EDEN PRAIRIE 70, RICHFIELD 46
Host Eden Prairie bumped off Richfield in non-conference action on
Wednesday night. Both teams have endured a couple of bumpy years after winning section titles. Both teams have also had recent coaching changes. Both teams have turned the corner from the previous lows and are moving forward. In fact Richfield has more wins this year than they have had in the previous two seasons. EP is one win away from matching last year’s mark. Taking over this year for the Eagles is Ellen Wiese who had a previous stint at Orono and coaches in the Metro Stars club system. Richfield coach Pam Quiram is now in her second season.
One had to look no further than the battle of the boards to explain this contest. EP had a +20 advantage over the smaller Spartans. That wide differential led to +21 more shots. Again the height advantage was critical. Over half of Richfield’s field goal attempts came from beyond the arc. 8th grader Selam Maher, the game’s high scorer, knocked down four. Both teams, when they were within six feet of the basket, shot well. The difference came down to amount. EP attempted 35 (and made 17), while Richfield only attempted 15 (and made seven).
At the start of the contest Richfield had visions of an upset as they grabbed an 8-3 lead. That early momentum ground to a halt as EP went away from the idea of any open 3 is a good shot to establishing their inside game. EP took the lead for good with six unanswered points, and an overall 20-1 run. By half the Eagles were soaring with 34-17 lead. There was no significant movement in the second half.
Eden Prairie has now evened their record at 4-4. Richfield drops to 3-5.
I have now charted 36 AAAA teams, 28 to go. I have 42 to go in AAA. For those watching the qrf I am now at 51, 49 to go to hit 100.
The interesting thing about the stats below? All the EP players that led the categories came off the bench. EP’s bench outscored the starters 40-30, but the starters “won” the pp100 100 to 93.0
| Team | PP100 | scorer | Distributor | D stops |
| Eden Prairie | 95.9 | Nneka Obiazor 15 | Abby Jirele 7 | Jaliya Davis 9 |
| Richfield | 63.9 | Selam Maher 18 | Breanna Wendland 5 | Breanna Wendland 6 |
TRENCH PLAYER: EP’s Kemara Watson with 14 points. The 6-0 junior post scored every 1.36 touches and had a 175 pp100. Watson was another player off the bench for the Eagles.