Andover survives Anoka 46-45 for 1st state tournament entry
At the half, Andover led Anoka 30-18. So, how did it come to this? Brittney Bongartz scored her 15th and 16th points of the night—the only points that either team scored in the final 4:30 of the game—to get Anoka…
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Continue ReadingAt the half, Andover led Anoka 30-18. So, how did it come to this? Brittney Bongartz scored her 15th and 16th points of the night—the only points that either team scored in the final 4:30 of the game—to get Anoka within 46-45. Then, incredibly, Andover turned it over off the knee on a dribble drive. Anoka would get a chance to take its 1st lead since 6-3 and to steal the win.
Coach Zach Vogelsberg call timeout at 34 seconds. Then he called timeout again with 8.7 seconds left on the clock. “We were looking to put the ball in Abby (Slater)’s hands,” Vogelsberg said, “and see if she couldn’t find Brittney coming off the screen. But, they did a good job double-teaming us and didn’t give us a look.” Anoka got the ball to Slater on the left wing, Andover defended aggressively, Slater went down on the dribble drive, the ball squirted loose, and it was picked up by the Huskies’ Joli Daninger at the horn.
“Sometimes you gotta win ugly,” Andover coach Robb Belschner said. “We want to get the ball up and down, they want to slow it down. They've got the size. And, they did a great job in the second half of slowing us down. And, once it got slow, and we were a little tight, we had some uncharacteristic turnovers. But, in sections, you do whatever you have to do.”
“The second half we just started pushing the ball too fast,” Daninger said. “In the first half we were a little more composed with it and really taking our time. In the second half we felt a little pressure.”
In the first half, it was Anoka that was out of sync. Vogelsberg said, “We were a little stagnant on offense, and when we stand and watch it affects our defense, too. I thought we played okay on defense but our offense just wasn’t clicking at all in the first half.”
“We attacked a little more in the second half,” Vogelsberg added, “and put a lot more pressure on them.” And then, “Noelle Josephson got us going in the second half.” She scored 5 times between 15:30 and 9:15. The last of those buckets got Anoka within 36-35. But Daninger scored 4 quick points to give Andover a little more of a cushion at 40-35. But, overall, Anoka made it tough for Daninger, who finished with 13 points. How did Anoka keep Daninger from doing more damage?
“Having Brittney in the lane helping out makes it a little less inviting,” coach Vogelsberg said. “We talked a lot about what she likes to do, and we tried to not bail her out a lot. That’s how she gets a lot of her points, bailing out to the FT line, and we didn’t bail her out.”
Coach Belschner agreed, basically. “Joli has been just unbelievable this year,” he said, “and lately she just hasn’t missed. But (Noelle) Josephson has some length, she’s athletic, she did a great job against (Joli). They kind of played their pace of game and we feel fortunate to come out with the win.”
Amanda Dagostino scored Andover’s last 4 points going coast-to-coast with a defensive board at 6:18 and then scoring on a dribble drive up the left baseline at about 5:45 to make it 46-41. Dagostino had been out the past one-and-a-half games after rolling her ankle against Duluth East, and nobody knew for sure whether she could play tonight or not. Yes, she could. But, Andover would not score again.
Bongartz led all scorers with 16, while Josephson and Slater each added 10. Daninger had 13 and Destiny Cummings 11 to lead Andover.
Highlights
MVP—Brittney Bongartz was the best player on the floor on this particular evening. She led all scorers with 16 points on just 8 FGA. She blocked 2 shots but redirected a lot more and did it as coach Vogelsberg said, without fouling.
Best Play—Anoka had gotten within 42-39 when Amanda Dagostino grabbed a defensive rebound, then turned and brought the ball up the right sideline. She evaded a defender up high, then another at the FT and suddenly she was at the rim for 2 points to make it 44-39 at 6:18.
Best Offensive Performance—Bongartz scored a game-high 16 but what was really amazing was that the 6-2 senior post made 3-of-3 3-point shots.
Best Defensive Performance—Noelle Josephson made life hard for Joli Daninger, Andover senior guard, leading scorer and DePaul recruit. Daninger scored 20 ppg for the season including 37 percent from 3-point range and 88 percent on FT. She scored 50 points in her 1st 2 section games on 15-of-31 FG shooting. Tonight it was 13 points on 4-of-12 shooting. But, she hit a big 3at 8:12 of the 2nd half to make it 40-37. Still, Josephson had a great night on the defensive side to go with her 5 crucial 2nd half buckets.
Best Player off the Bench—Lizzy Karp, 6-2 junior center for Andover. She’s a relative newcomer to the game of basketball but has improved tremendously over this season. She scored 4 points on 2-of-2 shooting. Unfortunately, she was 0-for-3 from the line.
Best Rebounder—Abby Slater had a game-high 7 boards, but it was Andover’s 5-6 sophomore Emily Schildhauer who led the way on the O-boards with 3.
Best Catch and Shoot—Have to say Bongartz, the 6-2 senior who is headed to Wayne State. She scored 9 of her 16 points on 3-of-3 3-point shooting.
Best Coaching Move—Andover quickly doubled the ball on the game’s final possession, challenging Abby Slater to find a teammate with time winding down toward nothing. Slater put it on the floor and Andover was able to knock it away. Game over.
Best Under-the-Radar Performance—Destiny Cummings isn’t really under the radar, but she doesn’t start. She’s been playing big minutes off the bench all year long, providing some instant offense, and last night was no exception. She entered the game around the 11 minute mark of the 1st half and quickly drained a 2 and then a 3 on successive possessions to make it 18-11. In the 2nd half she was in at the 14 minute mark and immediately scored off the dribble to make it 34-25. Then with Andover mursing a 46-43 lead at 2 minutes, she grabbed an offensive board and went back up with it. Somebody yanked on her arm, and sent her to the floor flat on her back as the crowd gasped. Is she hurt? No, but the integrity of the officials was hurt. It was another of those “no calls” officials like to make so that they “don’t decide the outcome” when in fact they are really “deciding the outcome.” Grr.
Best Underclassman—5-6 sophomore guard Emily Shildhauer was one of just two underclassmen to play any real minutes. She had her minutes, and then she had her minutes. She likes to shoot the 3 and made 1-of-5, including an ill-advised miss from the left corner with Andover up 46-43 at 1:10. Anoka immediately came back down an got within 46-45. Bigger yet were her two offensive boards. She put the 1st back in to make it 28-16 late in the 1st half, the 2nd prolonged an Andover possession deep in the 2nd half, and set up another O-board by Cummings that is described in the paragraph above.