Park Center vs Anoka 12-8-16

Made my way up to Anoka High School on this cold early December Thursday night to take in this important Northwest Suburban Conference game between visiting Park Center and host Anoka.  This contest would be a clash of contrasts as the Pirates rely on their speed and quickness and their defensive prowess to create opportunities while the Tornadoes prefer the half-court style along with their size down low to overpower opponents.  I got there early and was fortunate enough to run into former Anoka standout Abby Torgerson who was there to cheer on her alma mater with her family.

The Tornadoes showed a 2-3 zone defense from the get go in hopes of plugging up the middle with their size and taking their chances with Park Center's perimeter shooting.  Unfortunately for them, Pirate senior guard Ann Simonet showed off her three-point shooting ability with her bomb from the right top area at the 17:10 mark and two free throws from fellow senior guard Danielle Schaub at the 16:16 mark allowed Park Center to maintain that three-point edge at 5-2.  Anoka would come right back, however, as big senior post Brittany Bongartz connected with a jumper from the right wing area at the 15:35 mark and two free throws by junior forward/post Lily Schoknecht gave the Tornadoes their first lead at 6-5 at the 14:33 mark.  A Schaub "3" from the left corner at the 14:11 mark had Park Center back out in front at 8-6 but one free throw by freshman reserve guard Jersi McAlpine at the 13:58 mark and two more by junior guard Noelle Josephson at the 13:42 mark had the Tornadoes back out in front 9-8.  The two sides would eventually be deadlocked at 10-all just beyond the midway point of the first half so, presumably anyway, a real battle was shaping up.

The first real sign of trouble for Anoka showed up with the score tied at 13 a piece.  Simonet uncorked her second trey of the ballgame - this one from the left wing area - with 6:33 left that sparked a 7-0 Pirate burst.  Lanky senior post Mikayla Hayes made a pretty spin move and finished with a left-handed lay-up with 4:45 left and two Hayes free throws with 4:17 left gave Park Center a 20-13 advantage.  Still no real reason for the Tornadoes to go into panic mode just yet but the usually-reliable front court trio of Bongartz, Schoknecht and senior forward Abby Slater were not getting the easy opportunities down low that Head Coach Zack Vogelsberg had hoped for and when they did put up shots, they were off the mark.  Worse yet, the turnover bugaboo was starting to rear its ugly head for Anoka.  A Schoknecht lay-up with 4:06 left did reduce the deficit to five at 20-15 but then the Pirates got their transition game going and went on an 11-0 game-changing blitz.  Simonet's third trey of the evening - this one from the right wing area with 3:32 left - started the run.  Two free throws by Schaub with 3:14 left gave Park Center its first double digit lead at 25-15.  Then, flashy junior guard Sommer Blakemore delivered two back-breaking threes - one from the left corner with 2:46 left and the other from the top of the key with 2:23 left - that suddenly pushed the lead to 31-15 and the Tornadoes' Vogelsberg had no choice but to call a halt to the action.  Unfortunately for Anoka, all they could muster in the last two minutes was one Slater free throw with :50 left and the Tornadoes went into the locker room staring at a 31-16 Park Center lead.

Anoka needed to grab any momentum it could find in the early moments of the second half and Noelle Josephson tried to provide just that.  She made good on a drive and lay-up at the 16:25 mark and two free throws at the 15:43 mark allowed the Tornadoes to trim the deficit to thirteen at 33-20. But any reasonable amount of hope to mount a true comeback vanished into thin air as Park Center went on a quick 7-0 burst.  Hayes connected with a jumper in the lane at the 15:13 mark and then slender junior guard Meghan DuBois finally found her range from three-point land; nailing one from the right corner at the 14:44 mark.  Two Hayes free throws at the 14:10 mark ballooned the lead to 40-20 and now Anoka was in a real hole.  To their credit, the Tornadoes managed to step on the gas pedal a bit and went on an 8-0 burst.  Sophomore reserve guard Elizabeth Torgerson connected with a short shot at the 13:42 mark and a lay-up in transition by junior guard Emily Smith whittled the Pirate lead down to 40-24.  One free throw by McAlpine at the 12:28 mark and a Schoknecht "3" from the right top area reduced the deficit to twelve at 40-28.

But that's as close as Anoka would get to mounting a real comeback as the Pirates slowly but surely righted the ship and cruised the rest of the way.  A Schaub offensive rebound and putback at the 10:15 mark started a key 7-2 run that the Tornadoes could never recover from.  A Blakemore drive into the lane and finish off the glass at the 9:26 mark and one Blakemore free throw at the 9:00 mark got the lead back to 45-29 and a drive and lay-up by Blakemore with 7:05 left made it 47-30.  A Slater lay-up with 6:55 left and one charity stripe shot by freshman reserve guard Emily Josephson with 6:07 left cut Park Center's lead down to fourteen at 47-33 but the Pirates would again close the door.  Schaub made a drive along the left baseline and finished with 4:43 left and the future Concordia St. Paul Golden Bear made a daring drive into the lane for a finish with 3:11 left that made it a 53-34 ballgame.  A short shot by Hayes in the lane with 1:59 left and a Schaub score in the paint with 1:27 left along with two DuBois freebies with :34.4 left gave Park Center a big 59-36 road victory.

I managed to catch up with Pirate Head Coach Chris VanderHyde afterward who labeled this win as a "typical grind it out Northwest Suburban Conference game."  Park Center, which arguably looked out of sorts offensively in Saturday's Breakdown game against East Ridge, looked more like its old self tonight as the Pirates were solid on both ends of the floor; particularly Hayes.  She not only scored but also swatted away more shots and passes on this night than a chaperone at a debutante ball. Perhaps just as important, team defense really set the tone on this night for the Pirates as the limited both Slater and Bongartz - two of Anoka's big scoring pieces - to just four points a piece.  That's tough to do.  On the other side of the coin, if you're Anoka and if you have to lose a game like this, it's better to do that now than, say, in February or (worse yet) March.  Undoubtedly, even with all the talent that the Tornadoes have, there's still bound to be some adjustments at hand after the sudden and unexpected resignation of Scott Antl.  But I expect that Vogelsberg will make adjustments where necessary and tweak some things here and there to get things clicking again for Anoka.