Hopkins vs Park Center 12-21-17

Made the short run over to Park Center on this Thursday evening to take in a big pre-Christmas non-conference clash featuring top-ranked Hopkins out of the Lake Conference and host Park Center of the Northwest Suburban Conference.  The Pirates were coming off a big road win against conference rival and highly-regarded Maple Grove on Tuesday evening and were hoping to ride a wave of momentum and confidence going into this clash.  Hopkins meanwhile was, well, Hopkins; as they came into this contest with an unblemished 8-0 record and it's certainly no surprise that the Royals are the overwhelming favorite to win a state title this season after being denied in the Class AAAA State Championship Game the last two seasons.  But a raucous Park Center student section showed up on this night as well as some familiar faces from the Pirates recent past as the Schaub triumvirate of Nicole (2012), Hannah (2015) and Danielle (2017) were all present as was Cayla McMorris (2014) and it was fun catching up with them.   

In order for Park Center to have a reasonable chance in this game, I felt one of the things they had to do was to get off to a good start and the Pirates were able to do that.  Lanky freshman forward T'Naye Griffin was able to snare an offensive rebound of a missed lay-up in transition at the 16:53 mark and a pull-up jumper from the left wing area by sophomore guard Lauren Frost at the 16:23 mark had Park Center up 4-3 and a "3" from the left corner by Griffin at the 15:55 mark increased that lead to 7-3.  None of this, however, fazed the Royals as they not only answered this early challenge but answered it with an exclamation mark as they proceeded to go on a 17-0 blitzkrieg.  Do-it-all sophomore guard Paige Bueckers started this run with a lay-up at the 15:34 mark and a lay-up in transition by senior guard Raena Suggs at the 14:22 mark knotted this one at 7-all.  A jumper from near the free throw line by sophomore guard Kayhla Adams pushed Hopkins out in front for good at the 13:52 mark and two Adams free throws at the 13:30 mark now had the Royals up 11-7.  But Hopkins was far from done with their show as Bueckers knocked down a pretty, one-handed jumper in the lane at the 12:54 mark and two free throws by senior forward Angie Hammond at the 11:43 mark and one more by Suggs at the 11:03 mark had the Royals up 16-7.  Eighth-grade reserve guard Amaya Battle connected with a lay-up in transition at the 10:38 mark as did Suggs at the 10:09 mark and Park Center Head Coach Barb Metcalf saw a potential disaster looming for her squad and quickly called a timeout to try and prevent it.

A short jumper from the left side by Pirate sophomore reserve guard Aaliyah Ragulen with 8:47 left momentarily stopped some of the bleeding but Park Center's fortunes took a further hit less than ten seconds later when senior guard Sommer Blakemore's early-game frustrations spilled over a bit and she was slapped with a technical foul with 8:39 left after arguing a foul call a bit too vociferously with the game officials.  As a result, Suggs was able to get one of her two free throw attempts to go down and when Bueckers came in for her, she was able to knock down the two technical foul attempts that now had the Royals up 23-9 that started a 7-0 Hopkins push.  Bueckers would get sent to the charity stripe again with 8:26 left where she promptly dropped two more freebies and a steal and lay-up the other way by senior reserve forward Kira Mosley with 8:14 left pushed the Royals lead up to 27-9.  Park Center could have arguably folded up the tent right then and there and called it an evening but they found the fight in them and managed to battle back.  Griffin connected with a lay-up in transition with 7:55 left and a "3" from the top of the key by sophomore reserve guard Kayla Cox with 7:02 left got the deficit down to thirteen at 27-14.  Frost connected with a lay-up in transition with 6:07 left and slender senior guard Meghan DuBois snared a steal and whizzed the other way for a lay-up with 4:33 left that helped reduce the deficit down to thirteen at 31-18.  Freshman guard/forward Adalia McKenzie got a lay-up in transition to go down with 3:58 as did DuBois with 3:02 left that now had the deficit down to eleven points at 33-22.  The Royals steadied the ship a bit as Hammond knocked down a jumper from near the free throw line with 2:48 left and two Bueckers free throws with 2:07 left got Hopkins lead back up to fifteen at 37-22.  The Pirates would respond with two big three point bombs - one from the right corner by Cox with 1:55 left and another one from Frost from that same right corner with 1:17 left - that suddenly had Park Center back in single-digit range trailing 37-28.  The Pirates foray into single-digit range was short-lived, however, as Hopkins made one last push before the halftime buzzer.  Suggs connected with a lay-up in transition with :43.2 left and sophomore reserve guard Jaide Pressley got one free throw to go down when she was sent to the charity stripe with just :00.3 left before the halftime buzzer that gave the Royals a little more space up 40-28.  But while Park Center was able to battle back and make things a bit tighter at the halftime break, they arguably left a few points off the board as well with missed free throws and "bunnies".  Worse yet, they were not doing a good job of boxing out which led to several second and third chances for Hopkins on the offensive end.

The Royals would get their lead stretched out to fifteen points in the early moments of the second half as one Hammond free throw at the 17:52 mark and a short jumper in the lane by Hammond at the 17:06 mark now had Hopkins up 43-28.  The Pirates would take another crack at trying to get back into the thick of things again as Blakemore; presumably calm again after that first half technical, drilled a "3" from the right wing area at the 16:56 mark and DuBois uncorked a "3" of her own from the left corner at the 14:55 mark that provided some hope as Park Center was now down by twelve at 46-34.  But those hopes of getting close again with mighty Hopkins were soon dashed for good as the Royals got on another run to put this out of reach for good and left nothing to chance.  Bueckers connected with one of her patented slithering lay-ups in transition at the 14:24 mark as did Suggs at the 13:36 mark that quickly had the lead back up to sixteen points at 50-34.  Then it was Suggs connecting with another lay-up in transition after a steal at the 13:18 mark for a 52-34 advantage and a "3" from the left corner by Adams at the 12:24 mark pushed the lead to 55-36.  An offensive rebound and putback by strong junior guard Dlayla Chakolis at the 11:52 mark had Hopkins up by twenty at 57-37 that effectively had the Pirates behind the eight-ball.

Park Center senior reserve forward Charo Nickens tried to reverse the trend with her lay-up at the 11:21 mark but the Royals were leaving nothing to chance and sought to put this one away for good.  Hammond got into the paint for one score at the 10:31 mark and Bueckers used her long, athletic frame to slither inside for a finish at the 9:27 mark to make it a 61-39 ballgame.  A Mosley jumper from near the free throw line at the 9:09 mark maintained the twenty-two point edge at 63-41 but the Hopkins machine was just getting started at putting the finishing touches on this one.  Bueckers casually drained a "3" from the left corner with 7:12 left and Chakolis got into the paint for another score with 6:54 left that made it 68-43.  Mosley's drive into the lane and left-handed finish with 6:05 left and a short shot by Adams with 5:25 left ballooned the lead to twenty-seven at 72-45 and the rout was officially on.  Two Bueckers freebies with 4:49 left and a Bueckers score in the paint with 4:21 left provided more insurance and Bueckers would bask in the spotlight one last time on this night with her drive into the lane for a finish with 3:49 left that also drew a foul and the resulting "and one" had the Royals safely up 79-52.  Park Center would make a few incremental dents coming down the home stretch as Blakemore would drain a "3" from the top of the key with 2:55 left and DuBois would get a "3" of her own to go down from the right corner  with 2:21 left but it would be way too little way too late as the Royals would waltz away with an 87-60 victory.

In looking back on this contest, there was probably very little that Park Center could do to prevent Hopkins from running away with this thing in the end.  Let's be clear about one thing:  This is simply a great Hopkins team that will very likely make amends for the disappointments suffered in the last two state championship games that they participated in.  At this juncture, I just don't see anyone out there that can match their speed and overall athleticism.  What's even more scary is that Bueckers may be the best player that Hopkins Head Coach Brian Cosgriff has ever coached and she's only a sophomore with her best days still way ahead of her.  That said, there's still some lessons for this young Pirate team to take from this loss going forward.  I look at three things specifically that really cost Park Center on this night.  First, boxing out.  Time and time again, the Royals had second, third and fourth chances on their offensive half-court sets to score and they took full advantage of those opportunities.  Which leads to (2), rebounding.  You not only have to box out but you have to get those defensive rebounds as well.  You simply cannot give any team (much less Hopkins) multiple chances to score.  Thirdly, I would also point a finger to free throw shooting which had to be something of a sore spot for Metcalf and her staff on this night.  You've simply got to knock down those freebies when you're at the charity stripe.  Had the Pirates been able to do that - especially during the first half - it would have at least changed the complexion of the contest in the early moments of the second half.  The good news is that these things can be easily corrected in practice and I think that Park Center will learn from this and be fine going forward.