2019 Minnesota Girl's State Tournament - Class AA Semifinal Game Recap - Albany vs Minnehaha Academy 3-15-19

The nightcap at the Barn on this Friday night also had the potential to be a good one as well as Albany matched up against in-town Minnehaha Academy. 

Albany would hold a 4-2 edge in the early going and that lead would expand to 7-2 at the 15:00 mark when senior guard Paige Rueter drained a three-point bomb.  The Redhawks would soon recover and were able to finally poke their nose out in front 8-7 on two free throws by senior phenom guard Taytum Rhoades at the 13:23 mark.  Minnehaha Academy would still be clinging onto that one-point lead at 11-10 by the 11:35 mark and a three-point bomb by junior guard Kate Pryor at the 10:55 mark still had the Redhawks up one at 14-13.  Albany, however, would strike back with a 6-0 push and a lay-up by sophomore guard Paige Meyer at the 9:28 mark had the Huskies up 19-14 and a three-point bomb by fellow sophomore guard Abbie Christen with 8:57 left pushed that lead to 22-14.  With 7:54 left, Meyer would drain a "3" from the left top that put Albany up 25-17.  The Redhawks' Rhoades, however, would help get her team back to within a single possession with a steal and lay-up the other way as Minnehaha Academy now found themselves down by only two at 25-23 and a "3" by junior guard Mia Curtis with 6:25 left had the Redhawks back out in front 26-25.  A "3" by Meyer with 4:58 left kept Minnehaha Academy ahead by one at 29-28 but then the Huskies managed to make a late push right before the halftime break.  Senior forward Molly Van Drehle got one lay-up with just under a minute left and then Meyer was able to sneak into the paint with just :05 left as Albany took a somewhat surprising 36-32 lead into the locker room at the half.  A check of the first half box score shows that Albany was owning the boards thus far by a 20-13 count and although turnovers were nearly even, the Huskies were definitely shooting better going 14-20 from FG range for 53,8% compared to Minnehaha Academy's 11-29 for 37.9%.  And the Redhawks were leaning heavily on Rhoades who led the way so far with her 12 points.  Albany, on the other hand, saw Meyer's 11 points leading the way while senior guard Amanda Killodge had ten points so far.

Albany increased their lead right away in the opening moments of the second half on a pretty give-and-go lay-up by senior forward Hannah Litchy at 38-32 and a "3" by Meyer at the 15:53 mark had the Huskies up five at 41-36.  Minnehaha Academy would soon claw their way back to tie the game at 41; thanks primarily to Rhoades by the 14:20 mark but the Huskies would forge their way ahead again by a 45-42 count on another shot by Meyer at the 12:45 mark.  Meyer would strike yet again at the 12:47 mark with another jumper to increase the lead to 47-42.  The Redhawks' Rhoades would get her team back in single possession range again at the 11:08 mark down 47-45 but right back came Albany and a lay-up by Christen at the 9:00 mark pushed the Huskies out in front by five at 53-48 and with 8:20 left, Christen would strike again from the left wing that made it 55-48 and a concerned Minnehaha Academy Head Coach Matt Pryor called a timeout in hopes of a quick fix.  With 5:30 left, the Redhawks had closed back to within a single possession down 54-54 and with 5:07 left, that gap had closed to one point at 57-56 and with a mountain of time left, there was every reason to believe for the Minnehaha Academy contingent to think this game could be saved.  Two free throws by junior forward Mia Curtis with just under 3:00 left pushed the Redhawks ahead 60-59.  The two teams would trade three-point blows and Albany would find themselves back out in front at 64-63 with 1:30 left but a Curtis lay-up with 1:19 left pushed Minnehaha Academy back out in front 65-64 and with :50.5 left, Rhoades would get sent to the charity stripe and she got one free throw out of it for a 66-64 lead.  After a foiled Albany possession, Rhoades again would be sent to the free throw line and two more free throws now had the Redhawks up 68-64.  Senior Avery New would get fouled on a defensive rebound and she got one free throw out of the deal to make it 69-64.  The Huskies would be foiled again on their ensuing possession and Minnehaha Academy's Curtis would be fouled with :15.4 left and she got one free throw to go go down to make it 70-64.  Albany's Meyer would get a "3" to go down with :08.6 left to trim the deficit to three points at 70-67.  Albany would get a steal on the ensuing Redhawk inbounds pass but a Meyer three-point attempt would go awry from the left corner with just :02 left.  Albany's Meyer would get one more crack at it with :01.2 left but that attempt, too, bounced off the back of the rim as Minnehaha Academy escaped Dodge with a 70-67 victory to advance into the Class AA Championship Game. 

A check of the final box score shows what a fantastic night it was for two players in this game.  For Minnehaha Academy, it was Rhoades' 27 points pacing the Redhawks on this night while Curtis wasn't that far behind with her 17 points.  And junior guard Kate Pryor had a solid night with her 12 points.  Over on the Albany side, an unbelievable night for Meyer as she led all scorers with 29 points and did everything but will her team to victory while senior guard Amanda Kollodge added 13 points.  Albany did wind up having the edge on the boards on this night by a 37-32 count but also suffered more turnovers than the Redhawks did by a 17-12 count and in a close game, that can be a killer.  And here's another number to keep in the back of your mind:  Minnehaha Academy also got ten steals on this night compared to Albany's four.  Another item that may have cost Albany on this night:  They shot 8-11 from the charity stripe for 72.7% and in a close game like this, that's leaving three important points on the table that could have made the difference.  Albany Head Coach Aaron Boyum talked about the game in the post-game press conference afterward:  "Our team battled right to the end.....Give Minnehaha credit; they have a lot of girls that have been here a lot of years and are experienced.....Their length is tremendous....Their athleticism is very, very good and they hit some big shots at some big moments so you have to give them a lot of credit but I take nothing away from our girls....Our girls battled right to the wire."  I asked Boyum about what his strategy was to try and contain Minnehaha Academy's Rhoades in the second half.  "Well, Taytum (Rhoades) got behind us in transition a couple of times in that first half so we knew we had to get back; we kind of took the press off a little bit because we felt that we were giving up on (Mia) Curtis because she was getting behind us a little bit.....But she's a great player and she made plays.  Both Meyer and Kollodge were sitting in on the press conference as well and both talked about exciting it was to get through the sectional battles and get to the state tournament and how important it was to be playing their best basketball at the end of the season.  During the Minnehaha Academy post-game press conference, I was able ask Rhoades right off the bat about how she seemed to be able to find that next "gear" so to speak; when things were tight and how she was able to take her game to another level when it mattered the most.  "I think.....It was easy for me to find that gear because I knew I wanted to get to that next game.....This has been our goal since the beginning of the season and going into halftime we were down so we knew we had to work our way back up and I think without the help of my teammates around me, I don't have that gear if they're not getting rebounds and outletting it to me so it comes easy when I have teammates like that."  The Redhawks' Pryor talked about how draining this game was from both an emotional and physical standpoint.  "Oh my gosh, I feel like I aged about three years after a game like that.....Just turned 26 the other day and I feel a heck of a lot older than that after a game like that....It was fun."  I asked Pryor about what adjustments he felt were necessary during the halftime break given the fact that his team was down and that Albany seemed to have the momentum.  "There were a lot of things we needed to clean up defensively......We missed a lot of rotations defensively and we're a 'switching' man-to-man defense and I don't think we executed our switches very well in the first half.  I thought we did a really good job of cleaning things up on the defensive end in the second half and going to the 'diamond-and-one' the last couple of possessions that did a really good job of getting our momentum back and taking their best player out of the game as much as we can.....But I thought our girls did a really good job of making those adjustments in the second half .....This group is tough; we were down, they had the momentum.  Their fans were getting loud but there was never any panic in our girls and I think that's a testament to the leaders we have on the team." Pryor had high praise for Albany's Meyer; calling her a "stud" and raved about her abilities but also thought that Rhoades did a great job on her defensively.