Section 5AAAA Quarterfinal Game - Spring Lake Park vs Park Center 3-1-17

Made the short run over to Park Center High School on this Wednesday evening to take in one of the opening Section 5AAAA quarterfinal games - this one featuring visiting Spring Lake Park going up against host Park Center.  The Pirates won both regular season games against the Panthers so both teams were well acquainted with each other.  Much more was at stake this time around, however, with the winner advancing to one of Saturday's semifinal games up at Anoka to keep their season alive.  Park Center would be a heavy favorite in this game, of course, but after seeing defending Class AA state champ Plainview-Elgin-Millville go down in flames in their opening section game, you simply cannot take anything for granted when you get to this time of year.

So imagine the surprise in the early going of this one as the Panthers jumped out to an early 6-2 advantage on the strength of two three point bombs that found nothing but cotton from senior forward Jenna Murphy - one from the right wing area at the 16:27 mark and the other from the right top area at the 15:23 mark.  Park Center recovered from its early stumble as a "3" from the left top area by slender junior guard Meghan DuBois at the 15:07 mark helped spur a 10-0 Pirate burst.  A short jumper by senior sharp-shooting guard Ann Simonet from the left side at the 14:45 mark pushed Park Center ahead at 7-6 and two scores by lanky senior post Mikayla Hayes - a freebie at the 14:18 mark and a short jumper in the lane off the glass at the 13:32 mark - stretched the lead to 10-6.  DuBois' lay-up in transition at the 13:17 mark capped this first run that had the Pirates up 12-6.  Sophomore reserve forward Erin Donnelly helped stopped some of the bleeding for Spring Lake Park with one free throw at the 13:09 mark but Park Center soon embarked on another 10-0 blitz.  Hayes connected on a pretty reverse lay-up at the 12:50 mark and followed that up with a lay-up in transition at the 12:08 mark for a 16-7 Pirate lead.  Senior point guard Danielle Schaub connected with a lay-up in transition after a steal at the 11:39 mark and a Simonet jumper from the right wing area at the 11:01 mark pushed the lead to 20-7.  A Schaub lay-up at the 10:17 mark capped this second run but the Panthers were not ready to wave any white flags just yet.  Murphy found her touch from behind the arc again - this time from the left wing area at the 9:59 mark and one free throw by senior guard Sarah Fruzyna at the 9:00 mark trimmed the deficit down to eleven at 22-11.

Both teams went into a two-minute hibernation scoring-wise over the next couple of minutes but Spring Lake Park was able to sneak back into single-digit range when Murphy sank two free throws after being fouled with 6:58 left.  But the Pirates were in no mood to let this one get dangerously close anytime soon and promptly answered with an 8-0 burst.  One Hayes free throw with 6:50 left and a Du Bois drive into the lane and finish with 6:17 left had the lead back up to double-digits at 25-13.  A Hayes lay-up with 5:46 left and a lay-up in transition by speedy junior guard Sommer Blakemore after a steal with 5:09 left pushed the lead to 29-13.  One Blakemore free throw with 4:42 left made it 30-13 and Spring Lake Park tried to answer as freshman guard Joelle Talso knocked down a jumper from the top of the key off of the glass with 4:23 left but Park Center finished up the first half on an 11-3 run.  Three consecutive three-point bombs - one by Schaub from the right corner with 4:09 left and another from Simonet from the same area with 2:19 left plus one more by Schaub from the left wing area - exploded the lead to 39-15.  Hayes was able to snare an offensive rebound for a putback with 1:12 left for a 41-15 lead and although the Panthers were able to close out the first half on a "3" from the right corner off of an inbounds pass by junior reserve guard Emma Curran with :22 left, Park Center still had a sizable 41-18 lead going into the locker room at the half and no doubt wanted to put this one away early if it all possible.

Spring Lake Park had been using a 2-3 zone defense in hopes of stifling the effectiveness of the Pirates' Hayes down low; a "pick your poison" proposition if you will.  But when the future Florida Gator got the first two scores of the second half, any hopes of stopping her simply went out the window.  She first snared an offensive rebound for a putback at the 17:17 mark and repeated the feat at the 16:05 mark that this time drew a foul and the ensuing "and one" got the lead to 46-18.  The Panthers tried to counter on a jumper from the right corner just inside the arc by sophomore guard Jocelyn Talso at the 15:34 mark but Park Center proceeded to go on a 6-0 push that got the lead to thirty-plus.  Simonet connected with a lay-up at the 15:01 mark that made it a 48-20 ballgame and although DuBois was unable to knock down a couple of free throw opportunities a short time later after a steal, she more than made up for that with her drive into the lane with a pretty, one-handed finish at the 14:09 mark.  Then freshman reserve guard Lauren Frost made a hard drive and pretty finish at the 13:22 mark that increased the lead to 52-20 before Spring Lake Park's Joelle Talso stopped some of the bleeding with a free throw at the 13:07 mark.  Frost would get into the scoring column again for the Pirates with her jumper along the left baseline at the 12:53 mark that prompted a 9-2 Park Center run.  Junior reserve forward Charo Nickens connected with a lay-up after a steal at the 11:54 mark and then Schaub connected with a lay-up in transition at the 11:27 mark that got the lead to 58-23.  Charo Nickens completed this push with a score in the paint at the 10:59 mark and a free throw at the 9:32 mark that now made it a 61-23 game.

With things in "running time" mode with the MSHSL's "Mercy Rule" and the Pirates comfortably up, Park Center Head Coach Chris VanderHyde yanked his starters and sent in the reserves for mop-up duty and this gave the younger faces a chance to shine.  Eighth-grader Adalia McKenzie got a lay-up in transition with 4:54 left and was also able to snare an offensive rebound of her own miss for a putback with 3:26 left.  Junior reserve guard Azsha Michael knocked down a short jumper in the lane with 1:17 left and fellow junior reserve post Chyanne Nickens and junior reserve guard Naomi Fields and budding freshman Kayla Cox also got considerable minutes down the stretch as the Pirates cruised into the Section 5AAAA semifinals with a resounding 67-28 win.

I was able to catch up with VanderHyde afterward to ask him about this game and what lies ahead in the offing.  As for this game, VanderHyde was not pleased with how his team performed in the first half offensively.  I asked him specifically about that and brought up the subject of shot selection.  "It was atrocious" he said.  "Absolutely atrocious."  But the necessary adjustments and tweaks were made during the game and at the half and the Pirates looked pretty efficient after that.  With Roseville, Champlin Park and Centennial all winning comfortably on this Wednesday night, this sets the stage for an incredibly tough semifinal and final round and although I give the Pirates the edge in this section, it's going to be a war to get out of it - make no mistake about it.  Park Center will match-up with said Roseville team at 1:00 P.M. Saturday at Anoka while Centennial and Champlin Park will square off in the 3:00 P.M. game.  The Raiders are a very, very good team with a lot of size led by senior point guard Kaia Porter and this will be a big test for Park Center for sure.