Holy Angels shows up early and wins the Game of the Week

The game was scheduled to start at 7 p.m. The Maranatha Mustangs showed up at 7:10. It was a faux pas from which they could never recover Thursday night at Holy Angels as the host Stars jumped out to an 11-0 lead and went on to an 82-72 win in our Game of the Week. "We spotted them a 5-minute head start," said Maranatha coach Chris Buerman, whose team had been off for nearly two weeks. "Even though we were working on a lot of things in practice, I think we showed we were not at game tempo. After we got our motor going a little bit we feel OK with how we finished." Sophomore forward Kaylie VanDerWerf opened the scoring for Holy Angels just 30 seconds in. About 30 seconds later, senior Riley Thalhuber knocked down a textbook three ball. Less than a minute after that, guard Emma Mastre made a field goal and before you knew it, Holy Angels was up 11 and Maranatha had dug itself a very deep hole. The Mustangs' ability to close the gap was hampered by a couple of things. First, they couldn't get the ball in the basket, as the Stars did a nice job of preventing Maranatha senior Jaclyn Jarnot (committed to D1 Monmouth) from getting clean opportunities. And second, an early foot injury to junior guard Breianna Smestad knocked Maranatha off kilter. Buerman wasn't making excuses, just stating facts, when he cited the impact of Smestad's absence. "It affected our rotations and really threw us out of sync," he said. "Once we got our rhythm back, and got people into their right spots, we feel like we got things going." Holy Angels' length, and Destinee Oberg's size, were a problem for Maranatha. On this night, Oberg brought her 'A' game to the party as Arkansas coach Mike Neighbors looked on. Fresh off a nice run at the University of Washington, where he coached NCAA Player of the Year Kelsey Plum, Neighbors has returned home to Arkansas. Last week, he convinced Oberg to come on board in 2019 as one of his rebuilding blocks. What Neighbors saw Thursday was Oberg with her motor going at full throttle. When she works her way into that mode, the #2 player in the junior class is virtually unstoppable. The assignment of trying to keep Oberg in check fell mostly on the wide shoulders of Maranatha junior Kae Seana Barth-Lofton, a transfer from Minnehaha Academy. "We were kind of testing out some of our new defense, trying to make sure she couldn't get her drop steps," Buerman said of their plan for Oberg, who finished with 22 points. "We wanted her spinning back into the lane. When we did it, it worked well. When we reverted back into some of our old bad habits, she scored easy points. That's one of the drawbacks of trying to put in a whole new defense at the start of the year." Holy Angels stretched its lead to 43-27 at the half. In the second, Maranatha went on a little bit of a run, closing the gap to as little as 10, but every time they punched, the Stars punched back harder, building a margin as large as 18. From there Holy Angels coasted home, dispatching the #4 team in 2A by 10. Frankie was on fire in the second half Perhaps the most encouraging development for Holy Angels was the second-half performance of freshman Frankie Vascellaro. While most of Maranatha's attention was spent on guarding Oberg, that left others with open opportunities, including the 5'10" wing. About six minutes into the period, Vascellaro took a long outlet pass coast to coast for an easy layup. On the next Stars possession, she did it again. And then again. And again. Vascellaro closed her run of excellence by knocking down a 15-foot jump shot, capping off a run of five straight baskets on her own. She ended the game with 18 points. Although her minutes were somewhat limited this summer, Frankie showed flashes of offensive aptitude for the Tayler Hill Elite 2021 squad, but nothing like this. It will be difficult as the season progresses for Holy Angels coach Dan Wood to keep her off the floor. You certainly can't lay blame for the loss on Maranatha senior Kiley Post. The Minnesota-Crookston commit gave her absolute all to try and close the gap for the Mustangs as Golden Eagles assistant coach Bryant Friskop looked on. She plowed to the hoop time after time, mostly scoring on left-hand bank shots in traffic. Kiley was on the floor for loose balls, and defending like a pit bull as usual. Sometimes I think Post should play with shoulder pads on. (Perhaps she and Heritage guard Taylie Scott could go on a shopping excursion to Dick's, but I digress.) In the end, Post's 28-point performance was not enough. One thing is for certain: Maranatha will play just about anyone, anywhere, any time. The Mustangs take their licks on occasion against 3A and even 4A opponents but generally run roughshod over smaller schools. "We set a big goal every year; We want to be in contention for a state championship," Buerman said. "To become a champion we have to face the people that are in similar mindsets and have similar goals." Individual scoring Maranatha: Kiley Post 28, Kae Seana Barth-Lofton 16, Jaclyn Jarnot 12, KJ Davis 5, Macy Smith 4, Alainah Erickson 4, Kennedy Burquest 2, Desiree Ware 1 Holy Angels: Destinee Oberg 22, Frankie Vascellaro 18, Riley Thalhuber 12, Kaylie VanDerWerf 6, Rachel Kawiecki 6, Emma Henry 5, Isabelle Henry 5, Alex Walker 4, Emma Mastre 4