MINNEHAHA 57, BLAKE 49
Five loomed large in Wednesday night’s IMAC Conference match up with a bookend quality. #5 Mia Curtis of Minnehaha and the Redhawks outlasted #5 Addison Mack and the Blake Bears at home. Not only were these two players the top scorers from their respective teams, but, in a sense, showcased a veteran vs. a young gun. Curtis, the senior, is the indispensable player for MA. She never came off the floor. She has the ball in her hands 32% of the time. Things don’t happen without her. Not only did she score 31 points, she was responsible for an additional eight scores making 47 of the 57 points revolving around Curtis’ efforts. Mack is a seventh grader. It is rare that a seventh grader starts, is the leading scorer, and joins the 31 Club (all of which Mack accomplished). She topped all pp100s tonight with a 141.2. That was 22.0 higher than Curtis. Mack does not have the volume of Curtis touches with 21% of Blake’s touches, that is second on the squad. What separates Mack is the touches per turnover—-she had 91 touches per turnover, while Curtis struggled at 12.33. Curtis was slightly better at touches per point at 3.58 to 3.78. Curtis lit it up from behind the arc with six triples to two for Mack. To give you some perspective on Mack, she is the first seventh grade 31 Club member since the 2015-16 season when Jade Hill made her first appearance on the list.
As for the game, the defending AA champ Redhawks took a 16-8 lead on a 3 from someone not named Curtis—- an 8th grader, Berit Parten did the honors (it was her only points of the night). MA used two 8th graders on the night, the other Jennica Suggs. Neither started. There were eight minutes left in the half and the Bears scored three straight possessions to climb back into the game with soph Ella Deignan scoring on a put back and then a 3 to make it 16-15. A Mack drive down the middle tied it at 22 for the half. A 17-4 Redhawk start to the second half left little doubt of the direction for the rest of the night. Their was a ragged quality to the game with fouls piling up for both teams. Two Bears had four fouls, two Redhawks also had four fouls. MA expanded their lead to 15 points several times in the second half, the last time with about six minutes left (49-34). Blake closed with a 15-8 finish down the stretch. Blake did cut the margin to seven with two minutes left after a Mack 3. They had a crack at four down on the next possession, but the 3 rimmed out.
MA is now 9-2 on the year and they are sitting atop the 4AA field. Blake saw their six game winning streak snapped. They are 8-4 in 5AA.
| MINNEHAHA | BLAKE | |
| POINTS | 57 | 49 |
| REBOUNDS/OFF | 39/18 | 32/14 |
| TURNOVERS | 24 | 25 |
| 2FGA/% | 27/33.33 | 38/36.84 |
| 3FGA/% | 27/37.03 | 13/23.07 |
| FTA/% | 13/69.23 | 16/75.00 |
| PP100 | 87.7 | 76.6 |
| TOP SCORER | Mia Curtis 31 | Addison Mack 24 |
TRENCH PLAYER: Mia Curtis, 31 points (six 3s), 119.2 pp100, and a 49 score in the 31 Club.