Irondale vs Park Center 2-21-17

How weird is it that I get to practice outdoors in the afternoon during basketball season - in 60-degree weather no less?  I don't EVER recall that happening in my time here in Minnesota but today it did and after a workout at Lifetime Fitness afterward, I got showered up and headed over to Park Center High School to take in a late regular season clash between visiting Irondale and host Park Center.  The Knights have been enduring a rough season; coming into this contest with a 6-17 record overall while the Pirates on the other hand have been rolling right along as of late; riding a nine-game win streak with a 19-5 overall record.  While the experienced observer had the Park Center as a prohibitive favorite in this contest, it would still be important for the Pirates to come into this game focused and ready to execute.

And Park Center definitely did have a lot of focus in the opening minutes of the first half as they bolted out to a 7-2 lead.  Speedy junior guard Sommer Blakemore made good on a drive and finish at the 17:25 mark and a "3" from the left wing by senior point guard Danielle Schaub at the 16:54 mark made it 5-2 game.  Slender junior guard Meghan DuBois' steal and lay-up the other way at the 15:43 mark capped this early run before the Knights could cut into the deficit a bit on one free throw by junior guard Sophie Findell at the 15:20 mark.  A lay-up by junior post Sarah Loken at the 13:58 mark kept Irondale in that five-point range trailing 10-5 but the Pirates were soon off and running again.  Schaub uncorked her second trey of the evening - this one coming from the left corner at the 13:43 mark and a lay-up in transition by DuBois at the 13:17 mark gave Park Center a ten-point 15-5 lead and prompted Knight Head Coach Nicole Bullock to call for a thirty-second timeout.  Irondale again attempted to cut into the Pirate cushion as sophomore forward Kahlan Jester made a drive into the lane for a finish at the 12:51 mark but a 5-0 Park Center push expanded the home team's advantage.  Junior reserve guard Azsha Michael dropped one free throw at the 11:40 mark and two scores by DuBois - a drive along the left baseline and finish with 8:34 left and a steal and lay-up the other way with 8:18 left - upped the Pirate lead to 20-7.

The Knights still had hopes of trying to climb back into this thing and an offensive rebound and putback by eighth-grade post Dora Okpara with 7:55 left in the first half provided a bit of relief and a drive and finish by senior guard Juriah Hughes with 6:36 left kept things reasonably in hand as Irondale trailed 22-11.  But two more quick scores by the Pirates - a short jumper by eighth-grader Adalia McKenzie with 6:27 left and a lay-up in transition by Schaub with 6:04 left - pushed the lead to 26-11 and the Knights' Bullock was again waving the flag for a thirty-second halt to the action. This time around, however, things slowly but surely deteriorated for Irondale.  DuBois uncorked a "3" from the left wing area with 4:35 left and two free throws by lanky senior post Mikayla Hayes with 4:26 left grew Park Center's lead to 31-13.  Then the Pirates unleashed a three-point barrage - one by DuBois from the right corner with 2:32 left and one from senior sharp-shooting guard Ann Simonet from the left corner with 2:10 left - to make it a 37-13 game and a Simonet lay-up in transition with 1:46 left ballooned the lead to 39-13.  Schaub's short jumper in the lane in transition with 1:31 left and a steal and lay-up the other way by Blakemore now made it a thirty-point game at 43-13 and a pretty reverse lay-up in transition by Simonet with :25 left capped this key 22-6 late run by Park Center and the Knights simply would not be able to recover from it.  They did stop some of the bleeding on a score in the paint by sophomore reserve forward Annalise Scamehorn with :06 left by the Pirates' Hayes answered that with a lay-up in transition with just :02 left as Park Center took a hefty 47-19 lead into the locker room at the half with them.

Facing such an insurmountable deficit, the Knights immediate challenge was to try and prevent this game from going into "running time" in the second half as a result of the MSHSL's "Mercy Rule". But Park Center made that objective even more diffucult as a Hayes lay-up at the 17:45 mark and a three-point bomb by Simonet at the 15:57 mark got the lead to 52-21 and Irondale's Bullock was again clamoring for a thirty-second timeout.  Still, the Pirates' Blakemore would connect with a lay-up in transition at the 15:37 mark that also drew a foul and the resulting "and one" pushed the lead to 55-21 before the Knights could get consecutive scores.  Loken snared an offensive rebound for a putback at the 15:24 mark and Hughes was able to make a smart defensive play by snaring a steal and dashing the other way for a lay-up at the 15:04 mark that cut the deficit down to thirty at 55-25.  Park Center would respond with another 6-0 push as Simonet connected with a lay-up in transition at the 14:27 mark and two scores by Michael - a score in the paint at the 13:48 mark and an offensive rebound and putback at the 13:27 mark - got the lead up to 61-25.  An undaunted Irondale team would try to narrow the gap with a 7-0 spurt.  Hughes connected on a drive into the lane for a finish at the 12:59 mark and a Scamehorn lay-up at the 12:20 mark along with one free throw by senior reserve post Ornella Ngotcho had the Pirates lead down to 61-30.  Hughes capped this unlikely run with an offensive rebound and putback at the 11:20 mark before Park Center could expand on things again.  DuBois drained a "3" from the left wing area at the 10:18 mark and Schaub connected on a lay-up in transition at the 9:53 mark that made it a 66-32 game.  The Knights; still refusing to capitulate, tried to counter as Ngotcho scored in the paint at the 9:34 mark and a lay-up by Okpara with 8:51 left cut Park Center's lead down to exactly thirty at 66-36.

But any hopes Irondale had of extending this game with normal playing time were soon dashed as three consecutive scores by the Pirates' Michael soon sent this contest into the "running time" format. She first snared an offensive rebound for a putback with 7:46 left and followed that up with a score in the paint with 7:02 left that also drew a foul and her "and one" got the lead to 70-36.  Michael also connected with a jumper from the left elbow area with 6:40 left for a 72-36 Park Center lead and the "running time" format allowed Pirate Head Coach Chris VanderHyde to insert his reserves to give them some valuable playing time down the stretch.  Junior reserve post Chyanne Nickens snared a steal and whizzed the other way for a lay-up with 4:44 left and McKenzie connected on a lay-up in transition with 2:18 left.  Junior reserve guard Naomi Fields connected on a lay-up in transition with :10 left in the game as Park Center won this game going away by a final count of 79-42.

I managed to catch up with VanderHyde after the game and asked him if he thought his squad was where it needed to be on the last week of the regular season.  VanderHyde pondered the question for a moment and replied, "We're playing at a high level in spurts" he said.  "We seem to have some breakdowns when we get up big in games where we lose some of our focus."  I would imagine that that's a challenge for any upper-echelon team when it plays an opponent that simply isn't of the same caliber.  The one thing I brought up with VanderHyde afterward was that I thought that the Pirates missed a somewhat inordinate amount of free throws in this contest and I asked him if that was a legitimate gripe.  He was in agreement with that and although that wasn't a factor on this night, something like that could rear its ugly head in a big section playoff game not far down the road and definitely be a huge factor.  Still, VanderHyde noted that his squad is pretty close to where it should be right now and pointed to a big win over Owatonna this last Saturday where they didn't necessarily play their best at times but still found a way to get the job done.  One positive that Park Center could take away from this game was that they had four scorers in double figures on this night.  DuBois; who lit things up from behind the arc on this night, led the way with 17 points while Schaub had 14 points and both Simonet and Michael had 12 points.  Hughes was the only scorer in double figures for Irondale with her 12 points.