Made the quick hop over to Park Center High School on this cold February Friday evening to take in the contest between visiting Spring Lake Park and Park Center. The host Pirates; returning to Northwest Suburban Conference play after the previous night's loss at home to Minnetonka, wanted to wash away the disappointment and this game against the Panthers might be just what the doctor ordered for the two-time defending Class AAA state champs.
The one concern for Park Center coming into this game tonight would be how they would operate without lanky 6'3" junior post Mikayla Hayes who suffered an ankle injury the night before against Minnetonka and was dressed in street clothes for this game; relegated to a cheerleader on the bench on this night. But those concerns were quickly washed away as the Pirates raced out to a 13-0 lead in the game's first three minutes as scores from junior forward Fey Ayobamidele and fellow junior point guard Danielle Schaub along with a suffocating defense that created a plethora of problems and turnovers had Spring Lake Park Head Coach Randy Eatherton clamoring for a timeout. But that stoppage in play did little to stop the massive bleeding that was already underway. Sophomore guard Sommer Blakemore swished a "3" from the right wing area at the 12:41 mark that made it a 16-0 game before Panther senior forward Aamira Redd finally got her team on the scoreboard with one free throw after getting fouled at the 12:26 mark. But a 6-0 spurt by the Pirates; fueled by a "3" from junior sharpshooting guard Ann Simonet from the left top area made it 22-1 by the 11:46 mark
The Panthers finally got their first FG of the game on a drive and finish by senior forward Marissa Siegfried at the 11:28 mark but Spring Lake Park simply couldn't match the quickness, speed and skills of their opponent on this night. Another "3" from Simonet at the 11:13 mark and one from Schaub at the 10:05 mark made it 28-5. Pirate Head Coach Chris VanderHyde knew this one was in the bag and he slowly started inserting his reserves. Junior reserve guard Siah Tamba snared one offensive rebound for a putback with 9:35 left and got a lay-up with 9:14 left for a 32-5 advantage and Spring Lake Park's Eatherton called another timeout in a vain effort to spare his players from the wolves. But Park Center had their knives out and sharpened on this night and were zeroing in on the kill. An Ayobamidele "3" from the right top area with 8:07 left and one from the left corner by sophomore guard Meghan DuBois with 6:04 left ballooned the lead to 39-8. Sophomore reserve forward Charo Nickens got a lay-up in transition after a steal with 5:14 left and another Blakemore "3"; this one from the top of the key off of an inbounds pass with 4:08 left made it 44-11. The Panthers manged to trim a bit of the fat off of the deficit as senior guard Sierra Reiland scored on a drive along the left baseline and finish with 3:09 left and added one free throw with 2:30 left but the Pirates response was a 7-0 spurt; fueled by a running jumper in the lane by Ayobamidele and a lay-up in transition by Simonet along with yet another Blakemore "3" that bulged the lead to 51-15 with 1:34 left. Redd did get a lay-up for Spring Lake Park with 1:10 left but one free throw by Tamba with just :04.2 left had the Panthers looking at a Mt. Everest-style avalanche; trailing 52-17 at the half.
With this one already well-decided, Park Center's VanderHyde inserted his young reserves at the start of the second half as this was the perfect opportunity to give them not only quality minutes but gain some valuable game time experience as well and the young ones took full advantage of the opportunity handed to them. At the same time, it also helped to keep the score somewhat respectable as well. Spring Lake Park actually got the first two scores of the second half on a short jumper in the lane by Redd at the 17:50 mark and a short running jumper by sophomore forward Emma Curran at the 17:20 mark but the younger Pirates wanted their moment as well. Sophomore reserve guard Naomi Fields got one lay-up in transition at the 16:41 mark and DuBois made a pretty drive along the right baseline for a finish that drew a foul as well and her free throw upped Park Center's lead to 62-23 with 15:11 left. Spring Lake Park was still keeping up the fight despite the enormous deficit they were facing and the young Curran was having a nice second half for the Panthers. A short running jumper at the 16:12 mark and a drive and finish at the 13:54 mark coupled with a score in the paint by Redd at the 12:53 mark but this was where another up and coming young Pirate had her moment under the bright lights. Eighth-grader Kayla Cox banged home a "3" from the right top area off of the glass at the 12:41 mark and also snared an offensive rebound for a putback at the 11:38 mark for a 69-30 Park Center lead. At the 10:36 mark Cox struck again from three-point land; draining one from the left corner that made it 72-30 and fellow eighth-grader Lauren Frost got into the paint for a score to make it a 74-31 ballgame.
With the MSHSL running-time rule in effect down the stretch because of the score gap, Spring Lake Park's Eatherton also had an opportunity to put in some of his reserves as well. Freshman reserve guard Leah Sheedlo dropped two free throws with 7:56 left and fellow freshman guard Erin Donnelly connected with a jumper from the right corner with 2:25 left. Park Center's Frost was able to get three more scores before this one was over. A "3" from the top of the key with 2:05 left and two lay-ups in transition with 1:19 and 1:05 left made it 81-36 and a lay-up in transition by Fields with :48 left put the finishing touches on the Pirates romp on this night by an 83-36 count.
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