Andover vs Park Center 2-23-17

Made the quick run over to Park Center High School on this Thursday evening to take in the regular season finale for both visiting Andover and host Park Center.  This was Senior Night at Park Center and the parents of all the players were recognized before the game as well as the seniors and their parents in a very nice tribute.  This game was originally scheduled for Friday evening (2-24) in consideration of Winter Storm Quid that threatened a good chunk of the state.  While this storm thankfully spared the Twin Cities of its wrath, it was best to err on the side of safety.

The Huskies were coming into this contest with a pretty solid 17-8 record and with a fair amount of size to boot so I knew that this would be a much tougher contest than Tuesday night's blowout of Irondale.  And Andover showed early on as to why it will be a team to contend with in Section 7AAAA as they jumped out to an early 6-2 advantage on the strength of senior guard and future DePaul Blue Demon Joli Daninger who wowed the crowd at Park Center gymnasium with two impressive three-point bombs from way downtown - one from the right top area at the 17:35 mark and another from the left wing area at the 16:01 mark.  The Pirates would embark on 5-0 spurt to take the lead as speedy junior guard Sommer Blakemore drained a "3" from the right wing area off of an inbounds pass at the 15:40 mark and senior sharp-shooting guard Ann Simonet connected with a lay-up in transition at the 15:16 mark to give Park Center a 7-6 advantage.  The Huskies would strike back as lanky senior guard Amanda Dagostino got into the paint for a score at the 14:59 mark and Daninger uncorked another three-point dagger - this one from the left top area at the 13:09 mark - for an 11-7 Andover lead.  A short jumper in the lane by junior guard Destiny Cummings at the 11:24 mark maintained that four-point edge at 13-9 before the Pirates started to close the gap again.  Simonet uncorked a "3" from the top of the key at the 10:00 mark that closed the gap to one point but a score in the paint by junior reserve post Lizzy Karp at the 9:01 mark gave Andover a bit more breathing space with a 15-12 lead.

Park Center, however, had no intention of letting the visitors from the northern suburb spoil its show on its home court and the two squads were pretty much neck-and-neck down the stretch of the first half .  Two free throws by lanky senior post Mikayla Hayes  with 8:46 left and an offensive rebound and putback by the future Florida Gator with 7:50 left pushed the home team back out in front by a 16-15 count but the Huskies countered on one free throw by senior reserve guard Hailey Diemer with 7:09 left and one more by Daninger with 6:53 left to push Andover back out in front 17-16.  The Pirates reclaimed the lead when junior reserve guard Azsha Michael snared an offensive rebound for a putback with 6:32 left but right back came the Huskies as a Daninger drive and finish with 5:55 left and one free throw by sophomore guard Emily Schildhauer with 5:32 left pushed Anover back into the lead at 20-18.  Slender junior guard Meghan DuBois' lay-up with 5:10 left allowed the Pirates to deadlock the contest at 20 a piece but a three-point bomb by Dagostino from the right top area with 4:44 left got the Huskies a 23-20 advantage and, considering the fact that Andover was already in the double-bonus by this point, things were looking rosy for them.  Even more so when Dagostino unleashed yet another "3" - this one from the left corner with 2:26 left for a 26-20 Huskie lead.  But Park Center would close out the first half on a 5-0 spurt to make it a one point game.  One DuBois freebie with 2:10 left and a Hayes score in the paint with 1:33 left had the Pirates back to within a single possession trailing 26-23 and a steal and lay-up the other way by Blakemore with :42 left trimmed the deficit down to a scant point as both teams headed to the locker room with Andover holding a 26-25 lead and Pirate Head Coach Chris VanderHyde and his staff were going to have to find some answers to try and choke off that potent Andover three-point attack.

Park Center's prospects looked a bit shaky at the beginning of the second half when Simonet was tagged with her third foul of the contest but the Pirates refused to panic and instead hunkered down and slowly began to take control.  A drive into the lane and finish by Blakemore at the 16:39 mark spurred a key 9-2 Park Center run.  Simonet; riding those three fouls, drained a "3" from the left wing area at the 14:53 mark and a score in the paint by Hayes at the 14:30 mark had the Pirates up 32-26. Two Hayes freebies at the 13:31 mark maintained that six point edge to cap the run with a 34-28 lead before Andover could close the gap.  Senior reserve guard Tachney Ruprecht got into the paint for a score at the 13:11 mark and a Dagostino lay-up at the 12:46 mark had the Huskies trailing by four at 36-32.  Karp was able to get into the paint for a score at the 11:27 mark that got Andover back to within a single possession trailing 36-34 but the Pirates stepped on the gas again - this time in somewhat unlikely fashion.  Freshman reserve guard Kayla Cox banged home a "3" from the left corner at the 10:28 mark and fellow freshman reserve guard Lauren Frost's lay-up in transition at the 9:40 mark pushed Park Center's lead to 41-34.  So while the Huskies were certainly still within striking distance, it was the home team that now seemed to be setting the tempo and pace that was much more to their liking.

Huskie senior post Hailie Richardson drew Andover closer with her score in the paint with 8:21 left but it was the Pirates' Cox who would answer with two big scores.  She unleashed her second trey of the evening - this one from the right corner with 7:56 left and also snuck into the paint for a score with 6:58 left for a 46-38 Park Center lead.  Then senior point guard Danielle Schaub banged home a "3" from the left corner with 5:32 left that made it a nine-point game at 49-40 and now the Huskies were going to have to fight tooth and nail to draw close again.  To their credit, Andover gave its best shot.  Two Daninger charity stripe shots with 5:21 left and a jumper from the free throw line by Karp with 4:32 left slimmed the deficit down to five points at 49-44 but that's as close as the Huskies could pull as they could never quite get that one stop or that one big shot that might have pulled them back to within a single possession.  Hayes' score in the paint with 3:45 left and two Simonet free throws with 3:27 left got Park Center's lead back to nine again at 53-44 although the Huskies would make another attempt as Daninger pulled the trigger from way downtown again with 3:10 left - this one coming from the left top area - that got the deficit down to six points at 53-47 but again Park Center had the answers when they needed them.  Hayes connected with a lay-up with 2:25 left and a drive and finish by Blakemore with 1:05 left pushed the lead to eight points at 57-49 and Schaub added one insurance free throw with :19.1 left as the Pirates claimed a tough, hard fought 58-50 victory.

Given how insanely tough Section 5AAAA will most likely be to get out of, I couldn't help but wonder if this was exactly the type of game that Park Center needed to prepare itself for what lies ahead.  Moreover, I couldn't help but ask VanderHyde afterward if this win tonight pretty much cements the Pirates claim to the number-one seed in the section.  He didn't hesitate with his response. "Yes.  Absolutely.  No question about it" he said quite confidently and with a 21-5 overall record, I suspect that it will be difficult for the other coaches of the teams in the section to disagree.  I also asked him about this game specifically and what adjustments that may have been made at halftime. VanderHyde noted that his squad didn't do a good job of rotating on defensive assignments in the first half and he and his staff had to tweak things a bit on the defensive end to try and neutralize Daninger's and Dagostino's effectiveness from behind the arc.  Whatever they did, it seemed to work. Hayes had an exceptionally good night from a scoring standpoint as she was the only player in double-figures for Park Center with 18 points but also added 10 rebounds to boot for a "double-double" on the night.  Blakemore added nine points while surprising freshmen Cox and Frost had eight and seven points, respectively and that could be a big plus if the Pirates can continue to get quality minutes from these two youngsters as they delve into section play this next week.  No surprise on the Andover end as Daninger's 20 points paced the way while both Dagostino and Karp chipped in with 10 points.