Wayzata vs Hopkins 2-16-18

Veered away from my usual comfort zone of Park Center and the Northwest Suburban Conference to make the run over to Lindbergh Center on the campus of Hopkins High School to take in this titanic rematch of two Lake Conference rivals - second-ranked, undefeated and visiting Wayzata and third-ranked and host Hopkins.  These two teams had met back a little more than a month ago at Wayzata where the Royals bolted out to a sizable halftime lead only to let it slip away in the second half in a crushing defeat.  So in this contest, not only was the inside track to the Lake Conference title on the line but perhaps, more importantly, the inside track to getting the number-one seed in Section 6AAAA where both of these teams reside as well.  Wayzata was boasting a 23-0 record while Hopkins was at 21-3 but you had to believe that the Royals were definitely looking for revenge on their home floor on this night.

The first thing that jumped out to me when I glanced at Wayzata's roster is how incredibly young this team is - no seniors!  This is a team that is dominated by juniors and sophomores and they're big and long and Trojan Head Coach Mike Schumacher definitely has to be excited for the future given with how this season has been going thus far.  And, at least in the early going anyway, it looked as if these youngsters from Wayzata were up for this tilt.  Sophomore guard Jasmine Smiley's "3" from the right wing area at the 17:24 mark helped the Trojans draw first blood but Hopkins matched that as do-everything sophomore point guard Paige Bueckers drained a "3" from the right wing area at the 15:57 mark.  Wayzata would recapture the advantage on two free throws by freshman forward Jenna Johnson at the 15:31 mark but the Royals would knot things up at 5-all on a jumper from the right wing by Bueckers.  A short jumper off the glass by sophomore guard Jaide Pressley at the 14:53 mark propelled Hopkins to their first lead at 7-5 but the Trojans managed to tie the game on a lay-up by junior guard Mimi Schrader at the 14:39 mark.  Hopkins built a four-point lead as Bueckers knocked down a jumper from the right wing area at the 13:33 mark and a lay-up after a steal by junior reserve guard Dlayla Chakolis at the 13:22 mark but when Wayzata junior reserve guard Molly Thompson connected with a lay-up at the 13:08 mark to cut the deficit down to two points at 11-9, it looked as if this one could definitely stay tight for a while.  But this is precisely where the Royals took a choke-hold of this contest and began to pull away as they embarked on a 13-0 blitz.  Two Chakolis free throws at the 12:44 mark and a lay-up by Pressley at the 12:29 mark got the Hopkins lead to 15-9.  Senior guard Raena Suggs got to the charity stripe at the 11:30 mark and although she wasn't able to connect on either free throw attempt, the Royals were able to snare away the offensive rebound from a much larger Wayzata team and got the ball kicked out to Bueckers out on the right top area and she calmly drained a three-point bomb with cool aplomb that boosted Hopkins' lead to 18-9 and the Trojans Schumacher could clearly see this one starting to get away from his young squad and he called a thirty-second timeout to protect this one from becoming an avalanche.  But two more quick Royals scores - a lay-up by senior forward Angie Hammond at the 11:06 mark and a lay-up after a backcourt steal by sophomore reserve guard Kayhla Adams at the 10:40 mark - suddenly made it a 22-9 ballgame and Wayzata's Schumacher now had to take a match to a full timeout.

A Hammond score in the paint at the 10:21 mark capped this game-changing run for Hopkins before the Trojans finally ended their costly drought when Johnson got into the paint for a score off of an inbounds pass with 8:50 left in the first half that got the deficit down to thirteen points at 24-11.  But Wayzata was unable to string together a series of scores that could have tightened this one up a bit and the Royals responded with a 9-2 run that only widened the gap.  Bueckers casually banged home a "3" from the top of the key with 7:37 left and followed that up with a drive and finish with 7:01 left for a 29-11 Hopkins advantage.  Chakolis knocked down a short jumper with 6:10 left and a short jumper by Bueckers with 5:02 left gave the Royals a 33-13 edge and a beleaguered Schumacher of Wayzata had no choice but to take a match to another timeout.  And if things weren't bad enough already for the Trojans with the onslaught they were absorbing, they took another hit when Johnson limped off the court with 4:47 left with an apparent ankle injury after she went down hard on a defensive rebound attempt.  And Hopkins had no plans to take their foot off the gas pedal anytime soon either.  Suggs snared a steal near midcourt and got in for an easy lay-up with 4:42 left and a Bueckers jumper from near the left elbow area with 4:00 left had Hopkins' lead up to 37-13.  Wayzata would trim the deficit a bit on a long lay-up by Smiley with 3:15 left and a score in the paint by lanky 6'3" sophomore forward Annika Stewart with 2:48 left but the Trojans were going to need a lot more than that if they wanted to get back into this one.  And the Royals were trying to ensure that they wouldn't.  Bueckers connected with a short shot off the glass with :59 left and although Wayzata's Smiley got a jumper to go down from the right elbow area with just :00.7 left before the halftime buzzer, the Trojans were still on the wrong side of a 41-19 score at the intermission. 

Wayzata still had a reasonable chance to get this one looking a bit more respectable once the second half got underway but the Royals; remembering full and well what happened to them back in January when they played the Trojans at Wayzata, was leaving nothing to chance and a 12-0 opening run to begin this second half by Hopkins sealed this one for good.  Suggs connected with a lay-up at the 17:46 mark and one Bueckers freebie at the 17:14 mark made it 44-19.  Eighth-grade guard Amaya Battle drained a "3" from the left corner at the 16:09 mark and a short jumper in the lane by the seemingly always-reliable Chakolis at the 15:25 mark ballooned the lead to thirty at 49-19.  Battle knocked down a jumper along the left baseline at the 14:02 mark and a score in the paint by Hammond made it 53-19 before the Trojans could finally cut into the fat a little bit as two free throws by lanky 6'2" junior forward Kallie Theisen at the 12:35 mark and a "3" from the left top by Mimi Schrader at the 9:42 mark ended the Wayzata drought.  Thompson would add one free throw for the Trojans with 8:44 left but with Wayzata now down 57-25, the MSHSL's "Mercy Rule" kicked in with running time with 8:00 left.  Stewart would manage to get two scores for the Trojans as the connected with a lay-up with 7:39 left and also got a score in the paint with 7:09 left and a "3" from the left wing by sophomore reserve guard Lydia Hay with 5:57 left took a bit of the sting from this painful night away for the Wayzata faithful but there was no way there were going to get close.  Bueckers dropped a three-point bomb from the top of the key with 5:42 left for the Royals for a 64-32 Hopkins lead and follwed that up with a lay-up with 5:17 left to make it 66-32.  Head Coach Brian Cosgriff was able to yank his chain gang and insert his bench down the stretch after a Suggs "3" from the right top area with 4:24 left made it a 69-34 ballgame.  The Trojans would manage two late scores as Thompson snared an offensive rebound for a putback with 2:06 left and Hay connected with a lay-up in transition with 1:43 left but the Royals still finished this one with a resounding 69-38 victory. 

I managed to catch up with Hopkins' Cosgriff afterwards to congratulate him on his team's fine performance on this night and I couldn't help but ask him if he felt that, after this resounding victory over the unbeaten and second-ranked Trojans should not only mean a reshuffling of the current rankings themselves but also give the Royals the inside track to the number-one seed when Section 6AAAA play commences.  I was surprised when he responded "No".  Cosgriff pointed out that this is just one game and that "You have to remember what happened to us when we went up to their place to play in the second half."  Cosgriff also said that "We've got to take it one game at a time, one possession at a time....Grind it out....If we're lucky, hopefully we'll make it to Target Center in March."  I got to talk to Bueckers a bit afterward as well and in her normal humble way, she was glad for the win but she wasn't by any means ready to celebrate anything just yet although she did admit that "I think we're a better team now."  Meanwhile for Wayzata, I think you had to figure that the joyride was going to end at some point and if it happened on the road against a Lake Conference arch-rival like Hopkins, then so be it.  And I'm not going to pile on high school players and I realize that I've got to cut them some slack here and remember that this is an incredibly young team with its best days likely ahead of them.  Yet, at the same time, wouldn't we be just a bit irresponsible if we completely let them off the hook here?  The argument I would make is that, if you're the number-two ranked team in the state with a gaudy unbeaten record, you've GOT to at least show up.  You cannot get hammered by thirty-plus at home or on the road and expect to keep your number-two ranking.  While I would expect that Schumacher and his staff will rally the troops this coming Monday in practice and that the Trojans will recover somewhat from this Stalingrad-esque disaster, I would be extremely surprised if Hopkins doesn't get the number-one seed in Section 6AAAA now and should the Trojans and the Royals hook up again in the section final, you have to wonder if this young Wayzata team can stand up to the pressure given what happened on this night.  Realistically anyway, I think that they're likely a year away from being a true state tournament contender capable of knocking off Hopkins.  It was simply another fantastic night for Bueckers as she led all scorers with 28 points while Suggs added 14 points and Chakolis was surprisingly right behind with her 12 points.  Needless to say, it was a dismal night for Wayzata with no scorers in double figures as Smiley led the way with her seven points.