SATURDAY TWO-FER
For the first time this season I spent a Saturday at two different gyms. The previous four weeks I was encamped at one gym with multiple games in the mega-events that populate the weekend now. This weekend, due to the approaching holidays, and the desire to knock off as many AAAA teams as possible, I was in the outer metro orbit going from northeast to southwest with a matinee and an early evening contest. There was a common thread between the two games, and it is an important thread—-fast starts. Both Bemidji and Minnetonka got off to double digit leads, Bemidji against host Chisago Lakes 10-0; host Tonka by the same margin against St. Louis Park. In both contests the team out of the gates slowly built up steam and started to compete. CL cut the margin with Bemidji to 44-42 with five minutes left; StLP got to 51-45 with eight minutes remaining.
10 point holes are hard to climb out of consistently. It takes energy on both ends. It is a long process. In my study of these games over the decades good teams dominate right from the start and squash any idea and hope that the trailing team can stay with them. Great teams don’t win close games/nail-biters—-they win by double digits with an exclamation point.
The other commonality in today’s games was the battle of the boards. Both winning teams had advantages.
Where these games diverged is in the turnover battle. The AAAA Teams were much more circumspect with the ball. Decision making was better and both teams faced physical coverage with minimal errors. In the afternoon game at CL there was a total of 55 swaps (vs 20 in the Minnetonka game). Another divergence was the pp100. St. Louis Park, despite the loss, had their pp100 in the 90s, almost 20 points higher than Bemidji, the winner in the first game.
Both winning teams got the ball inside to the posts. Minnetonka so much so they also scored at the free throw line as a result. Every 12 touches they went to the line. They cashed in the line at the best rate too with 81.25.
Youth was served tonight. Minnetonka alone has ten players in the single grade digits, they have zero seniors. Emma Dasovich, a physical 6-1 eighth grader had 14 points. Another eighth grader, Tori McKinney had five off the bench. It should be pointed out St. Louis Park only has two seniors. They weren’t alone in the vanishing senior race: CL only has two listed. Bemidji has five, enough to have a starting unit (three actually start).
Another similarity was both trench players were four letter words starting with W (for winning?)
This week was frustrating in the sense I was doing double duty on every team on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. I only got to three new AAAA teams this week, the lowest total of the year and only six new teams in total for the week. That will drastically change next week with the holiday tournaments. I now have charted 33 teams in AAAA (53.2%). AAA lags somewhat with 24 teams (38.7%).
| BEMIDJI | CHISAGO LAKES | |
| POINTS | 51 | 44 |
| REBOUNDS/OFF | 44/25 | 31/14 |
| TURNOVERS | 29 | 26 |
| 2FGA/% | 41/36.58 | 34/41.17 |
| 3FGA/% | 15/20.00 | 12/25.00 |
| FTA/% | 18/66.67 | 15/46.67 |
| PP100 | 72.9 | 64.7 |
| TOP SCORER | Emily Wade 18 | Lizzy Godden 14 |
TRENCH PLAYER: Bemidji junior Emily Wade, 18 points, 105.0 pp100 and a 28 in the 31 Club.
| MINNETONKA | ST. LOUIS PARK | |
| POINTS | 67 | 54 |
| REBOUNDS/OFF | 35/10 | 32/14 |
| TURNOVERS | 11 | 9 |
| 2FGA/% | 39/41.02 | 25/44.00 |
| 3FGA/% | 6/50.00 | 27/22.22 |
| FTA/% | 32/81.25 | 21/66.67 |
| PP100 | 109.8 | 91.5 |
| TOP SCORER | Desiree Ware 17 | Kendall Coley 18 |
TRENCH PLAYER: Minnetonka sophomore Desiree Ware with 17 points, 121.4 pp100, and a 28 score in the 31 Club.