Park Center vs Maple Grove 2-18-20

Made the drive over to Maple Grove High School on this cold Tuesday evening to take in a big late regular season clash between visiting Park Center and host Maple Grove.  Both teams came into this game atop their respective divisions in the Northwest Suburban Conference so this game would not only have conference title implications on it but just as important would be the seeding implications for each team's respective section.  In short, there was a lot on the line with this game tonight - including pride.  Plus this game would be intriguing because of the distinct styles of each team - the up-tempo style that Park Center lives by and the disciplined half-court style that is a Crimson trademark.

The Pirates would hold the upper hand early on in this contest; grabbing an early 3-1 lead thanks to one free throw by junior sensation guard Adalia McKenzie at the 17:13 mark and a pretty lay-up in transition by senior guard Lauren Frost at the 16:46 mark.  Maple Grove would get the game tied at 3 when speedy sophomore guard Ari Gordon made a hard drive for a finish at the 16:37 mark but Park Center would regain the lead when McKenzie connected with a jumper from the left top area just inside the arc at the 16:13 mark and two Frost freebies after she was fouled at the 15:28 mark kept the Pirates out in front 7-5.  Park Center's lead would grow to 9-5 when McKenzie went coast-to-coast for a lay-up at the 15:03 mark before the Crimson could close the gap.  Junior forward Jordyn Lamker muscled into the paint for a score at the 14:39 mark and fellow junior point guard Kylie Baranick knocked down one free throw after getting fouled in a transition opportunity to make it a 9-8 ballgame.  Park Center eighth-grade guard Alivia McGill connected with a lay-up in transition at the 14:00 mark but then the Crimson would finally get this game tied at 11 a piece when slender junior guard Izzy Brant drained a "3" from the right wing area at the 13:42 mark.  Not satisfied with being caught up in a deadlocked game, the Pirates managed to step on the gas pedal again.  Two scores by McGill - a lay-up at the 13:25 mark and a score in the paint at the 13:02 mark - gave Park Center a bit more breathing room with a 15-11 lead and senior guard Kayla Cox would bang home a "3" from the right corner at the 12:24 mark to give the Pirates their largest lead so far at 18-13.  Again, Maple Grove managed to close the gap as senior guard/forward Abby Schulte collected two quick scores - a lay-up at the 11:59 mark and an offensive rebound for a putback at the 11:34 mark - that closed the gap to one point.  Lamker would connect with a lay-up of her own at the 10:42 mark that kept the Crimson in that one-point range down 20-19.  Thus far anyway, Maple Grove had weathered the worst and was certainly right where it wanted to be. 

At this juncture, the Pirates collectively decided that letting their host stay close was probably not in their best interests and they went back to work to widen the gap again; relying on their ace - McKenzie - to do her stuff.  She would first grab an offensive rebound for a putback at the 10:11 mark and her lay-up in transition at the 9:08 mark had Park Center up by five at 24-19.  McKenzie would cap this personal 6-0 push with her hard drive into the lane for a finish with 8:34 left to give the Pirates a seven-point cushion at 26-19.  Both teams would go into a bit of a scoring funk at this point but this little drought did give Maple Grove an opportunity to tighten things up a bit.  Schulte knocked down a jumper from the right elbow area with 5:46 left and two Baranick charity stripe shots with 4:04 left had the Crimson back within a single possession down 26-23.  The Pirates went right back to work, however, as diminutive senior point guard Aaliyah Ragulen drained a "3" from the left top area with 3:45 left to make it 29-23 and a jumper from the right wing area by McKenzie with 3:05 left maintained the six-point spread at 31-25.  But like an accordion, this spread quickly contracted as Maple Grove was able to make yet another move before the halftime break.  Schulte would knock down a jumper from the left wing area with 2:49 left to reduce the deficit to four and then with 2:26 left, Schulte would strike again as she would connect with a lay-up that drew a foul in the process and her ensuing "and one" now had the deficit down to a scant point at 31-30.  Park Center would get a bit of a reprieve when Frost connected with a short turnaround jumper in the lane with 2:11 left but the Crimson's Brant would get the last score of this interesting first half when she connected with a lay-up with 1:43 left.  Considering the fact that this half had seemed like something of a roller coast for his team so far, Maple Grove Head Coach Mark Cook and his staff had to feel somewhat reassured going into the locker room down by only one at 33-32 at the half. 

And considering the fact that the Crimson had spent most of the first half playing catch-up most of the time, Maple Grove went about turning the tables a bit once the second half got underway.  Baranick would start things off with her drive along the left baseline for a finish at the 17:48 mark to propel the Crimson into the lead and then backcourt mate Gordon would follow that up with a drive and finish at the 17:03 mark to give Maple Grove a 36-33 advantage.  Then Schulte would make a drive along the right baseline for a finish to make it 38-33 and two Gordon free throws at the 14:06 mark helped maintain the five-point edge at 40-35.  But just when the Crimson started feeling good about themselves, this Park Center team quickly erased the deficit they were facing.  Frost would bury a "3" from the left corner at the 13:49 mark and Ragulen would nail a trey of her own from the left corner at the 13:09 mark that suddenly nudged the Pirates back out in front by a 41-40 count.  That quickly got the attention of Maple Grove as they now had to go back to work.  Lamker would get a score in the paint off of an inbounds pass at the 12:46 mark to put the Crimson back out in front and one Brant free throw at the 12:16 mark got Maple Grove's lead to 43-41.  Then it would be Schulte snaring an offensive rebound for a putback and drawing a foul in the process at the 11:20 mark and her obligatory free throw pushed the Crimson lead back to five again at 46-41.  Lamker would also get one free throw to go down after getting fouled at the 10:54 mark and then Baranick would bang home a "3" from the top of the key at the 9:44 mark to make it 50-43.  With 8:15 left, a Lamker lay-up gave Maple Grove its largest lead at 52-43 and things definitely appeared bleak for the Pirates at this point. 

With 7:18 left, the Crimson's Lamker would drill a "3" from the right corner to make it a 55-45 ballgame and even with a mountain of time left, a Park Center comeback seemed slim at best.  But it was here where the Pirates showed how good they can be under pressure against quality opponents when they play together as they unleashed a 10-0 spurt in the course of two minutes.  McKenzie would start this run when she was able to score in the paint and draw a foul in the process and her ensuing "and one" had the deficit reduced to seven at 55-48 with 6:38 left.  McGill would slither into the paint for a score with 6:18 left and a Frost lay-up in transition with 5:47 left had Park Center back to within a single possession down 55-52.  Then McKenzie would cap this run with a "3" from the top of the key with 5:23 left to knot this one at 55 a piece.  The Crimson would manage to poke their nose out in front when Gordon was able to snare a steal and race the other way for a lay-up with 4:16 left but the Pirates' McKenzie would nail back-to-back three-pointers; both from the top of the key - one with 3:47 left and the other one with 2:45 left - to push Park Center out in front by a 61-59 count and now Maple Grove's Cook had seen more than enough to know that a timeout was warranted.  That stoppage in play appeared to give the Crimson a chance to catch their collective breaths and give them a bit of a boost as well when Schulte was able to snare a steal in the backcourt and get a lay-up out of it with 1:23 left that leveled this contest at 61-all.  On Park Center's ensuing possession, Frost would be fouled with 1:04 left and she would get both free throw attempts to go down to push the Pirates back out in front 63-61 - and now Park Center was finally in the bonus as well.  The Pirates would force a critical stop on Maple Grove's next possession and McGill would subsequently be fouled with :42.4 left and the eighth-grader would calmly drop both free throw attempts that now widened Park Center's lead to 65-61.  Maple Grove's Schulte would be fouled on the Crimson's subsequent possession with :36.8 left and she would get both free throws to go down to get the Crimson back to within a single possession down 65-63.  Maple Grove's Cook would then call a timeout to set up strategy for what little precious time that remained.  The Pirates' Frost would get fouled with :34.4 left but she was only able to get the front-end free throw attempts to go down that appeared to leave the door open for the Crimson.  But while the back-end attempt went awry, the long rebound would go to Park Center's McGill and she was fouled almost immediately and again she would come through with both free throws that now pushed the Pirate lead to five at 68-63.  But the best last chance Maple Grove had went out the window with :19.7 left when Schulte was unable to connect on what appeared to be a relatively routine lay-up attempt.  The Pirates' McKenzie would be there for the rebound and she would be immediately fouled.  McKenzie couldn't get either free throw attempt to go down, however, so the door was still ajar a bit for the Crimson.  With :12.6 left, Maple Grove's Gordon was able to snare an offensive rebound for a putback that got the Crimson back to within a single possession down 68-65 but now they needed a stop - and quickly.  Park Center's McKenzie would be fouled again with :09.9 left and she would at least get one free throw to go down to make it 69-65.  Maple Grove's last offensive possession would come up fruitless and the Pirates were able to escape with a thrilling 69-65 victory. 

I was able to catch up with Maple Grove's Cook afterward and although disappointed with the outcome on this night, he was far from devastated.  He was proud of how his team fought and saw enough to feel confident about where his squad was and about their chances going forward into what will certainly be a tough Section 8AAAA tournament with one remaining regular season game at Centennial before that.  When you look at this from a Park Center perspective, it's not at all surprising to see that McKenzie's 30 points on this night easily led all scorers.  She was instrumental in sparking the Pirate comeback when they found themselves down by ten points and hit two huge treys in a critical stretch as well.  But I think what's also encouraging is you saw the youngster, McGill step up her game with junior forward T'Naye Griffin temporarily out with an injury and she poured in 16 points on this night and Frost added 14.  It was something of a similar story over on the Maple Grove side with Schulte's 22 points leading the way while Lamker added 16 points and Gordon finished with 13 points.