CENTENNIAL 70, LAKEVILLE NORTH 54

#5AAAA Centennial upended #4AAAA Lakeville North in another

Northwest Suburban v South Suburban battle on Thursday (my second this week). This was the second time this week a team from the North ended up with a victory. The home Cougars shot 57% from 2s to cement their win. Balance was the watchword for Centennial with all five starters between 14 and nine points. LN had pretty close balance with Centennnial on the starting unit with all five starters between 14 and 6. Both teams enjoyed four players in double digits. The bench was heavily in favor of the Cougars with a 10-1 advantage.

Centennial, with their more aggressive attack, took the initiative early. After Claire Orth scored near the rim LN took a time out with nearly 11 minutes to go in the first half and trailing 15-4. The Panthers did get in some foul trouble with Lauren Jensen picking up two with 12:42 left in the half. That kept her on the pine the rest of the first half. That also took away some flexibility and the LN offense struggled. Centennial ran the floor, or sliced and diced their way to the rim at will for a 37-24 half time lead. Recent Drake verbal Taylor McAulay, who was one of a trio with a game high 14 points, was 5/8 on drives to the left side. After McAulay broke through her defender, no one thought of coming over to close that gap.

Once Jensen, who had all 14 of her points in the second half (one of the trio with 14), played in the second half LN made a comeback. LN cut the lead to four (47-43) with 11 minutes remaining. It was Centennial’s turn to get into foul trouble. Sydney Stapleton, who ended up with 13 points, picked up her fourth and had to sit. The game was still up in the air until a long rebound resulted in a fast break for Centennial followed directly by a LN turnover in which the ball was handled like a loaf of bread by someone that has had plenty to eat. Centennial was hungrier, snatched it and then converted another lay up. LN did not react with cat like quickness in transition to stop that lay up. That was enough to call time out for LN with 3:24 left and down 60-50. Centennial was easily able to get the ball inside and kept adding to their margin.

Where is the LN Defense in 2017-18? This is the third game they have given up 70 or more points this year. Last year the Panthers did not allow any team over 70. The most they allowed was 68 and that was in the third place game at state. The Panthers’ defensive average right now is 62.4, 16.1 more than last year’s efforts. So where is the breakdown? Centennial made 44 points on two pointers inside (22/39 or 56.4%). For comparison’s sake last year in the state AAAA semifinals against Elk River the Elks were 10/27 or 37.0%. That is a differential of almost 24 points and a drop of 20 points on the percentage.

Both teams lost at the Breakdown event at Hopkins on Saturday. I wasn’t able to chart them that day.

LN is 3-2 on the year. Centennial evens it’s mark at 1-1.

Team	PP100	scorer	Distributor	D stops
Centennial	97.2	2 with 14	Claire Orth 10	Lexi Matthews 12
Lakeville North	78.9	Lauren Jensen 14	Taylor Brown 8	Ke James 12

 

TRENCH PLAYER:  The third player with 14 points gets the nod: North Dakota signee Claire Orth of Centennial.