Recap of MN GBB action from Wednesday, December 18
D1 HIGH FIVE
Ayoka Lee, Kansas State, Byron 34
Kierra Wheeler, Norfolk State, Cooper 21
Liv McGill, Florida, Hopkins 15
Alyssa Ustby, North Carolina, Rochester Lourdes 11
Abby Krzewinski, North Dakota State, Wayzata 9
Totals: 90
Four of the five made it to the state tournament with three either champs, or in Ustby’s case a finalist in the virus year. Lee graduated high school in 2019 is the oldest. McGill is in her first year of college graduating high school in June.
POINT PARADE
AAAA
Vienna Murray, East Ridge 29
RANKED RESULTS
AAAA
#3 Eden Prairie 57, Lakeville South 53
AA
#3 Minnehaha 87, St. Croix Lutheran 58
ABOUT LAST NIGHT: Stillwater v Forest Lake
With the Wednesday night slate limited to eleven games I opted for a Suburban East clash at Forest Lake with the visiting Ponies of Stillwater. Both teams are in the hunt for a SEC title and were tied for second one game behind league leader East Ridge. In this game eventually Stillwater broke away to the tune of 66-54. The key segment came in the second half with Stillwater up 48-44. From the 6:40 mark to 2:18 left in the game the Ponies went on a 14-3 run with a key stretch of three straight scores breaking the game open. The Rangers were frustrated by the Stillwater defense turning it over seven times in their eleven possessions during that stretch.
Early on Stillwater broke free from an eleven all tie. In another six minute burst they outscored the Rangers 10-0 to lead 21-11. The hosts battled back and regained the lead at 23-22 with under 1:30 left in the half. The Rangers kept adding to that margin going in at the half up 29-24. The last Ranger lead came at 41-40 in the second half after two straight scores including a butt assist on a baseline out of bounds play by Aubree Hultman.
Stillwater had the upper hand in most of the key stat categories and by substantial margins. Both teams had 35 total rebounds, but that is deceiving. Stillwater had 15 offensive rebounds to seven for FL. That led to a +14 advantage in attempts. It is true FL shot better with 48% from 2s and 29from 3s to Stillwater’s 42% & 18%. But that came at a cost. It took FL 9.04 touches to score a point, and Stillwater was much more efficient going 4.79 touches. Another huge factor was the turnover count with another +14 advantage for the Ponies. We already pointed out the struggles late in the second half for the Rangers. The icing on the cake was the free throw situation where Stillwater attempted 27 to 16 for FL.
Annika Pepper, daughter of Stillwater coach Tim, was the only member of the 31 Club with a score of 37. She racked up 14 d stops which included eight steals. She also delivered 8/12 distributions. FL’s Kendal Damon just missed the cut with a 30.
DAY AHEAD
There are supposed to be 98 games on Thursday. My recommendation is to check ahead if the game you may be interested in still is scheduled.
Ranked v Ranked
#1AAAA Hopkins at #7AAA DeLaSalle
#9AAAA St. Michael-Albertville at #2AAAA Maple Grove
#5AAA Orono at #9AAA Delano