They Also Melted Down

So, let’s see. Unsigned seniors. Check. Tartan. Check. What else was going on at the North Tartan Meltdown? Well, I saw 5 games that did not have a Tartan team in them, though only one of those didn’t have an unsigned senior. But, OK, let’s talk about those games a little bit. Midwest Elite/Indiana Best Select 57 Lady Get Shook Walker 51 It should come as no surprise that Lady Get Shook took it on the nose in this one as it seems the other side had 2 teams going for it. But, seriously. Desmond Walker’s LGS team has had a pretty good year for an upstart independent, but it didn’t have such a good performance in this one. On, the other hand, his team won 3 of 5 for the tournament. Guard Alex Walker pulled off at least one nifty play, a crossover from right to left to finish with the left on a dribble drive. And, guard Alison Peterson had a great play, clearing a defensive rebound away from 3 opponents with a combination of a lot of activity and one very neatly placed dribble out of trouble. But, overall, LGS seemed to be having a little power outage. They were over on Hopkins Lindbergh court 6 or 7 where it is also about 10 degrees warmer than elsewhere in the building. They definitely preferred to walk it up despite some pretty good speed in Walker and guard Andrea Gray. But the bigs, Sierra Morrow and Isabelle West, needed time to catch up to the action. But, part of the problem is, well, I don’t mean to jump on Mr. Walker, he is not the only coach I have in mind with this comment. But 1) kids should be asked to remember what they’re taught in practice, and 2) there’s got to be some kind of limit to how much instruction they should get in-game and with the clock running. AIA 10th Nike 63 So Minn Fury 18 Elite 47 So Minn Fury 18 Elite 53 Comets 11 Elite 50 Well, I was a little surprised by this score. I watched the 1st half and the Fury were ahead at the break, 32-30. Obviously, that didn’t last too long. Fury was a skeleton crew with 7 players on the roster and the best of them, Syd Schultz, was on the bench in street clothes. So, along with just bodies they were also severely lacking in size. I wanted to watch their unsigned seniors, especially Wynter Bergner and Jenna Zeman, but if anything it seemed like they were both getting beat on defense early in the 2nd half as AIA pulled away to a 48-39 lead. I’m guessing they were pretty much out of gas. But, on the other hand, I also saw them hang on to beat the Comets 11 Elite a little later. This time it was the Fury that was ahead 48-39, but they had to hang on for dear life, getting outscored 12-5 down the stretch. Bergner hit the game-winner this time. Well, they were still up 50-46 and there was 1:52 on the clock. But her 3 ended up being the margin of victory. Ellie Clayton scored a layup on a great cut and pass from Erin Tupy a minute earlier. A Bergner turnover and two missed FT by Katie Tornstrom gave the Comets a shot at a tie. Shea Oman and Annika Sougstad missed 3s inside of 10 seconds. Prior to that Maggie Miska of Grand Rapids led the Comets comeback with a 2 in transition, a 3 and a 2 off the dribble. Emma Schmidt (Wheaton) added a 2 and an Oman steal led to a pair of Sougstad FTs to get within 3. As I’ve written elsewhere, Schmidt was by far the top player on the court. The Comets had the energy to win down the stretch but made just 1-of-7 shots after Miska’s little tear. I also now understand that Shea Oman has committed to Bemidji State. She should do very well up there, among other things going up against former Comet teammate Natalie Steichen who will be at Moorhead. Congrats to Shea. Rise 11th Purple 55 Nebraska Lasers 16 Gold 52 Rise took an early 14-6 lead then pretty much hung on. They never got any separation. Part of the problem seemed to be that their best player, point guard Madi Heiderscheidt, likes to play fast while the rest of her team, well, they’re not that fast. Well, except for Sarah Ibarra’s hands. She’s got quick hands. And post Natalie Harmon has good hands, not quick so much, but strong and steady and reliable. She can catch and control the ball. But, overall, the offense seemed a bit disorganized, and there were some mistakes on defense, every single one of which the Lasers seemed to exploit. Still, they hung on for the win and went 3-2 for the tournament. But, the Lasers just didn’t seem like they should have been within 3 at the final buzzer. Metro Stars Wiese 60 Kingdom Hoops 17U Elite 58 (OT) OK, now this was fun. Kingdom Hoops got off to a quick start, leading 15-6 before Ellen Wiese got her crew cranked up a little bit. But, finally, an Amanda Pollard strip and steal for a breakaway basket gave MSW the lead at 29-28 at 10:00 of the 2nd half. And, after scoring 29 points in 22 minutes, they scored 31 in the final 10 plus OT. But, neither team was able to score in the final minute so 2 Haley Moore FT at about 1:00 had to stand up, and a Sidney Zgutowicz steal as time ran down helped. Zgutowicz opened the OT with a bucket off a Moore assists, then Moore scored on a dribble drive. It was the most dynamic 3-4 minutes I’ve ever seen from Moore. Zgutowicz then hit a pair of throws, then saved an errant pass from Moore which resulted in a Pollard free throw to make it 58-54. Rachel Hakes hit a pair of throws at about 15 seconds and MSW survived a couple of late shots to tie by the Hoopsters. Hakes, Moore, Pollard and Zgutowicz were a dynamic foursome, but MSW didn’t seem to get much out of its bigs in this one.