Five Takeaways: Centennial vs. Elk River

<strong>ELK RIVER-- </strong>Prep Girls Hoops Minnesota was in Elk River last night for their 15th win of the season over the Centennial Cougars (17-5). Elk River was lighting it UP especially from deep late in the first half and came away with a solid lead going into halftime. The Cougars almost rallied back, but just didn’t have enough time on the clock to close the deal. Here are my five takeaways from this Northwest Suburban battle. <strong><a href="https://prepgirlshoops.com/player/hannah-herzig/"> Herzig</a> is a Promising 2022 Guard</strong> <strong><a href="https://prepgirlshoops.com/player/hannah-herzig/">[player_tooltip player_id="109145" first="Hannah" last="Herzig"]</a></strong> (#57, 2022) had a consistent game against the Elks last night. The younger sister of <strong>Hailey Herzig </strong>possessed some solid shots from outside and was also effective getting the to the bucket and getting fouled and going to the line. On the year, she’s averaging about 9 points per game but she’s risen her stock over her last three games as she’s averaged 12 points per game including a 17 point game against the <strong>Blaine Bengals</strong>. <strong>We Had a Post Battle Last Night</strong> <strong><a href="https://prepgirlshoops.com/player/johanna-langbehn/">[player_tooltip player_id="109751" first="Johanna" last="Langbehn"]</a></strong> (#42, 2021) vs. <strong><a href="https://prepgirlshoops.com/player/jenna-guyer/">[player_tooltip player_id="29521" first="Jenna" last="Guyer"]</a></strong> was a battle of forwards last night you didn’t want to miss. If I could describe <strong>Langbehn’s</strong> post play in one word last night it would be, smooth. She’s just very comfortable even against a player like Guyer who plays right around the same size as her at 6’2 and had a step to the basket that just looked perfected over and over with many repetitions to show for. <strong>Guyer Showed Why She’s the Leading Scorer for the Cougars</strong> When you look at two of the strongest forwards in the Northwest Suburban in <strong>Langbehn</strong> and <strong><a href="https://prepgirlshoops.com/player/jenna-guyer/">[player_tooltip player_id="29521" first="Jenna" last="Guyer"]</a></strong> (#28, 2021) you see games that are kind of similar in size, but not similar in their play. Guyer plays the post but has a little bit more elusiveness than <strong>Langbehn</strong> as in she has more swift to her game. For example, Guyer seemed more comfortable taking shots from the outside and seemed like she had more let’s call it pop in getting to the basket with authority. <strong>Haack’n Threes</strong> <strong><a href="https://prepgirlshoops.com/player/lydia-haack/">[player_tooltip player_id="110544" first="Lydia" last="Haack"]</a> </strong>(#53, 2020) started a little cold from beyond the stripe, but settled in and took over from deep especially late in the first half and beyond. Her great ability to catch and shoot and be effective without the basketball when finding her lane to get back to the ball was what stood out to me in the second time I’ve watched her this season. <strong>Game MVP/Diamond in the Rough</strong> 7 points, 1 point, 9 points, 5 points, 0 points were the last 5 games for <strong>Alexa Engbretson </strong>( 2020) of Elk River until she turned in her best scoring game of the season last night against the Centennial Cougars. The three was certainly falling last night or Alexa as she scored more points against the Cougars last night than she did in all of her last 4 games. I hope to see more performances like this for the senior captain of the Elks as we turn the page to the regular-season closing soon. <strong>Elk River </strong>(15-5) will get the Moorhead Spuds (13-6) on Tuesday night in Elk River at 6:30 PM. The Spuds are led by <strong><a href="https://prepgirlshoops.com/player/samantha-zimmerman/">[player_tooltip player_id="14165" first="Samantha" last="Zimmerman"]</a></strong> (#87, 2021)and <strong><a href="https://prepgirlshoops.com/player/rylie-polomny/">[player_tooltip player_id="56239" first="Rylie" last="Polomny"]</a></strong> (#41, 2020) who’s committed to the Dragons of Minnesota State-Moorhead next year. <strong>Centennial </strong>(17-5) will get a game next Wednesday with a team that’s struggled the most in the Northwest Suburban, the <strong>Coon Rapids Cardinals</strong> (2-20) and have yet to win a game in the conference this year. They have, however, showed they are playing hard as they took conference foe <strong>Anoka</strong> (9-13) to triple overtime last night in a 60-58 at Anoka. Photo Courtesy of Hometown Source.