2020 Minnesota Girl's State Tournament - Class AAAA Quarterfinal Game - Cambridge-Isanti vs Hopkins 3-11-20

The first game on tap at venerable Williams Arena on this Wednesday morning featured defending Class AAAA champ at top-seeded Hopkins going up against upstart and eighth-seeded Cambridge-Isanti.  This would be my first look at the Bluejackets and while Hopkins would be the prohibitive favorite in this one, you still have to play the game.

Cambridge-Isanti would manage to hang tough; down only 8-6 by the 15:21 mark of the first half but a "3" by K. K. Adams would extend Hopkins lead to 11-6 at the 14:45 mark.  A Maya Nnaji short jumper in the lane at the 13:07 mark extended the Royals lead to nine at 17-8 and by the 11:39 mark, another Nnaji score in the paint would extend that lead to 21-8.  Cambridge-Isanti was having a devil of a time with their half-court offense due to the size and length of this Hopkins team and good looks were - so far anyway - few and far between.  A short jumper by Amme Sheforgen got the deficit down to 15 for the Bluejackets at the 9:10 mark at 27-12 and a Sheforgen "3" with 7:35 left had the deficit at 16 points at 31-15.  But getting on an extended run was another matter entirely for this Cambridge-Isanti team and with 4:35 left in this first half, Hopkins had established a twenty-point cushion at 39-19 after Nnaji sank two free throws.  And, to be sure, senior superstar Paige Bueckers was doing her thing, too, and if she wasn't scoring, she was dishing out sweet assists.  By the halftime break, Hopkins had established a thirty-point cushion at 54-24 so there was certainly little doubt as to how this one was going to turn out.  Just to give you an idea of how dominant Hopkins' Nnaji was, she had 17 first half points alone.

  Not much would change pattern-wise in this game as Hopkins would continue with its sizable lead.  Although the Bluejackets had trimmed to deficit down to 25 with 8:14 left at 67-42, getting on any kind of extended run was out of the question.  Cambridge-Isanti senior guard Payton Larkin would drain a "3" from the left wing at the 7:09 mark that got the deficit down to twenty-one at 67-46 and fellow senior guard Jackie Olander would connect with a lay-up with 5:56 left to get within twenty at 67-48 but that's as close as the Bluejackets could get as Hopkins would apply the finishing touches on this one as they would cruise to an 85-55 victory. 

Somewhat surprisingly, it was Nnaji's 23 points that led the way for Hopkins on this day.