Tartan takes the flagship title in 2018 D1
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To no one’s surprise, #1 seed North Tartan 11th EYBL emerged from the AAU Tournament with the championship trophy in the flagship division, the 2018 Division 1. Stars Hersch pushed NTEY in the Prelim before losing 56-50, then ran through…
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Continue ReadingTo no one’s surprise, #1 seed North Tartan 11th EYBL emerged from the AAU Tournament with the championship trophy in the flagship division, the 2018 Division 1. Stars Hersch pushed NTEY in the Prelim before losing 56-50, then ran through 3 opponents—including Fury Elite 55-37 in the semi—to get to Sunday’s final.
This time the #3-seeded Stars were no match for Tartan, who was bigger, stronger and simply better organized. Tartan ran out to a 38-19 half-time lead and coasted home at 66-40. The Stars could not get a stop early on as Tartan made 8-of-9 shots to open the game and to lead 19-9. After that the Stars started hurrying their shots and their shooting percentage plummeted. By half-time, the Stars were shooting 6-of-26 (23 percent), Tartan 14-of-24 (58 percent).
Tartan got 21 points from Megan Walker, 11 points from Sam Haiby and 10 from Kayla Mershon. The Stars got 9 each from Heaven Hamling and Taylor Brown. It was no big surprise that Tartan dominated inside, but if anything Tartan’s guards were even more dominant on the perimeter, making it very hard for the Stars to move the ball, run their offense, and get decent looks at the rim.
Semi-Finals
The fact is that #4 seed Metro Stars Wiese gave Tartan a vastly better workout—a “scare,” you could even say. Tartan led 20-18 at the half, but MSW came back to take a 32-31 lead at 4:30 of the 2nd half on a 3 by Amanda Pollard. Tartan took the lead back on 2 throws by Emma Grothaus and a huge steal-and-2 by Haiby. Even so, MSW had a chance to get within one when Haley Moore missed the 2nd of 2 throws. Tartan immediately roared downcourt when Grothaus hit a 3 from the right corner off an inside-out pass from Kayla Mershon. That made it 38-33 at 2:30.
Still, MSW was within 38-35 and had the ball when Zoe Hardwick missed a shot and a put-back attempt at 0:42. Hardwick scored 10 seconds later, but Walker made 4-of-4 throws to make it 42-37. The final was 44-38. Tartan outscored MSW 13-6 inside of 4 minutes.
Walstad finished with 14 points, Walker 13 and Grothaus 9 for Tartan. Hardwick led MSW with 12. (Hardwick could truthly change her name to “Hard-Work,” as she has lifted her game from near-obscurity to very solid the past couple of years by “working her tail off,” as one observer put it. But it wasn’t quite enough against NT’s flagship team.)
In the other semi, Stars Hersch defeated Fury Blue with surprising ease 55-37. Krystal Carlson outscored Monika Czinano 15-4 inside, and she got lots of help from Jaclyn Jarnot with 14 including a couple of 3s, Autam Mendez with 8 and Taylor Brown with 5. Heaven Hamling ran the show and scored 10. Fury got 11 from Meghan DuBois and 9 from Sydney Lodermeier.
Stars DeSart 42 Tayler Hill Elite 40 (OT)
I also watched these 2 teams in a 5th place semi-final won by Stars DeSart. The Stars went on to lose in the 5th place final but jump up 3 spots above their seed, from #9 to #6 to tie Fury Elite with the biggest improvement over the seed in the 2018 D1 division. Tayler Hill won in the 7th place final, and ended up slipping 2 spots below their #5 seed.
Which just goes to show how much they miss Masengo Mutanda. (I asked someone why she was not playing and they said, “You mean ‘Mango’?” I said, well, probably, yes. It turns out that Masengo Mutanda has joined the seemingly endless list of girls who have torn their ACL. She is perhaps the fastest girl in the state and one of the most exciting players, and we hope like all heck that she comes back 100 percent.
But, anyway, the score was tied at 32, 34, 36 and 38 down the stretch, and 40-all in OT. Noelle Josephson took over for the Stars scoring on a dribble drive down the lane, weaving through 3 defenders, for a 34-32 lead at 4:40; then tying things up at 36 on another dribble drive from the left wing; and finally getting a steal-and-assist, feeding Kylie Post for the game-winner at :05 of OT. She then tied up the in-bounds pass, just to be sure the Hills would not be able to pull off a miracle finish.
Haley DeSouza led the Stars with 10, though it was Post who played the 1 for the Stars down the stretch and in OT. Josephson also scored 10, while Bren Fox scored 8 and Post 6. Morgan Hill scored 19 for the Hills, but the Stars denied her over the final 7 minutes. Jade Buford added 7 and Ja’Hyia Gaston 6.
The Best of the 2018s
This is just among the teams and players I saw and reported above.
Post—Megan Walstad, NT EYBL, 6-3. There are perhaps posts who draw your attention more readily, but nobody plays any stronger, more physically and more aggressively—and especially nobody who is a fundamentally sound and who more consistently makes the right play than Walstad. She has a reliable jump shot with a nice high release and range out to 15 feet. She goes after the boards aggressively and physically battles for the ball, and she’s an equally physical and aggressive defender.
Even so, one had to consider Zoe “Hard-Work” of Metro Stars Wiese and Bren Fox of Stars DeSart at this position. Hardwick has made herself into a serious offensive threat through an incredibly dedicated work ethic, while Fox is almost as solid as Walstad on the defensive end.
Power Forward—Another tough choice, and I’m going to just cop out and call it a draw between Krystal Carlson, Stars Hersch, 6-1, and Kayla Mershon, NT EYBL, 6-3. Carlson is a consistent offensive threat from anywhere on the floor, inside or out, who is a perpetual motion machine looking for seams in the defense where she can receive the ball. Mershon is a big physical player who is getting better finishing around the rim and, even more importantly, she is playing more purposefully, up and down the court toward the rims instead of side to side. Mershon is committed to Nebraska.
Small Forward—Emma Grothaus, NT EYBL, 6-3. She is already committed to Lehigh. The knock on Grothaus is she seems to be moving at half speed. But she keeps moving and she ends up around the ball pretty much every possession on both ends of the floor. So, I don’t know, is that “half-speed” thing an illusion, or what? She scored 5 in the final, when her team didn’t need any more, while she scored 9 in the semi, which Tartan needed, and she led her team on the boards and added 2 steals.
Point Guard—Where do you start? Oh, wait, you start with Megan Walker, NT EYBL, 5-10. But, I guess my point in asking the question is there’s a lot of great 1s out there. Amanda Pollard, Metro Stars Wiese, is vastly improved on the offensive end. It was here 3 that gave MSW that short-lived lead over NT EY late in their semi-final. And Meghan DuBois was Fury Elite’s most productive player in its disappointing semi-final performance against Stars Hersch. And the Stars Heaven Hamling didn’t play well in the final against NT EY but she was the leader of the pack in the semis.
But Walker, like Grothaus a Lehigh commit, was consistently productive all weekend with 21 in the final and 6 in the semi. She’s not flashy unless you’re impressed by great form on her jump shot, regardless of the distance, leading to a good shooting percentage. Or, if you’re easily impressed by a stifling man defense. Or, by her ability to harness and lead and give a sense of purpose, possession after possession, of such a multi-talented team as this.
Shooting Guard—Noelle Josephson, Stars DeSart, 6-0. Underrated, including by us. She’s not the quickest, but she just makes play after play after play on both sides of the ball. She is great getting to the rim and finishing off the bounce, and she can hit the J. And, again, she lacks to quickness to be a great one-on-one ball defender, but she gets her hands on the ball, gets deflections and steals, and especially it seems she’s always around the ball at crunch time.
Still, she was a tough choice over players like Rachel Hakes, Metro Stars Wiese; Sam Haiby, NT EY; and Morgan Hill, Tayler Hill Elite. Haley Moore of MSW has also picked up her game, and even got some minutes at the 1. Always long and active and graceful, she is now playing more purposefully, more in-the-flow rather than just flowing on her own, going more from rim to rim rather than side to side, as we also said about Kayla Mershon.
So those are some of the top performers in 2018 D1 on Sunday.