Game of the Day from the East Court of the Breakdown Tip-Off

Marc Hugunin

December 3, 2017 @ 12:00 AM

It was a game worthy of two state tournament and, who knows, maybe state championship contenders. Wayzata wiped out a 5 point Lakeville North lead with under a minute to go to force OT, and Annika Stewart hit a midrange jumper for the Trojans at about 20 seconds of OT to win it. Lakeville took an early 10-point lead at 24-14 at the 5 minute mark as Kari Macura bird-dogged Mimi Schrader and Ke James denied Kallie Theisen. But Theisen broke loose for 14 straight Wayzata points, the last three of which, a 2+1 off the offensive glass, gave the Trojans their first lead since 5-4. It was 31-29 at the half. In the second half, 16 of the first 19 scores changed the lead or tied the game, but Lakeville again got some separation at 58-52 and 62-57 but Jenna Johnson scored off the glass to tie it up at 62 with about 10 seconds left to send it into OT. Rarely are you ever going to see ten players on the court as skilled as the ten starters in this game. They include: • Taylor Brown, North, 6-1, senior, forward. Brown plays great defense, helping to deny Kallie Theisen and Wayzata’s other bigs, and is perhaps the best passer on the team. She doesn’t always look for her shot but late in the 2nd half she did, and scored off a couple of dribble drives and then in transition. 11 points. • Ke James, North 6-1, senior, post. Skilled offensive player, uses her body and her feet to get open down low. Denied Theisen through much of the game on D. 24 points. • Lauren Jensen, North, 5-10, sophomore, combo guard. Had the worst game of her varsity career with just 2 points. I doubt that that is ever going to happen again. She is a great shooter, a solid ball-handler and a solid defender. • Jenna Johnson, Wayzata, 6-1, freshman, power forward. Agile, mobile, can find a shot down low regardless of the defense. Big-time offensive threat even against elite opponents and, again, she’s a freshman. 11 points. • Kari Macura, North, 5-8, senior, combo guard. Great defender. Face-guarded Mimi Schrader most of the day, made it hard for her to get into the offense. Then, with Jensen struggling on offense, Macura took it to the rim several times late with positive results. • Mimi Schrader, Wayzata, 5-9, junior, point guard. Great ball handler, floor leader, gets the ball to people where they can score, though North made that harder than most. But, when the Trojans needed her to score, she scored by the 1s, 2s and 3s. 12 points. • Jasmine Smiley, Wayzata, 5-7, sophomore, wing. Headed for stardom, does everything. Opened the scoring with a deep 3. Good ball handler (though not a 1), athletic, quick, solid defender. Team player. 11 points. • Annika Stewart, Wayzata, 6-3, sophomore, post. Great shooting touch, made a couple of the game’s bigger buckets. Makes some great high-low passes, but turned it over on some passes, too. Not as quick or mobile on the boards as Johnson and others. 15 points. • Kallie Theisen, Wayzata, 6-1, forward. Works hard to give her teammates a good target. James with help from Brown did a good job of denying her most of the day, and yet she still scored 19 points. Relentless. • Analiese Tschida, 5-10, junior, 2 guard. Shot the ball like Lauren Jensen usually does. She hit 3s, mid-range jumpers, and made good cuts to the rim where he teammates found her for 2s and/or she drew the foul. Good defender, ball-handler. 20 points. I don't expect to see 10-deep talent this good in more than 2 or 3 more games this year, including the state tournament. And if you insisted that I put them in order, well, I'll go 1-2-3, hockey style. Just based on today. 1) Taylor Brown, 2) Kari Macura, 3) Kallie Theisen.