Club GBB: Sunday Six Pack from Spring Showcase 4.22.2018

SUNDAY SIX PACK FROM SPRING SHOWCASE AT JEFFERSON

The Spring Showcase wrapped up at Jefferson and Kennedy on Sunday. I opted for the 2019 top division and charted six of the eight games on tap today on court 1. There was a Mexican Standoff for first place in the top division (2019 Blue). There was an overwhelming win in the second division (2019 Yellow). And if you had your AAU bingo card you would have filled it for 2019 battle for fourth triad game. Getting back to the 2019 Blue play off—there were three pools of three. The winners of those pools met today. All three won, and all three loss meaning there was one colossal traffic jam for first. Using the standard of point differential as the tie breaker the champion in my reckoning is MN Rise 11th Wolfe with a +27 across the two games. That beats the +1 of Southern MN Fury 2019 and -28 for MN Fury 2020 Yellow (playing up a graduating class).

On the technical side of things, we again had to witness plenty of teams that could not muster a 70 pp100. Of the potential twelve chartings seven failed to reach that mundane level. On a happier note, three teams did crack the century mark.

Just like yesterday there were teams from beyond the metro with three new regionals teams under the microscope. The difference today being the increase in metro teams with five new teams.

GAME 1: UNITED 11TH 67, FM FIERCE 17U 38

The2019 Yellow division had brackets, so this was a semifinal. United had no problems with FM (Fargo-Moorhead) Fierce. It should be pointed out most of the FM Fierce team is not based in the FM metro area, but primarily in the western reaches of Minnesota extending as far east as Bemidji for players. United should probably be renamed Spring Lake Park since that is where all but one of their players hail from. United was much more aggressive with their full court pressure defense ending up with a +10 in turnover differential. That led to a day’s best 56% from the floor thanks to 12 fast breaks.  United had one more point necessary to win the game at half (39-23).

GAME 2: METRO STARS 2021 50, MN HEAT KLINE 9TH 35

This was actually a ninth place battle in the 2021 Blue division. Just like in the first game one school provided most of the players for the winner. Former Lakeville North girls coach and current Northfield boys coach Andy Berkvam is the coach for Metro Stars 2021. That team is Raider heavy with only three other players outside their district. That united front topped MN Heat Kline. Unlike the first game it was tight at half time with Metro Stars holding a four point lead (24-20). If you notice in the stats below this game featured 72 turnovers—-“I went to a basketball game and a bakery broke out there were so many turnovers.” Both teams used a half court trap and both teams, even though they administered it, had issues cleanly breaking through it on the offensive end.

GAME 3: UNITED 11TH 47, AIRFORCE ONE 11TH 20

United won the 2019 Yellow Championship against Airforce One, which is made up of some of the Northwest Suburban teams in Spring Lake Park’s conference. United did not vary their plans from the first game with unrelenting pressure and running galore. With five minutes to go in the first half United had more than enough for the win (21-4).

GAME 4: MN RISE 11TH WOLFE 62, MN FURY 2020 YELLOW 30

In this 2019 Blue first place pool game, the Rise doubled up the youngsters from MN Fury 2020 Yellow (Yellow being the second team at the age level). Fury was younger, but they also featured more size across the front line. MSU Mankato bound Joey Batt helped spearhead the win for Rise. After six minutes Rise led 19-6. The game was for all intents and purposes over by half as the Rise had 40 points. The Rise is based primarily in the south central portion of the state with a heavy roster emphasis in the Big South Conference East Division, better known in the olden days as the South Central Conference.

GAME 5: MN SUNS 11TH LARK 44, HIGH IMPACT TURNER 11TH 35

If I went to a bakery in the third game, I went to a “basketbrawl” game in the fifth. This game featured extremely high energy and there were players that were on the floor due to the enthusiastic physicality on display. Also, on display— over the top bench behavior which included name calling and taunting. I don’t believe I would see this during the high school season. Or if I did, I don’t think I would see it very long. The players fed off this negative vibe. There were no hand shakes at the end of this game and for good reason. Post game had some fans hold off potential fisticuffs. So how did this get so out of control? At one point there was a whistle after an elbow found on opposing player after a rebound. There was a whistle. Everyone anticipated a foul. Nope. “Knock it off,” basically was the instruction. What??? The referees handled all games I charted. Perhaps they were low on blood sugar since they probably didn’t have anything to eat. There were no issues with these refs in the other games.

Besides the emotional drama there was dramatic action. HIT trailed by five at half time and got to one down with 11 minutes left after an &1 by Mia (28-27). Then the physicality went up to an eleven. With four minutes left it was still in the possibility with the Suns up 37-35. HIT would not score again.

At the end of the day Northern Lights (a team I didn’t chart due to my blood sugar issues) finished first in this pool meaning fourth overall in the 2019 Blue division with the Suns in fifth and High Impact in sixth. NL is based in Duluth. High Impact is a meld between the Iron Range and some Duluth Area players.

Here are two basketball bingo cards for your next tournament. I hope you don’t have to use it.

Coaches board; Weekend Board

GAME 6: SO MN FURY 2019 58, MN RISE 11TH WOLFE 53

After the drama of the last game I got to chart the best game of the day finally. The Southern Minnesota version of the Fury (and by that I mean the Southeastern portion based around Rochester and environs) closed off the last two minutes of the first half with a 8-1 run breaking free from a 26 all tie. That proved to be the difference in the game. The Rise fell behind by ten in the second half but clawed their way back in the game with 2:48 left on a pair of free throws on an offensive rebound by Madison Gehloff (a former Fury player last year) 54-53. Since the Fury was in the bonus, they milked the clock. Katie Tornstrom, who “Torn” it up all day, put the nail in the proverbial coffin with a shot from the elbow. Tornstrom had a day’s best 26 points as she proved deadly from behind the arc with six 3s. She easily cracked the 31 Club, the only player to do so this weekend. In fact yesterday as I was leaving an official told me the Fury has this shooter and described perfectly the Tornstrom onslaught indicating she was on fire all weekend.  The Rise didn’t connect on their last two chances.

Team PP100 scorer Distributor D stops
UNITED 11TH 106.3 Madi Ngene 13 Joelle Talso 7 Julia LeVahn 11
FM FIERCE 17U 61.3 Andreya Lockett 10 Cierra Ahlf 4 Cierra Ahlf 8
METRO STARS 2021 65.8 Megan Fabeck 12 Lizzie Berkvam 7 Annika Richardson 9
MN HEAT KLINE 9TH 46.1 Annie Mraz 10 Cadence Hansen 5 Anna Caspers 11
UNITED 11TH 87.0 Madi Ngene 12 Julia LeVahn 7 Madi Ngene 8
AIRFORCE ONE 11TH 37.7 Three with 4 Jay Kwateh 3 Two with 7
MN RISE 11TH WOLFE 103.3 Caitlin Rorman 13 Joey Batt 6 Joey Batt 12
MN FURY 2020 YELLOW 50.0 Bethany Vasecka 10 Two with 3 Emma Henry 5
MN SUNS 11TH LARK 63.8 Arthel Massaquoi 17 Asia Smith 6 Sierra Lynch 9
HIGH IMPACT TURNER 11TH 50.0 Allie Negen 10 Eve Turner 5 Eve Turner 11
SO MN FURY 2019 101.8 Katie Tornstrom 26 Two with 5 Katie Tornstrom 8
MN RISE 11TH WOLFE 91.4 Joey Batt 14 Four with 4 Joey Batt 8

TRENCH PLAYERS:

Game 1: Julia LeVahn, United 11th (Spring Lake Park)

Game 2: Megan Fabeck, Metro Stars 2021 (Park-Cottage Grove)

Game 3: Madi Ngene, United 11th (Spring Lake Park)

Game 4: Joey Batt, MN Rise 11th (New Ulm)

Game 5: I am leaving this vacant.

Game 6: Katie Tornstrom, So MN Fury 2019 (Caledonia)

PLAYER OF THE DAY: KATIE TORNSTROM

Category UNITED 11TH FM FIERCE 17U METRO STARS 2021 MN HEAT KLINE 9TH UNITED 11TH AIRFORCE ONE 11TH
Points 67 38 50 35 47 20
Rebounds 33 34 33 40 25 26
Turnovers 10 20 28 44 18 28
2FGatt/% 41/.561 23/.261 51/.412 25/.440 38/.474 24/.333
3FGatt/% 7/.429 25/.200 4/.000 16/.062 5/.400 8/.125
FTatt/% 24/.500 16/.688 18/.444 18/.556 9/.556 6/.167
Bench 23 22 17 4 13 5

 

Category MN RISE 11TH WOLFE MN FURY 2020 YELLOW MN SUNS 11TH LARK HIGH IMPACT TURNER 11TH SO MN FURY 2019 MN RISE 11TH WOLFE
Points 62 30 44 35 58 53
Rebounds 28 16 54 29 30 17
Turnovers 18 26 28 15 19 10
2FG% 40/.525 20/.450 31/.419 35/.371 25/.440 37/.514
3FG% 9/.556 14/.214 14/.071 22/.045 17/.529 10/.100
FT% 7/.714 5/.600 32/.469 12/.500 10/.900 13/.923
Bench 25 13 12 4 21 12

 

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