Benilde-St. Margaret’s is a work in progress

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Coming off of a state tournament appearance a year ago, the Benilde-St. Margaret's Red Knights came into the season with high hopes and big expectations. Michigan commit [player_tooltip player_id='177728' first='Olivia' last='Olson'] and super soph [player_tooltip player_id='296523' first='Kendall' last='McGee'] are a year older and have made a concerted effort to get on the same page as they know the Red Knights will only go as far as they can take them. Through four games this season the Red Knights sit at 2-2. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Benilde was set to get their season kicked off against Minnehaha Academy in the Hamline University holiday tournament but that game was postponed due to a few illnesses in the Redhawks camp. I've watched three of the Red Knight games this season and you can see that new coach Tim Ellefson is emphazing two major points: ball movement and attention to detail on defense. With arguably one of the top 2-3 duos in the state in Olson and Mcgee, getting them to see the big picture has to be the goal. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Red Knights have had 12 different players score thru the first four games this season and that has to be a promising sign with two traditionally ball dominant guards in Olson and McGee spearheading that effort. McGee leads the team at 22 points per game with Olson right behind her at 19. Right now, where Benilde can make the biggest impact will be on the defensive end of the floor. Coach Ellefson is imploring his girls to buy into his defensive philosophies as playing as a unit on one string. While they scored with relative ease in their 4th game of the young season against Eden Prairie, it was their defense that ultimately did the Red Knights in as they had too many defensive breakdowns against a quality opponent in the Eagles to overcome. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>BSM got their season started with a blowout win over Chisago Lakes, setting up the much anticipated matchup with the defending 4A state champion Hopkins Royals in the Breakdown Tip Off Classic. It was a pretty electric atmosphere and a who's who's amongst the two teams. On the Hopkins side you had Stanford commit [player_tooltip player_id='108348' first='Nunu' last='Agara'] and [player_tooltip player_id='178269' first='Liv' last='McGill'] and [player_tooltip player_id='177728' first='Olivia' last='Olson'] and [player_tooltip player_id='296523' first='Kendall' last='McGee'] for the Red Knights. For those that aren't aware, [player_tooltip player_id='108298' first='Taylor' last='Woodson'] is out nursing an ankle injury suffered in the Twin Cities Thanksgiving Tip-off at St. Thomas Academy. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Benilde took the fight to the Royals early on in a frenetic pace that had the two teams exchanging baskets early and often. Olson and McGill were as good as advertised leading their respective teams in scoring in the in the 1st half with Olson going off for 14 and McGill with 12. At the break the Red Knights were holding on to a slim 34-33 lead. In the 2nd half [player_tooltip player_id='296523' first='Kendall' last='McGee'] decided to get busy and went into her bag of tricks scoring from all three levels to go off for 14 2nd-half points to finish with 21 for the game. The Hopkins defense turned up the heat holding Olson to one field goal in the 2nd half, but she went 9-for-12 from the charity stripe to finish with a team high 25 points. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='108348' first='Nunu' last='Agara'] took over the game on the offensive boards in the 2nd half scoring 12 of her 17 points. [player_tooltip player_id='353081' first='Macaya' last='Copeland'] hit a couple big 3's to kill any momentum BSM tried to mount but the 2nd half belonged to McGill. She imposed her will on the game and got to the rim time and time again to finish with a game high 29 points. BSM lost the game 77-65, but they showed they have the tools to compete on the big stage and with the emergence of a few underclassmen, they'll be a force to be reckoned with. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Red Knights went 1-1 last week getting a nice road win against the Cooper Hawks and saw some promising signs from [player_tooltip player_id='339131' first='Kate' last='Kapsner'] who came off the bench to knock down 3 trey balls and 9th grader <strong>Mira Wismer</strong>, who got the start with [player_tooltip player_id='352772' first='McKenzie' last='Wells'] out with a lower leg injury. The shot clock was also used in this game and surprisingly there wasn't one shot clock violation. Wismer was very active on the boards and chipped in 8 points. McGee led BSM with 17 points and Olson finished with 10. [player_tooltip player_id='215943' first='Somah' last='Kamara'] had a very strong game for the Hawks scoring 11 of her team high 21 points in the 1st half and D1 recruit [player_tooltip player_id='302254' first='Vanessa' last='Saidu'] decided to wake up and join the party to pour in 11 of her 15 in the 2nd half. The Hawks trailed at the break 24-19 and fell behind by as many as 21 before going on a late run to get back into the game led by Saidu and Kamara, but ultimately fell to the Red Knights 63-56. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>As mentioned before, BSM ended their week with a tough 83-77 loss at home to the Eden Prairie Eagles. While [player_tooltip player_id='296523' first='Kendall' last='McGee'] went off for 31 points and her partner in crime [player_tooltip player_id='177728' first='Olivia' last='Olson'] added 22, they fell short to a very good team from Eden Prairie. [player_tooltip player_id='220827' first='Annika' last='Anderson'] doubled her season average to notch a career high 28 points in the victory including 3/4 from long distance to lead a balanced attack of four Eagles in double figures ([player_tooltip player_id='108302' first='Molly' last='Lenz']-19, [player_tooltip player_id='108323' first='Ashley' last='Fritz']-12, [player_tooltip player_id='396426' first='Vanessa' last='Jordan']-12). The Red Knights get an opportunity to right the ship against a very competitive Minnehaha Red Hawks squad led by [player_tooltip player_id='252379' first='Addison' last='Mack'] on December 15th at Hamline University. It won't be easy, but the Red Knights aren't looking to take the easy rode, and as I've heard for 2 years now, "they want all the smoke!". </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>State titles aren't won or lost in December, so I'm hoping no one is hitting the panic button just yet as it always take time to adjust to a new coaching staff and system. Throw in a few new players and a few veterans working to find their footing and you'll find a team sitting in a pretty good place. "Buy in" is a cliché' that gets thrown around quite a bit, but that's exactly what this group of young ladies need to do to be successful. A commitment to team ball on both side of the floor will take this team to heights unseen. Getting to the state tournament is no longer the goal or expectation for this talented group and anything less than hoisting that 3A state championship plaque will be seen as a disappointment for most in the Red Knights camp. Stay tuned!! </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->