Eden Prairie vs Park Center 11-28-18

Made the short run over to Park Center High School on this Wednesday night to take in the home opener for the Park Center Pirates as they prepared for a big non-conference clash with Lake Conference opponent Eden Prairie.  Both teams were looking for redemption in some form as the Pirates were seeking to overcome the loss to Roseville last season in the Section 5AAAA final while the Eagle were simply looking to improve from last year's so-so 16-12 record in a very competitive conference and section.  The one thing I was looking for in the Pirates in this game was some consistency on defense and rebounding; two items that likely cost them down the stretch last season.

Both teams would trade three-point bombs off the bat in this contest as Eden Prairie's willowy 6'1" senior forward Abby Johnson banged one home from the left wing area at the 17:50 mark and Park Center junior guard Lauren Frost drained one of her own from the left wing area as well at the 17:27 mark.  But the Eagles were able to expand over the next three and a half minutes.  Junior forward Nneka Obiazor went coast-to-coast for a lay-up at the 16:04 mark and two free throws by junior guard Brooke Lewis at the 15:11 mark got Eden Prairie a 7-3 advantage.  Obiazor got one free throw to go down after getting fouled at the 13:53 mark to make it an 8-3 game before the Pirates could finally shake off the early doldrums.  Junior guard Kayla Cox drained a "3" from the left corner at the 13:45 mark to cut the deficit down to two points and a Frost lay-up in transition at the 13:13 mark had this one tied up at eight a piece.  The Eagles would manage another run to take the upper hand again as two free throws by freshman reserve guard Myra Moorjani at the 12:19 mark and a jumper from the free throw line by sophomore reserve guard Allison Miranda at the 10:59 mark gave Eden Prairie a 12-9 lead.  The Pirates' Frost would help her squad cut the lead to one point on a steal and lay-up the other way right at the 10:00 mark but Eden Prairie's Obiazor would connect with a lay-up at the 9:41 mark and draw a foul in the process and the ensuing "and one" had the Eagles up 15-11 and in good shape for the time being.

The Pirates would come back with a very strong response in the form of a big 13-3 run to snare the upper hand away - at least for a while anyway.  Lanky 6'0" guard/forward T'Naye Griffin finally got her game going at the 9:04 mark to start this run with a "3" from the right corner as did fellow sophomore guard/forward Adalia McKenzie as her lay-up in transition with 8:38 left in the first half allowed Park Center to poke its nose out in front 16-15.  The Eagles would momentarily re-take the lead as Moorjani drained a "3" from the left corner with 8:09 left to give Eden Prairie a short-lived 18-16 advantage but the Pirates were just starting to get cooking.  Another McKenzie lay-up in transition with 8:00 left tied the game at 18 and Griffin's second trey of the evening - this one coming from the left wing area with 7:30 left - pushed Park Center ahead 21-18.  Then McKenzie was able to snare a steal and streak downcourt for a lay-up where she was fouled in the process and her "and one" with 7:15 left capped this run for a 24-18 Pirate lead.  Eden Prairie would respond with an 8-2 run, however, that got this contest even-steven again.  A jumper from the left elbow area with 5:35 left by Miranda and two free throws by sophomore reserve guard Grace Ellis with 4:24 left narrowed the deficit down to four points at 26-22.  Then Johnson was able to snare a steal and dash the other way for a lay-up and drew a foul in the process with 3:47 left that cut the deficit down to two points at 26-24.  Although Johnson was unable to cash in on the obligatory free throw, the Pirates forgot to box out Eden Prairie's Obiazor as she snared the offensive rebound for a putback with 3:41 left that had this one tied up at 26 a piece.  Perhaps this latest development startled the Pirates as they managed to close out this first half with a 10-3 run.  Frost connected with a lay-up with 3:31 left to get Park Center back in front again and two Frost freebies with 2:30 left got the Pirate lead to four points at 30-26.  McKenzie would get two free throws of her own after a strong move in traffic with 2:10 left and a McKenzie lay-up with 1:42 left gave Park Center their biggest lead of the night thus far at 34-26.  The Eagles were able to cut into that cushion when Miranda was left alone in the right corner behind the arc and she promptly drained a "3" but the Pirates managed to take a 36-29 lead into the locker room at the half when diminutive junior guard Aaliyah Ragulen dropped two free throws after getting fouled with :11.5 left.  So by the halftime break, it seemed evident that the Pirates speed and athleticism would probably be too much for Eden Prairie to overcome on the road.

That notion seemed even stronger in the opening minutes of the second half as a McKenzie offensive rebound for a putback at the 17:23 mark gave Park Center its biggest lead of the night at 38-29.  The Eagles managed to cut into that lead again, however, with a 9-1 run.  A short jumper by Johnson at the 17:00 mark got this push going and a lay-up by 6'2" junior post Natalie Mazurek at the 16:16 mark reduced the deficit down to five points at 38-33.  Then it was Johnson striking from behind the arc at the left top area at the 13:28 mark that drew Eden Prairie back to within a single possession at 39-36.  A jumper by Miranda along the right baseline at the 13:04 mark cut the deficit to a single solitary point at 39-38 before the Pirates could regain some footing on a jumper along the left baseline by Ragulen at the 12:30 mark.  Still, the Eagles stayed in that one-point range as Mazurek connected with one jumper along the left baseline at the 11:22 mark and also knocked down a jumper from the left wing area at the 10:34 mark that had Park Center not only clinging to a precarious one-point advantage at 43-42 but also the prospect of losing the all the momentum it had at the beginning of the second half as well. 

And for Pirate Head Coach Barb Metcalf, her likely worst fears became reality when Eden Prairie took the lead for good at the 10:07 mark on a short shot by senior reserve forward Kemara Watson to make it a 44-43 ballgame.  That lead expanded to three points at 46-43 when Johnson knocked down a jumper from the left corner just inside the arc at the 9:15 mark and two Moorjani free throws with 7:07 left maintained that three-point edge at 48-45.  Moorjani would get to the charity stripe again with 6:45 left and although she couldn't cash in on the free throw attempt, the Pirates once again failed to box out Eden Prairie's Obiazor who snared the offensive rebound and got a lay-up with 6:38 lead to grow the Eagle lead to five at 50-45.  Park Center's hopes brightened a bit when Obiazor would foul a bit later with 6:26 left and one Ragulen free throw cut the deficit to four points at 50-46.  The Eagles, however, were not going to be denied on this night when they had already snared the momentum away from the home team.  Two Mazurek free throws with 6:15 left got Eden Prairie's lead to six points at 52-46 and then Moorjani would unleash a dagger "3" from the left wing area with 5:52 left that suddenly expanded the Eagles lead to nine points at 55-46 and now Park Center desperately needed some sort of spark to reverse this trend.  A Griffin "3" from the left top area with 5:32 left seemed to be that spark as the deficit was reduced to six points at 55-49 and a Ragulen "3" from the left wing area with 4:22 left now had the deficit down to five points at 57-52 and the Pirates' Metcalf called a timeout to try and set up some strategy in hopes of drawing closer.  Miranda got the Eagles' lead back up to seven points at 59-52 with a short jumper with 3:49 left but Park Center was able to counter on a Ragulen lay-up with 3:30 left and one McKenzie free throw with 3:11 left now had the deficit down to four points at 59-55 with a mountain of time left.  But when the Pirates needed a pair of free throws or perhaps one big play that might have resulted in some quick points, it simply wasn't there for them on this night.  Eden Prairie's Moorjani sank two free throws after getting fouled and although Park Center's Griffin had a chance to narrow the deficit down to four again when she got to the charity stripe with 1:55 left, she was unable to cash in on either attempt.  That effectively doomed the Pirates as Eden Prairie went to work closing out this game.  Moorjani would drop two more free throws for the Eagles with :58.2 left and junior guard Abby Jirele would add one of her own with :43.2 left that upped Eden Prairie's lead to eight at 64-56.  Moorjani would add two more free throws with :37.5 left and one more insurance freebie with :22.8 left as the Eagles booked a somewhat stunning 67-57 victory. 

While I have to give a ton of credit to Eden Prairie Head Coach Ellen Wiese and her squad for earning a hard-fought road game, my real focus when I got home on this night was all the mistakes and missed free throws that cost the Pirates dearly on this night.  Some of the things I saw last season - not boxing out, not rebounding, questionable shot selection and missed free throws - continue to remain glaring issues for this young squad.  God knows I'm no coach but even as a tennis player I know the game of basketball well enough to know that, at some point, you've got to get the fundamentals; the small things right to get the percentages in your favor.  The good news is that it's still only November and very early in the season so this team is by no means anywhere close to hitting their stride yet.  At the same time, I feel that they have to take a step back and revert to some of the basic fundamentals that will help them be a more complete basketball team.  Speaking about being complete, I think you've got a good definition of that when you look at how the scoring load was distributed by Eden Prairie on this night as they had FIVE players in double figures for scoring.  Moorjani led the way with her 17 points while Obiazor had 14 points and Johnson had 12 points.  Miranda tallied 11 points on this night and Mazurek added 10 points.  For Park Center, they had four players in double figures for scoring as McKenzie's 17 points and Griffin had 14 points.  Frost would finish with 11 points and Ragulen had 10 points.