2019 Minnesota Girl's State Tournament - Class AAAA Quarterfinal Game Recap - Maple Grove vs Centennial 3-13-19

Centennial would get the upper hand early on in this contest grabbing a 6-2 lead by the 15:35 mark and that lead would increase to 9-2 on a three-point bomb by Sarah Lavell but the Crimson would go on a 9-0 burst to take an 11-9 lead and the duo of freshman guard Ari Gordon, sophomore forward Jordyn would help Maple Grove get a 16-11 lead. Centennial would get the game tied up at 16 at the 10:30 mark but then some timely three-point shooting by the Crimson got them another five-point lead at 24-19 with 7:11 left in the first half. But a resourceful Centennial team would come right back and get this game tied again at 24 when sophomore forward Jodi Anderson nailed a "3" from the top of the key and a short shot by senior guard Taylor McAulay with 4:50 left allowed the Cougars to poke their nose out in front again at 26-24. Fittingly, this one would be nip and tuck down the stretch of this first half between these two Northwest Suburban Conference powers now squaring off on the Big Stage; trading jab for jab and blow for blow. The first half ended with Centennial clinging to a four point edge at 38-34 but you could tell that neither team was willing to give an inch. Lavell led the way for Centennial in the first half with her 14 points and Anderson had ten. Gordon led the Maple Grove attack with nine points and both sophomore Kylie Baranick and fellow sophomore Jordyn Lamker had eight points a piece. Rebounds were nearly even with Maple Grove holding a 13-12 edge and both teams had eight turnovers in the first half.

Centennial got a big boost in the early moments of the second half getting a 45-39 lead by the 15:40 mark but Maple Grove would soon get the deficit down to four and then the Cougars’ Stapleton would get tagged with her third foul and Centennial Head Coach Jill Becken had no choice but to sit her primary post player. By the 12:42 mark, Maple Grove had closed the gap to two points at 46-44. The game would be tied at 52 at the 10:00 mark and although Centennial got a bit of separation with a 59-53 lead on a short shot by McAulay and led 61-55 by the 5:15 mark, the Crimson had a devilish time trying to penetrate Centennial’s 2-3 zone defense and with 2:30 left, Centennial held a 65-57 lead. Maple Grove would get that deficit whittled down to five points with exactly 2:00 left on two Gordon free throws but could never get closer. The Cougars would hit insurance free throws down the stretch to defeat their conference rival by a final score of 74-64.

Centennial wound up with four players in double figures scoring-wise on this day; led by McAulay's 22 points while Lavell was right behind with 19 points and she hit some big "3's" on this day as well. Anderson had a solid day with 13 points and senior Sara Stapleton finished with 11 points. Maple Grove was led by junior Abby Schulte's 17 points while Lamker had 15 points and the surprising Gordon had 14 points. Centennial used their big bodies to control the boards on this day by a 29-25 count and for Maple Grove which needed a big day from downtown, they didn't get it on this day as they were only 6-23 from behind the arc for 26.1%.