Was over at Park Center High School again on this late February night to take in the regular season finale for the Pirates as they hosted Coon Rapids. With no seniors on the Pirates squad, this night was designated as "Parents Night" as the parents of all the players and team managers were honored before the game. More importantly, however, a win over the Cardinals on this night would not only give Park Center the Northwest Suburban Conference title but could also give them the edge in claiming the number one seed in the Class AAAA Section 5 field.
Coon Rapids was able to establish a 4-2 advantage on scores by lanky 6'1 junior forward/post Kaylee Porisch by the 16:07 mark but an offensive rebound and putback by athletic junior forward Fey Ayobamidele at the 15:10 mark and a "3" from fellow junior sharpshooting guard Ann Simonet gave the host Pirates a 7-4 advantage and many in attendance on this night thought that that might be the early spark that Park Center needed to get on a run, establish a cushion and put it in cruise control the rest of the way to an easy Northwest Suburban Conference title. The Cardinals, however, had other ideas and were not about to go away quietly into the night. While the Pirates favor a swarming, man-on-man defense that creates turnovers which ultimately leads to easy transition points, Coon Rapids was in a 2-3 zone defense and wanted to slow the game down and keep the score low. And the Cardinals have enough size down low to create match-up and rebounding issues for Head Coach Chris VanderHyde's squad. This paid dividends early on as the Pirates seemed reluctant to try and penetrate "no-man's land" and instead seemed content to settle for perimeter shots that, unfortunately for Park Center, didn't seem to fall. Worse yet, the Pirates looked totally out of sync as the turnover bugaboo reared its ugly head as Coon Rapids battled back and re-established the lead. With the score tied at 7-all, junior reserve guard Marina Nyberg uncorked a "3" from the top of the key to put the Cardinals back out in front at 10-7 at the 12:25 mark and a score in the paint by Porisch at the 11:16 mark along with one free throw by junior guard Nicole Fraser at the 10:58 mark got the lead to 13-7 and a concerned VanderHyde decided to take a match to a thirty-second timeout to discuss the issue with his squad.
Coon Rapids was still playing an inspired game on this night and a jumper from the left wing by Fraser at the 7:12 mark increased the Cardinal lead to 15-7 which arguably could have been more had Coon Rapids been able to drop the many perimeter shots they were attempting. Still, Porisch was proving to be a thorn in the side of the Pirates; particularly on the rebounding front as Park Center continued to struggle offensively. Somehow, the Pirates were able recover somewhat as Coon Rapids gave up some ground grudgingly. A tip-in jumper off of an inbounds pass by lanky junior post Mikayla Hayes with 6:06 left and a lay-up by the future Florida Gator trimmed the Cardinals lead down to 16-12. Two free throws by Porisch with 5:06 left increased the Coon Rapids lead to 18-12 but the Pirates were able to finish the first half on a 6-0 run. A lay-up by Hayes with 4:53 left that drew a foul and allowed her to sink the obligatory free throw got Park Center back within a single possession trailing 18-15 and one more freebie by sophomore reserve forward Charo Nickens with 3:51 left and a lay-up after a steal by fellow sophomore guard Sommer Blakemore enabled the Pirates to go into the locker room knotted up at 18 with Coon Rapids. Still, things just didn't seem quite right for Park Center in this low-scoring first half with turnovers and missed shots galore and the fact that the Cardinals were making Park Center play their style of game was even more worrisome with a conference title and a possible top seed in the 5AAAA field at stake.
The Pirates, needing some sort of jolt to get them going, appeared to get it in the opening minutes of the second half as a drive and finish by the wily Ayobamidele at the 17:42 mark and a "3" by junior point guard Danielle Schaub at the 16:47 mark now had Park Center back in front by a 23-18 count. One free throw by Hayes at the 16:18 mark and a lay-up in transition by Simonet after a steal made it a 26-18 game. At this point, it seemed as if Park Center had landed the blow it had wanted to all game long and could now finally relax a little bit and put some more distance between itself and its opponent. But the pesky Cardinals were not willing to fly away just yet as they managed to battle right back and get themselves right in the thick of things once again. Two scores by sophomore guard Caitlin Ackerman - a short jumper at the 15:39 mark and a score in the paint that drew a foul and allowed her to sink the ensuing freebie - closed the gap to three points at 26-23 by the 14:36 mark and a Porisch jumper from the right elbow area at the 12:15 mark kept Coon Rapids within a single possession trailing 28-25. At the 11:17 mark, Porisch; continuing to make life miserable for the green and gold, got to the charity stripe for two free throws that cut the Pirate lead down to a scant point at 28-27 and even though a score in the paint by sophomore reserve guard Azsha Michael at the 10:50 mark and a "3" by sophomore reserve guard Meghan DuBois with 9:55 left got the Park Center lead back out to six points at 33-27, Cardinals Head Coach Debbie Peterson had to be encouraged to see her squad right in the thick of things at the midway point of the second half with a mountain of time left before this thing was decided.
Legendary NFL Films narrator John Facenda once said "Great teams aren't always great, they're just great when they have to be." And, with an air of uncertainty still hanging over this game, the Pirates stepped to the plate and took control of this one even though it wasn't done in the easiest fashion. Clinging to a 33-29 lead, a "3" from the left top area by Blakemore with 6:50 left and a DuBois lay-up in transition with 6:04 left suddenly stretched Park Center's lead to nine points at 38-29 and the Cardinals Peterson, now seeing this one get away from her squad at the most critical juncture, called a timeout to try and stop the flow. But the Pirates had finally found themselves when they needed to and stamped out the last ray of hope that Coon Rapids had. An offensive rebound and putback by Hayes with 5:29 left and a Hayes scores in the paint with 4:20 left now had Park Center up double digits and Coon Rapids; now having to gamble on defense and resort to taking long-range perimeter shots on questionable looks, got themselves further in the hole in the closing minutes. Schaub used her 5'5" frame to slither into the paint for one score with 3:59 left and a Blakemore drive and finish with 3:31 left now upped the Pirate lead to 46-32. A score in the paint by Caitlin Ackerman with 3:09 left and a Caitlin Ackerman free throw with 2:36 left briefly cut Coon Rapids deficit back down to eleven trailing 46-35 but Park Center was now able to put the finishing touches on its first Northwest Suburban Conference title. Two free throws by Blakemore with 1:25 left and two more by Schaub with :20 left allowed the Pirates to run out the clock and claim a tough, hard fought 50-35 victory.
No comments:
Post a Comment