla Hayes made a drive into the lane for a finish at the 13:41 mark and then two lay-ups in transition by junior point guard Danielle Schaub - one at the 13:26 mark and then another one at the 12:48 mark - gave the Pirates a 14-11 lead and the swarming defense that Park Center is known for seemed to be giving Hopkins all sorts of fits.
The Royals would settle down and with the score tied at 16, Hopkins was able to make another push. Senior reserve forward Dominique McNeeley got into the paint for one score with 9:51 left and then senior guard Ashley Bates was able to snare an offensive rebound of a missed free throw attempt by Wubben for a putback and got fouled in the process and her ensuing freebie made it 21-16 Hopkins. Fellow senior guard Evelyn Knox then buried a "3" from the left corner with 9:21 left and then 8th grader Paige Bueckers snared a steal in the backcourt and got a short shot out of it with 9:10 left for a 26-16 Royals lead and Park Center Head Coach Chris VanderHyde called an immediate timeout in hopes of getting his squad settled down. Further complicating the Pirate situation was the injury to junior forward Fey Ayobamidele who went down hard and appeared to inadvertently hit her head on the floor. She was assisted off the floor and went to the locker room for observation. Still, Park Center managed to fend off this latest Royal assault and they were able to mount a comeback of their own down the stretch of the first half. Schaub; not necessarily known for her three-point prowess, drained on trey from the left wing off the glass with 7:57 left and then sophomore reserve guard Jada Buford buried a "3" from the left corner with 5:49 left that cut the Hopkins lead down to 26-22. Another Schaub lay-up in transition with 3:23 left that drew a foul and allowed her to sink the obligatory freebie drew the Pirates closer; trailing 28-25. The Royals would get the lead stretched back to six points at 31-25 with 2:41 left thanks to free throws by both Hollie and McNeeley but Park Center had one run left in them right before the end of the half. One charity stripe shot by Buford with 2:13 left and back-to-back scores by Hayes - a lay-up with 1:22 left and an offensive rebound for a putback with :38 left - put the Pirates right back in the thick of things trailing 31-30 when the horn sounded ending the first half. Considering some of the missed opportunities that Park Center had and the fact that they weathered two significant Royals runs in the first half as well, that had to have them feeling a lot better about themselves than they did midway through the first half.
Things would continue to stay tight in the early stages of the second half. After a Hayes free throw at the 17:45 mark knotted the score at 31-all, Hollie would connect with a jumper from the left elbow area for Hopkins at the 17:27 mark to make it a 33-31 game. Hayes would help Park Center forge a 33-all deadlock when she snared an offensive rebound for a putback at the 16:52 mark and it looked as if this game would live up to the billing and hype. But this was the crucial point in the game where the Royals embarked on a 10-0 run that changed the course of this contest for good. A jumper by Hollie from the right elbow area at the 16:31 mark and a Knox "3" from the left wing area at the 14:36 mark gave Hopkins a 38-33 advantage. Sophomore forward snared an offensive rebound for a putback at the 14:00 mark and then dropped one freebie after getting fouled at the 13:30 mark for a 41-33 Royals lead and then Hollie connected with a jumper from the right elbow area off of an inbounds pass to make it 43-33 with 9:39 left and the Pirates looked as if they had been hit by a sledgehammer.
An offensive rebound of a missed jumper and reverse lay-up by junior guard Ann Simonet had Park Center back in single-digit range trailing 43-35 but Simonet; usually reliable from three-point land, struggled all game long from behind the arc and with Ayobamidele out of the game with a possible concussion, the Pirates could never establish any real momentum that might have turned the tide when there was still plenty of time left. As such, Hopkins proceeded to go on a 12-2 that extinguished any hopes the green and gold contingent might have had of pulling close again. Back-to-back treys by Knox - one with 8:10 left and another with 7:40 left - pushed the Royals lead to twelve at 49-37. Pairs of free throws by Wubben and a drive and lay-up by Bates upped the advantage to eighteen at 55-37 for Hopkins and now all Park Center could do was make stabs and jabs down the stretch. Buford connected with a lay-up in transition with 4:27 left as did Simonet with 4:02 left. An offensive rebound and putback by Hayes with 3:29 left trimmed the Hopkins lead down to twelve at 57-45 but that's as close as the Pirates could get. Insurance free throws in the waning minutes by Bueckers and Knox allowed the Royals to walk away with a convincing 62-47 victory.
Hopkins' Head Coach Brian Cosgriff summed up the game for his squad afterward. "We were shooting only 21% in the first half and we were still up by one at halftime. Life was good.....We knew we were going to shoot a lot better in the second half." Needless to say, those back-to-back treys by Knox was a back-breaker for Park Center and the absence of Ayobamidele in the second half took away a crucial element for the Pirates if they had hopes of keeping up with the vast athleticism that the Royals have. A disappointed VanderHyde was talking with former Park Center standout and current Valparaiso player Hannah Schaub when I caught up with him and half-jokingly said, "I need my senior leadership back!" In all seriousness, VanderHyde hoped that his young players; despite the loss on this night, took a step forward in experience and handling tough situations. "They have to" he said. The only other item I wanted to add to this was that I was somewhat astonished to learn that the MSHSL has no set protocol for possible concussions as this dicey item is currently left up to the individual schools to handle at their discretion. While I'm not saying that the individual schools are not doing an adequate job in ensuring the safety and welfare of their individual student-athletes, I would think that the MSHSL would want to have something in place for this potential hot-button issue.
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