Farmington survives short-handed Shakopee

Marc Hugunin

January 10, 2018 @ 09:00 AM

Farmington seemed to be in control of a Shakopee team that was missing 2 starters, until it no longer seemed to be in control. In fact, it happened twice. Early leads of 6-1, 15-7 and 25-16 shrunk down to 26-21 late in the 1st half when Delayna Ponds took of some of the pressure, banking home a 25-footer for the Tigers as the horn sounded. In the 2nd half, Farmington stretched the lead out to 34-21 and 47-35 but could not put Shakopee away. Cortney Hokanson, starting in place of post Ashley Herold who is out with a concussion, scored 3 straight buckets for the Sabres on post-ups. Then Isabell West finally scored her 1st FG of the night, then added another off the offensive glass. A minute later she missed a FT that would have made it a two-possession game. Shakopee only got within 6 when it was too late, inside of 0:10. The final was 53-48. The 1st half had been a pretty sluggish affair as the Sabres shot just 6-of-20 but kept it close with a 1-2-2 zone that caused the Tigers to run a lot of clock working to get an open look. Shakopee rarely plays a zone but went with it in the absence of guard Rachel Garvey. Who, otherwise, was going to guard Farmington point guard Molly Mogenson? It worked pretty well, as the Tigers settled for a lot of 3s, making 5-of-16 and 6-of-12 2s in the half. But Shakopee went to a man defense in the 2nd half and the Tigers shot better, finishing at 45 percent for the evening. Mogenson scored 13, Ellie Clayton 10 and Ponds 10. Farmington’s man defense was even better most of the way. Shakopee didn’t turn it over much, but just couldn’t get the ball to the right players in the right spots, thus the 33 shooting percentage for the game. Farmington’s 6-4 and 6-1 posts forced the 5-11 West into 2-of-14 FG shooting. Shakopee was led by Jaley Coplin who scored 14 points on 4-of-5 3s. No other Sabre was able to get into double figures. If Ponds doesn’t drain the 1st half buzzer-beater, and Shakopee doesn’t miss 3 FT inside of 2 minutes, Farmington’s 53 points become 50, and Shakopee’s 48 become 51. It was that close. If there was such a thing as moral victories, this would be one for Shakopee—again, playing without 2 starters and on the road.