BLAINE 64, CAMBRIDGE-ISANTI 61

The last out & about for 2019 came with a matinee at Blaine in a 7AAAA Showdown. Lately I have been seeing multiple games. Today there was only one contest, but there were x games within this game. Game one took place in the first 15 minutes with Blaine building a 29-16 lead. The second game, lasting the last three minutes of the first half and the first three minutes of the second half, belonged to CI 19-6. Now the real game was tied at 35. Game three started at the 14 minute mark of the second half and continued until there was 5:53 left and this segment belonged to the hosts 22-9 (57-44 real time). Game four lasted only four minutes with CI prevailing 17-4. The last minute saw the Bengals win out with the final three points.

In game one two factors stood out. The Bengals cashed in with eight second chance points as they hammered the offensive glass. The second was Kayla Bohr had a dozen of her game high 25 points, mostly inside action.

In game two CI closed the first half with a 10-6 run and then added to their rally at the start of the second half with the first nine points of the second half to tie the game at 35. Mikayla Aumer off the bench had 7 points of the 19 CI points in this segment including the game tying 3 from up top.

But there was an issue. Hence “game 3.” The Bluejackets were piling up fouls as well as points specifically Aumer. She exited the game at the 12:49 with four fouls. Blaine went back in front on a 3 by Madison Hoehne. The Bengals then added eight free throws in the 22 point surge. But the issue for the Bengals was they left five (meaning a potential six) on the table.

With their collective backs to the wall CI rallied with second chance opportunities. The Bluejackets had one possession with two &1 chances. They missed the free throw on the first chance, cashed in on the second. CI also capitalized on turnovers. Blaine didn’t turn the ball over that much but in game four they coughed it up three straight times thanks to a dialing up of the full court CI pressure. A missed Blaine free throw led to an Amme Sheforgen basket and a tie game at 59. Bohr hit an elbow jumper to put Blaine back up 61-59. Another Sheforgen basket tied it up at 61 with less than 50 seconds left.

Game five was all about pressure, special situations and the clock winding down. Anna Garfield was fouled on the right mid-range area and cashed in both free throws that proved to be the winning margin. CI had two opportunities to score. They never got a shot off in both situations. With 18.2 seconds left the result was a turnover on an errant pass. Garfield added a free throw on the next Blaine possession. CI again turned the ball over on another pass failing to get a clean look for anyone on the 3 point line.

As it stands now Blaine is on top of the 7AAAA standings at 10-1, one of six AAAA teams with only one loss. Their next test will come against one loss Centennial on Jan. 7.  CI is now 6-4.

	BLAINE	CAMBRIDGE-ISANTI
POINTS	64	61
REBOUNDS/OFF	37/12	39/12
TURNOVERS	13	17
2FGA/%	46/43.47	48/45.83
3FGA/%	11/27.27	11/27.27
FTA/%	25/60.00	12/66.67
PP100	91.4	89.7
TOP SCORER	Kayla Bohr 25	Amme Sheforgen 20

TRENCH PLAYER: Kayla Bohr, 25 points, 100 pp100, 37 score in the 31 Club.