Maple Grove vs Park Center 2-8-17

Made the short hop over to Park Center High School on this Thursday night to take in the rematch between two Northwest Suburban Conference rivals as Maple Grove came into Park Center Gymnasium to take on the host Pirates.  Park Center had defeated the Crimson 60-53 right before the Christmas holiday out at Maple Grove so there was little doubt that the Crimson had revenge on its mind for this game tonight.  Maple Grove was sporting a solid 17-4 record coming into this game and were ranked #8 in Class AAAA and appear to be one of the co-favorites in Section 8AAAA along with STMA.  Meanwhile, inconsistency has been the norm for the Pirates as of late as they were coming into this game with a 13-8 record and, even more disconcerting from a Park Center standpoint was that they were coming into this contest on the heels of a very puzzling loss up at Coon Rapids on Monday night.  Presumably, however, the Pirates had enough time to brood over that loss and get ready for this game against a longtime arch-rival.

Maple Grove Head Coach Mark Cook probably liked how his squad started off this game as the Crimson built an early 6-2 advantage.  Freshman guard Jordyn Lamker got into the paint for a score at the 17:39 mark and a lay-up at the 16:51 mark by sophomore guard Abby Schulte and two Lamker free throws at the 16:12 mark gave Maple Grove some early momentum.  The Pirates would come right back, however, as a "3" from the left corner by senior sharp-shooting guard Sommer Blakemore at the 14:28 mark cut the deficit to one point at 6-5 and a lay-up by fellow senior guard Meghan DuBois at the 13:53 mark propelled Park Center into the lead.  The Crimson would take the lead back as strong senior forward Katrina Theis connected with a lay-up to make it 8-7 and then Park Center would reclaim the lead again when freshman guard/forward Adalia McKenzie snared a steal in the backcourt and connected with a short jumper off the glass at the 13:22 mark to put the Pirates back up 9-8.  Then Maple Grove would strike again at the 12:55 mark when lanky senior guard Autumn Mlinar got into the paint for a score for a 10-9 Crimson advantage.  The ping-ponging of the lead would finally come to a halt when Park Center made a 6-0 push thanks to two three-point bombs - one by McKenzie from the top of the key at the 12:16 mark and another by Blakemore at the 11:51 mark - to give the Pirates a 15-10 lead.  Maple Grove's Lamker would bring her team close again as she was able to snare an offensive rebound for a putback at the 11:29 mark and then connected with a lay-up in transition at the 10:58 mark to cut the deficit to a scant point at 15-14.  Park Center would get a bit more breathing room as senior forward Charo Nickens connected with a lay-up in transition at the 10:48 mark and McKenzie got one free throw to go down after getting fouled at the 10:26 mark to give the Pirates an 18-14 advantage but Maple Grove would get to within a single possession again as Theis got a lay-up to go down at the 10:07 mark so even though the Crimson weren't able to hold onto the early lead they were still in good shape down 18-16. 

But it was in the midway portion of the first half that turnovers and other miscues started catching up with Maple Grove and, as a result, the Pirates were able to open up some space.  An offensive rebound and putback by McKenzie with 8:33 left started a 15-5 Park Center run.  Diminutive sophomore reserve guard Aaliyah Ragulen connected with a lay-up and drew a foul in the process and her ensuing "and one" with 8:09 left got the Pirates lead to seven points at 23-16.  Blakemore would knock down a short jumper in the lane with 5:24 left and then McKenzie was able to connect with a lay-up with 5:06 left that also drew a foul in the process and her obligatory free throw got Park Center's lead to nine points at 28-19.  Blakemore would uncork one of her patented NBA-range treys from the left wing area with 4:30 left and a steal and lay-up the other way by DuBois with 2:12 left now had the Pirates up double-digits at 33-21 and Maple Grove's Cook was clamoring for a timeout.  The Crimson appeared to catch their collective breaths after the stoppage in play and were able to cut into the deficit a bit as one Schulte freebie with 1:47 left and a "3" from the left wing area by Mlinar with 1:08 left got Maple Grove back into single-digit range again trailing 33-25 but the Pirates would close out this first half with an unexpected 7-0 push.  Blakemore let loose with another NBA-range three-point bomb from the right top area with :46.5 left and a lay-up in transition by Nickens with :21 left had Park Center up 38-25.  DuBois was able to gallop from coast-to-coast after getting a defensive rebound and, with just :00.2 left on the clock, connected with a lay-up to give the Pirates a cushy 40-25 lead as both teams shuffled off to the locker room for the halftime break. 

The Crimson needed a good start to the second half to keep from letting this one get away from them and a 5-0 push certainly had things pointed in the right direction.  Theis connected with a lay-up at the 17:35 mark and a Lamker "3" from the top of the key at the 16:46 mark cut the deficit down to ten points for Maple Grove at 40-30.  Another Lamker lay-up at the 15:36 mark kept the Crimson in that ten-point range down 42-32 but a 6-1 Park Center push effectively put Maple Grove back at Square One.  Sophomore guard Lauren Frost connected with a pretty turnaround jumper in the lane at the 15:27 mark and a drive and finish by McKenzie at the 14:54 mark got the Pirate lead to fourteen points at 46-32.  McKenzie would muscle into the paint for a score at the 14:35 mark that got the lead back to fifteen points again at 48-33 and an offensive rebound for a putback by Nickens at the 13:45 mark maintained the fifteen-point edge at 50-35 and considering the fact that the early second half push that the Crimson was able to make, things were looking quite grim indeed as far as Maple Grove's hopes for this game were concerned. 

But this experienced Crimson team was not about to go quietly into the night and they slowly but surely forged a comeback attempt.  Theis was able to get a lay-up off of an inbounds pass at the 12:26 mark and drew a foul in the process and her ensuing "and one" got the deficit down to twelve points at 50-38.  A minute later at the 11:23 mark, Theis was able to use her strong 5'10" frame to snare an offensive rebound for a putback that got Maple Grove back into the ten-point range again trailing 50-40.  After a foiled Pirate possession, Mlinar was fouled at the 10:55 mark and her two charity stripe shots now had the Crimson back in single-digit range trailing 50-42.  Park Center would try and cut off the air to this comeback attempt as lanky freshman reserve forward T'Naye Griffin drained a "3" from the left wing off the glass with 8:25 left but Maple Grove would not be deterred.  Lamker would respond with a "3" of her own from the left wing area with 7:32 left to get the Crimson back into single-digit range once again trailing 53-45.  Mlinar would get sent to the charity stripe with 7:05 left and her two free throws not only allowed Maple Grove to crawl closer down 53-47 but now the Crimson were in the bonus as well.  Two more free throws by Schulte with 6:35 left cut the deficit down to four points at 53-49 and now the Crimson were in business.  Park Center would again manage to stave off this comeback attempt for the short term as Griffin uncorked her second trey of the evening; this one coming from the right corner at the 6:19 mark and two free throws by McKenzie with 4:59 left and one more by Frost with 4:40 left got the Pirate cushion back up to eight points at 59-51.  A Nickens lay-up with 2:57 maintained the eight-point lead for Park Center at 61-53 but the Pirates were by no means out of the woods just yet.  The Crimson would launch one more bid to try and get back on even terms as a lay-up by Schulte with 2:44 left got the deficit down to six points at 61-55 and Maple Grove's Cook called a timeout to set up strategy for his squad.  Blakemore would extend the Pirate lead to eight points again with her drive into the lane and finish off the glass with 2:08 left but the Crimson still would not go away.  Mlinar connected with a lay-up with 2:01 left and after a thirty-second timeout by Maple Grove's Cook, the Crimson got a huge break when Theis was able to get a lay-up off of an inbounds pass and drew a foul in the process and her ensuing "and one" with 1:48 left suddenly had Maple Grove back in single-possession range down 63-60 with a mountain of time left.  Strangely enough though, the Crimson's hope for a full comeback died right then and there.  Pirate sophomore reserve guard Kayla Cox was fouled with :42.6 left and she promptly dropped two critical free throws to give Park Center a two-possession advantage at 65-60.  The Crimson still had a reasonable chance when sophomore reserve guard Ali Hinze was fouled with :36 left but the youngster could only get the back-end of the two shot attempt to go down that made it a 65-61 game.  A subsequent Park Center turnover a short time later gave Maple Grove a golden opportunity but Theis was unable to get a lay-up attempt to go down and the Pirates' McKenzie was fouled on the defensive rebound.  Strangely though, McKenzie was unable to get either free throw attempt to go down that still left the door open for the Crimson and with :13.3 left, Theis would get sent to the charity stripe.  But Theis was unable to get either of her free throw attempts to go down that effectively closed the small opening the Crimson had.  Park Center's DuBois would be fouled with :04.1 left and although she was unable to connect with her obligatory freebie, the Crimson ran out of clock and the Pirates escaped with a 65-61 victory to sweep the regular season series with Maple Grove 

While the Pirates certainly got a big win and with it, a shot of confidence in the arm (which they needed badly) after inexplicably dropping the roadie up at Coon Rapids on Monday night, there's still a lot of things the Pirates need to work on before sectional play begins.  They've got to find a way to be more consistent which I think is beyond the obvious.  Defense and boxing out still seem to be issues for this squad and new Park Center Head Coach Barb Metcalf is no doubt aware of that.  When the Pirates get their transition game going and when they create turnovers off of their pressure defense, they can be an incredibly tough team to beat.  But they've shown some vulnerability in their half-court offense and there's just some things they're going to have to get better at if they hope to get through the gauntlet which is Section 5AAAA that includes both Northwest Suburban Conference powerhouses Centennial and Champlin Park.  Maple Grove's Cook more than likely was looking for that obligatory bottle of Tylenol PM at bedtime reflecting on this contest.  Yes, they got off to a decent start in this one and yes, they made a valiant comeback attempt but in some ways, they were their own worst enemy on this night with turnovers and other miscues that cost them dearly at the most critical times.  This is a team with a nice mix of youth and experience and they've got a lot of size to boot.  Yet, at the same time, I think the downside is that they don't really seem to have much flexibility with their overall game and it seems very structured in some ways.  They don't really have - IMHO - a great point guard that can create opportunities on the perimeter and instead rely heavily on Mlinar and Theis down low.  When push comes to shove in Section 8AAAA, I think this could cost them.  We'll see.  Park Center relied heavily on the efforts of both McKenzie and Blakemore on this night and they had 19 and 18 points, respectively.  Maple Grove actually had a better balance from a scoring standpoint with four players in double figures for scoring - Theis with 19 points, Lamker with 16 points and both Mlinar and Schulte with 11 points each.