Northfield stifles Red Wing to stay undefeated in the Big 9

<p>Red Wing came into this week 11-1 and rated 7th in Class AAA statewide. But, by Thursday, they came into #4AAA-rated Northfield in a bit of a funk after a surprising 53-37 loss at Rochester Mayo. And the funk not only continued, it got a lot worse, as Northfield’s defense completely stifled the Wingers to hand them their 2nd straight loss, 63-46. “We tried to make a statement,” said Northfield coach Tony Mathison, “and I think we did tonight with our effort.”</p> <p>Northfield defeated Red Wing by just one point in December but the Raiders are doing “everything” better now. “We’re taking care of the ball better,” Mathison said. “And, we preach defense. Every coach does. Championships are won with defense, and I just like where we’re at.”</p> <p>Northfield, possessing tremendous size, was able to pound the ball down low almost at will. As a result, 6-0 junior Rachel Kelly scored 12 points for the Raiders. 6-3 senior Annika Hoff and 6-1 senior Annalee Olson Sola each scored 6. 6-0 wing Emma Carlson scored just 2 points, but put it all together and Northfield shot enough layups to shoot 59 percent from the field.</p> <p>Northfield point guard Grace Touchette ran amuk. Red Wing tried to guard her 1-on-1 and they just couldn’t do it. Northfield sends player after player after player out to set perimeter picks for her and for the Raiders’ other guards. The Wingers tried to get across the top of the screen and almost never switched. Well, Grace repeatedly came clean off those picks, and after that Red Wing closed on her way too slowly, so she had plenty of time to get off her shot or to find a big down low for an easy bucket. Red Wing’s defense was poor all almost everywhere all night long—and, again, that enabled Northfield to shoot that 59 percent from the floor.</p> <p>“We’ve added the double screen with the posts,” Mathison said, “Red Wing didn’t see that the 1st time. I thought they might switch a little more and we have a counter for that, but they didn’t switch very much. She does such a great job of staying under control and picking her spots. It’s her 5th year playing varsity. It just shows that senior leadership.”</p> <p>Touchette scored 20 points with 6 boards, 4 assists and 2 steals. Kelly had 4 boards and 3 assists to go with her 12 points. Northfield won the battle of the boards 35-20, including 16-7 in the 1st half. Annalee Olson Sola had 8 rebounds, Hoff 7, and Kelly and Annika Richardson 4 each.  “I like how balanced we are,” Mathison said. “We’re pretty unselfish, and our strength is getting the ball inside. They do a nice job and we continue to get better with that.”</p> <p>Meanwhile, Red Wing is a small team that starts 4 guards and “lives by the 3, and dies by the 3,” as I heard several Red Wing fans say. Well, last night they died by the 2, making just 4-of-28 shots (15 percent) inside the arc, while Northfield blocked 2-and-a-half Red Wing shots for every 2-pointer that went in the hole. Red Wing actually shot OK from long range with 10-of-25 (40 percent). It’s just that the long bomb was their only real offensive threat against the Raiders and 10 of them was nowhere near enough. Tayzha Buck made 5-of-11 and finished with 26 points. Everybody else was 5-of-14 from long range and 2-of-20 2-pointers scored a grand total of 17 points.</p> <p>Northfield now is 13-2 with losses only to Eastview and Beaver Dam, WI, at St. Olaf. “Those were our best 2 games of the season,” Mathison said. “What it showed us is we can compete with Eastview and we can compete with Beaver Dam. I don’t know how often we’d beat ‘em but we know we can play with ‘em. Eastview went on a couple runs and we answered, we kept our composure.”</p> <p>Meanwhile, Red Wing will be trying to rebuild their confidence and maybe figuring out how to open people up for some 2-pointers.</p>