Fury Spring Showdown – Players of the Game – Saturday Evening Edition
Cover Photo: Lakesha Carter photo courtesy of KEYC Mankato; Ashlyn Bigelow photo courtesy of The Austin Daily Herald; Anna Otto photo courtesy of The Post Bulletin After a short break for some lunch and some writing, PGH Minnesota headed back…
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Continue ReadingCover Photo: Lakesha Carter photo courtesy of KEYC Mankato; Ashlyn Bigelow photo courtesy of The Austin Daily Herald; Anna Otto photo courtesy of The Post Bulletin
After a short break for some lunch and some writing, PGH Minnesota headed back to Bloomington for the evening games of the Minnesota Fury Spring Showdown.
Here are our Minnesota Fury Spring Showdown Players of the Game for the late contests on Saturday:
5:20 P.M. Minnesota Rise Wolfe 2021 vs. Play4Him
Lakesha Carter (2021) – MN Rise – Carter and her MN Rise teammates ran into a tough match-up in this one. The 2021 iteration of Play4Him (a club based in Northwest Iowa) consisted of players from two schools who spent the winter playing high school ball with and against each other. Oh, and one of those schools also happened to win the Class A Iowa State Championship. Familiarity and continuity are so important to early-season success in AAU, and it showed in this match-up.
Carter attacked the basket well in Rise’s half-court sets, and did a nice job distributing the ball to her teammates. But we felt that Lakesha’s most significant impact was made on defense. She reminded us of a ball-hawking defensive back in football, reading and anticipating passes while racking up deflections and steals. Carter did some really nice things on both ends of the floor in this one, even in a losing effort.
Honorable Mention: Morgan Kelly (2021) – MN Rise – In a game where not much was falling inside for Rise, Kelly was the most consistent option in the paint for Dan Wolfe’s group. Morgan didn’t play a ton with her back to the basket in this one, but we came away impressed with her touch from the 10-12 foot range.
6:30 P.M. Minnesota Nice 2020 vs. Winnipeg Wolves
Anna Otto (2020) – MN Nice – Otto is a crafty point guard who plays for Rochester Lourdes during the high school season. Otto did a bit of everything in this one, running the show for her MN Nice squad. She showed off her ball-handling, was aggressive in transition, and dropped in three 3-pointers for good measure. Otto finished the contest with a team high 13 points.
Unfortunately, MN Nice went ice cold shooting the ball in the second half. Their defense was solid, but they weren’t able to score enough to pull out a “W”. Otto and Minnesota Nice lost their first game of the Fury Spring Showdown to the Wolves by 5.
Honorable Mention: Taylor Soma (2020) – MN Nice – Soma was sneaky good in this game. She attacked the basket really well, and was rewarded with what seemed like an endless number of trips to the free throw line. It felt like every time I looked up, Soma was back at the stripe after creating contact on her way to the hoop.
7:40 P.M. Southern Minnesota Fury 2021 vs. Ignite Canada
Ashlyn Bigelow (2021) – So-Minn Fury – Admittedly, So-Minn Fury 2021 wasn’t playing against the highest level of competition in this one. But Bigelow was impressive, regardless of the match-up. The first thing that jumped out about Ashlyn was her strength. She mainly plays point guard for the Fury, and at all of 5’10” she has an imposing size advantage over most guards. Last night, Bigelow has consistently great mechanics on her shot, which makes for a sweet-looking stroke from outside. We also noted Ashlyn’s court-vision. She was able to consistently fit passes into small windows for her teammates, setting them up for layups, and run-outs in transition.
Honorable Mention: Sydney Rahn (2021) – Rahn joined Bigelow in the So-Minn Fury back-court. I started tracking Sydney’s assists after she made a couple of great passes in the first couple minutes of the game. She ended the first half with four, a total that easily could have been doubled if it weren’t for missed layups and tired legs (So-Minn Fury was playing their second game in three hours). Rahn saw the floor really well all game, and seemed to be at her best while running in transition.
8:50 P.M. Metro Stars 2020 Garcia vs. …No One
We were looking forward to seeing Metro Stars 2020 Garcia for the first time this spring, but unfortunately the team they were supposed to play last night ended up backing out of the tournament at the last minute.
The Stars did play on Friday night, though. Kaidyn Mulvihill led the team with 13 points in that one, followed by Lauren Crosby with 9 and Tehmi Bozicevich with 8.