Thursday, December 12, 2013

Game, Player and Coach of the Day December 7-13, 2013

Fri., Dec. 13--Eastview girls 56 Hopkins 54

#2 beats #1, and they did it on the road and without a field goal from leading scorer Madi Guebert, who scored 10 points on 10-of-10 FT. Kari Opatz scored 15 to lead the Lightning.

Player of the Day--Kenisha Bell, Bloomington Kennedy, scored 29 points as the Eagles weathered the Storm of Chanhassan 79-66. Coach of the Day--Melissa Guebert, Eastview girls.

Thurs., Dec. 12--Eden Prairie girls 48 Lakeville North 41

This turned out to be the only high school game of the night, boys or girls, matched two rated teams. North led 22-16 at the half, but the Eagles came out and owned the second half. Lakeville's Polly Sjoberg led all scorers, however, with 17.

Player of the Day--Joey Witthus, Chanhassan boys, scored 36 points in a 75-66 win over Mound-Westonka. Coach of the Day--Chris Carr, Eden Prairie girls.

Wed., Dec. 11--Carleton men 76 Bethel 74

The Carls knock Bethel out of the MIAC lead. Each team now has 1 loss. Mitch Biewen scored 6 points inside of 2 minutes as Carleton wiped out a 4-point Bethel lead.

Player of the Day--Jordyn Sammons, Hamline women, 28 points in a losing cause, 85-58 to St. Thomas. Coach of the Day--Mark Hanson, Gustavus men, and John Herbrechtsmeyer, Bethel women, each of whom won to go 4-0 and take 1st place in the MIAC.

Tues., Dec. 10--Apple Valley boys 96 Hopkins 90

Tyus Jones scored 34 points to lead #1 Apple Valley to another tough win.

Player of the Day--But the PoD is Minnesota Gopher Austin Hollins who scored 20 points with 14 rebounds and 5 assists, to go over the 1,000 point mark for his career and lead the Gophers to a 75-59 win over South Dakota State. Coach of the Day--Rick Adelman of the Minnesota Timberwolves who won a surprisingly easy win at Detroit, 121-94.

Mon., Dec. 9--Mpls. Washburn girls 79 Tartan 71

Tia Elbert of Tartan outscored Chase Coley of Washburn 37-29 in the individual battle between 2 of the top 5 seniors in the state, though Coley added 21 boards and 9 blocks.

Player of the Day--Coley. Coach of the Day--Brian Harris of the Dover-Eyota girls who shocked #4-rated Plainview-Elgin-Millville 102-70 to go 5-0 themselves.

Sun., Dec. 8--Minnesota Gopher women 46 North Dakota 44

How much does Rachel Banham mean to the Gopher women? Well, play without her, even against one of the weakest opponents of the year and the Gophers are never more than a step away from disaster.

Player of the Day--And it would have been a disaster but for Gopher post Amanda Zahui who scored 25 with 10 rebounds and 4 blocks.

Sat., Dec. 7--Apple Valley boys 73 DeLaSalle 63

The game of the decade or of the century proved to be somewhat less than that as DeLaSalle stud Travis Reid was unable to play due to a stress fracture in a foot. And so Tyus Jones and Apple Valley won, well, not with ease exactly, but the outcome was not in doubt from late in the 1st half, which ended with the Eagles up 36-28.

Player of the Day--Tyus Jones with 29 points 11 assists and 7 rebounds. I'll say this, once Tyus Jones gets it in his mind to go to the rim from 20 or 30 or 40 feet, say, nobody gets there quicker. Coach of the Day--Greg Amundson, Centennial girls, who knocked off Minnetonka 61-49 at the Breakdown Tip-Off.

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Game, Player, Coach of the Day November 29-December 6, 2013

Fri., Dec. 6--Hopkins girls 67 Bloomington Kennedy 57

Hopkins defeated Kennedy in a replay of last year's state title game, though with a twist. Hopkins' best player, T.T. Starks, was unavailable due to an injury, but Jasmyn Martin has transferred from Kennedy to Hopkins. Martin scored 12 points and Molly O'Toole 14. Kenisha Bell scored 16 for Kennedy.

Player of the Day--Bryanna Fernstrom, Chisago Lakes, 40 its and 17 rebounds as the Lakers defeated Duluth Denfeld 80-52. Coach of the Day--Brian Cosgriff, Hopkins girls

Thurs., Dec. 5--Minnesota Gopher women 74 Miami (Fla.) 67

The Gophers ran out to a 38-13 lead early and it's a good thing. Miami roared back with a 23-4 run including 13-0 to open the 2nd half. Four times in the 2nd half the Hurricanes got within 6 starting with 42-36 at 15:32. Three times Minnesota pushed the lead back up to 10. Rachel Banham made 9-of-10 FT and scored 12 of her 27 points in those four spurts. Micaella Riche scored 8 of her 15 points in those four spurts, while Shayne Mullaney and Sari Noga each had 3 assists.

Player of the Day--Rachel Banham, Minnesota Gopher women with 27 pts. Coach of the Day--Justin Morris, Lyle/Austin Pacelli girls, who defeated #6 rated Blooming Prairie by the unlikely score of 58-19.

Wed., Dec. 4--St. Thomas men 71 Augsburg 53

The Tommies have now made a mockery of the MIAC title race, hammering the previously unbeaten Auggies who were picked to finish #2 in the MIAC. It was 37-27 at the half.

Player of the Day--Marcus Alipate, St. Thomas 22 points. Coach of the Day--Sean Pinkerton, St. Kate's. The Kates shocked St. Ben's 70-69 for their 1st win over the Blazers since 2007. Trailing by as many as 12 in the 2nd half, the Kates took the lead for good with just 23 seconds remaining.

Tues., Dec. 3--Minnesota Gopher men 71 Florida State 61

The Gopher continue to play well under coach Richard Pitino.

Player of the Day--Andre Hollins and Austin Hollins, Minnesota Gopher men. Andre had 21 points, 4 assists, 2 steals. Austin 16 points, 5 rebounds and 3 steals. Coach of the Day--Richard Pitino, Minnesota Gopher men.

Mon., Dec. 2--Park Center girls 67 St. Paul Como Park 27

What was expected to be a competitive game turned out not to be. The #2-rated 2014 Cayla McMorris scored 15 for the winners, and Park Center was able to hold the #2 2016, Andrayah Adams of Como, to 10 points.

Player of the Day--Kory Deadrick, Esko, scored 31 points but his #1-rated Eskomos were upset by Hermantown 77-70. Coach of the Day--Joe Schmitz, Hermantown.

Sun., Dec. 1--Oklahoma City Thunder 113 Minnesota Timberwolves 103

The T-wolves stayed with OKC for 3 periods but the Thunder dominated the 4th. If the Wolves played this well everyday, however, they would probably have 2 more wins on the season. As it is, they're now out of the playoffs by a substantial margin.

Player of the Day--Rachel Banham, Minnesota Gopher women, scored 24 points but could not prevent the Gophers from losing to Hawaii 77-71 in OT. She hit a shot with 4 seconds remaining to put Minnesota ahead, but a desperation shot tied it up at the buzzer. Banham was named tournament MVP. Coach of the Day--Pam Borton, Minnesota Gopher women.

Sat., Nov. 30--Minnesota State Mankato women 87 Concordia St. Paul 63

#17 Mankato def. #14 Concordia at Concordia, as they drained 9 3s in the 1st half alone. A 20-0 run put the Mavs up 30-17 at the 6 minute mark and Concordia was never able to challenge.

Player of the Day--Ali  Wilkinson, Minnesota State Mankato women 16 points, 3 assists, 3 steals. Coach of the Day--Emilee Thiesse, Minnesota State Mankato women.

Fri., Nov. 29--Minnesota Gopher women 63 Chatanooga 62 @Wahini Showdown. 

A win is a win, they say. The Gophers led by 14 in the 1st half, but neither team led by more than 4 in the 2nd. Chat missed a possible game-tying FT in the waning seconds.

Player of the Day--Rachel Banham, Minnesota Gopher women 36 points. Coach of the Day--Brian Cosgriff, Hopkins girls, who defeated Tartan 92-53 with two of their best players on the sidelines.


Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Game of the Day, December 2013


Sun., Dec. 1--Minnesota Timberwolves at Oklahoma City Thunder.

Mon., Dec. 2--Park Center girls at St. Paul Como Park.

Tues., Dec. 3--Florida State men at Minnesota Gophers.

Wed., Dec. 4--St. Thomas men at Augsburg. MIAC play gets underway.

Thurs., Dec. 5--Miami (Fla.) women at Minnesota Gophers. The ACC-Big 10 challenge.

Fri., Dec. 6--Hopkins girls at Bloomington Kennedy.

Sat., Dec. 7--Girls Breakdown Tip-Off at Hopkins Lindbergh. Everybody who is anybody is playing, including three boys games, including Apple Valley and Tyus Jones vs. DeLaSalle and Reid Travis. New Richland-Hartland--Ellendale-Geneva vs. Mountain Iron-Buhl is among the girls features.

Sun., Dec. 8--North Dakota women at Minnesota Gophers.

Mon., Dec. 9--Tartan girls at Mpls. Washburn. Tia Elbert vs. Chase Coley.

Tues., Dec. 10--Apple Valley boys at Hopkins.

Wed., Dec. 11--Philadephia 76ers at Minnesota Timberwolves.

Thurs., Dec. 12--Double your fun, or double trouble? Lakeville South boys at Lakeville North, and Lakeville South girls at Hopkins.

Fri., Dec. 13--Eastview girls at Hopkins. 

Sat., Dec. 14--Boys Breakdown Tip-Off at Minnetonka. Osseo vs. DeLaSalle would seem to be the feature game.

Sun., Dec. 15--Minnesota Timberwolves at Memphis Grizzlies.

Mon., Dec. 16--Duluth East girls at Edina.

Tues., Dec. 17--St. Paul Johnson boys at Eden Prairie.

Wed., Dec. 18--Portland Trailblazers at Minnesota Timberwolves.

Thurs., Dec. 19--Mahtomedi girls at Tartan.

Fri., Dec. 20--UCLA Bruins women at Minnesota Gophers.

Sat., Dec. 21--Concordia (St. Paul) men and women at Minnesota State Mankato.

Sun., Dec. 22--Minnesota Timberwolves at Los Angeles Clippers.

Mon., Dec. 23--Barnum boys at Proctor. Only game in the state of Minnesota.

Thurs., Dec. 26--Dick's Sporting Good Holiday Classic (for girls), at Hopkins. Key match-up is Anoka vs. Forest Lake in a replay of last March's OT sectional final.

Fri., Dec. 27--Washington Wizards at Minnesota Timberwolves.

Sat., Dec. 28--Minnesota Timberwolves at Milwaukee Bucks.

Sun., Dec. 29--Oakland women at Minnesota  Gophers.

Mon., Dec. 30--Dallas Mavericks at Minnesota Timberwolves.

Tuesd., Dec. 31--DeLaSalle boys at Eden Prairie.