A recap of cold, cold Wednesday’s High Five, two paraders, limited results, The Day ahead and a recap of Centennial and Elk River.
HIGH FIVE
Alyssa Ustby, North Carolina, Rochester Lourdes 15
Tori McKinney, Minnesota, Minnetonka 14
Alayna Contreras, Kansas City, Hopkins 13
Mallory Heyer, Minnesota, Chaska 12
Paige Kindseth, Presbyterian, Farmington 11
Totals: 65
All five were either state champs or could have beens in the 2020 virus shortened tournament. Four are AAAA players with two from the Lake Conference.
POINT PARADE
Parade starts at 25. If there is a player missing email kja8067@gmail.com
AAAA
Autumn McCall, Centennial 34
Elsie Ostmoe, Elk River 25
RANKED RESULTS
AAA
#1 Benilde-St. Margaret’s 77, Hill-Murray 66
#4 Mahtomedi 75, Simley 30
ABOUT LAST NIGHT
It was cold outside on a limited slate of Metro games Wednesday, but the action was hot in the NW Suburban match up at Elk River with Centennial victorious 72-66 in a see saw battle between evenly teams. Most stat categories were similar. The key difference came with 2 field goal percentage with Centennial knocking down 21/36 for 58.33% to ER’s 16/37 or 43.21. The Elks made up the differential from the 3-point arc with 9/17 or 52.51%, some of that in a late push (more on that later). The Cougars were no slouch behind the arc going 6/15 for 40%.
There were several lead and momentum swings when each team appeared poised to break the contest open. The first bump came with Centennial up 19-10 with 10:16 left in the first half after a successful &1 by Autumn McCall. Seven minutes later ER was up, slightly 27-26 after a trey by Elsie Ostmoe. Centennial wrestled back the lead at 30-29 at the half.
Both teams must have had hot coco at half because they came out sharper than the first half. ER scored their first three times they touched it; while Centennial scored three of four. ER really didn’t stop there. They added four straight scores and held a 47-37 lead forcing the visitors to call time with 13:15 left. All told it was an eight for ten possession scoring run for an 18-7 bump. Ostmoe provided half of those points. The Cougar time out came after Lilly Osterman hit a three and then tacked on a steal lay up in the space of five seconds. Osterman ended up with 21 points. That time out was worth it’s weight in gold as Centennial went on a scoring tear their next nine possessions. They regained the lead at the 8:14 mark after a pair of McCall free throws making it 51-50, a 14-3 surge. It was back to a one possession game for a few minutes. The last ER lead came after a steal lay up by Kaelee Hansen made it 57-56 with 6:30 left. But Centennial nailed it with five more scores in their possession run and had turned the tables to 67-57 with about three minutes remaining (a 16-0 run). At 1:52 the situation was even bleaker for ER down 71-57. Then the well dried up for Centennial. With less than 1:42 ER found their offense again with three straight 3s by three different players and suddenly that comfortable lead looked vulnerable with 22.9 ticks left at 71-66. A Centennial turnover gave ER another shot, but the 3-point streak was over. A Cougar free throw with 1.5 seconds left ended the drama.
McCall led all scorers with 34 points cashing in with 11/13 at the line. Her pp100 checked in at a healthy 130.8 and she cracked the 41 Club with a score of 46. Ostmoe led the Elks with 25 points going 7/11 from 2s on the way to a robust 147.1 pp100 and a 38 score in the 31 Club.
Centennial is one of several teams in 7AAAA that has a crack at the state tournament in March. Whichever team is coming out of that section is probably looking at the eighth seed. ER has to get through St. Michael-Albertville among other NW based teams. More consistent offense & defense will be required of both in March.
DAY AHEAD
73 games on tap.
Unbeatens:
Monticello at Sartell. Second straight unblemished team Magic has faced this week. This time it is on the road.
Ranked v Ranked
#2AAAA Maple Grove is at #5AAAA Wayzata. They met earlier this year when the Crimson edged out the Trojans by one.