The 2nd annual Minnesota Stars Thanksgiving jamboree (I don’t think that’s it’s name, but that’s what it is) is continuing from Friday (yesterday) to Saturday (today) afer the holiday at White Bear Lake high school. There are half as many teams, half as many games and, honestly, half as much excitement as last year, but Friday night’s closer was a doozy. The Hopkins Royals had to come from behind to defeat the very highly regarded Stevens Point Panthers, and so that is what they did, finally prevailing 92-69. It was closer than that, however.
As an aside, Stevens Point is Wisconsin’s biggest school, and there’s been an ongoing debate for many years about expanding the local schools to include 2 high schools. The idea keeps getting voted down, however, because Point fans like winning athletic contests. As a result, the Panthers have won 42 state titles, 11th best in state history. Girls basketball has just one such title, however, in 1980, while the boys have 6 from 1926 to 2018. The Panthers are now coached by Minnesota legend Janelle McCarville, who played at Stevens Point high school in the class of 2001, and they feature Jada Seubert, the #1 ranked junior in Wisconsin and the #3 sophomore, 6-2 Leah Awe.
And, so, Point roared out to a 30-19 lead over Hopkins with 7 minutes remaining in the 1st half. By this time, Seubert had shown herself to be a Madi Guebert-style player–quick, smooth, efficient, intuitive. She had 12 points in those 1st 13 minutes on 5-of-6 shoting including 3-of-3 3s. She turned the ball over twice in those 13 minutes. For the 1st 10 minutes, those were Point’s only turnovers. From 10 minutes to 7 minutes, however, Point turned it over 5 times, yet outscored Hopkins 12-7 over those 3 minutes.
When the turnovers kept on coming–6 more in the final 7 minutes of the 1st half (none by Seubert,by the way), Hopkins roared back. Hopkins speeded it up, and Point suddenly couldn’t hang on to the ball. 2 turnovers in the 1st 10 minutes, 11 in the 2nd 10 minutes. Hopkins went on a 26-9 run and, from 19-30, took the lead at 39-37. Erma Walker scored 5 times, 3 times off the offensive glass and including 3-of-4 FT. Ava Cupito scored 3 times, twice on 3s. Jaliyah Diggs scored twice, once on a home run steal, and Marianna Davis scored twice, including at the final buzzer for a 45-39 halftime lead.
The 2nd half was more of the same as Point turned it over 12 times. Hopkins scored 19 points off turnovers in the 1st half, 16 in the 2nd. Hopkins was also murder on the boards. They grabbed 12 offensive rebounds in the 1st half, good for 11 2nd chance points. In the 2nd, there were just 3 offensive boards but they were good for 6 more 2nds.
For the night, Hopkins’ Erma Walker and Point’s Jada Seubert each scored 24 points. Walker made 7-of-11 FG, all 2-pointers, and 10-of-13 FT. She had 2 defensive and 7 offensive boards, an assist, 2 steals, a block and 3 turnovers. Walker hobbled off the court, however, at 7:54 of the 2nd half, with what appeared to be an ankle issue. A minute later she went to the locker room, and she returned neither to the bench nor to the game the rest of the way. We know nothing else about her condition.
\Seubert shot 11-of-19 including 5-of-8 3s, and added 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 5 steals, a block and 4 of Point’s 25 turnovers.
After closing the 1st half on that 26-9 run, Hopkins increased their lead to 52-39 early in the 2nd half. Point got within 56-53 at 12 minutes, but no closer. Now came an 14-2 run for a 70-55 lead at 7:30. Point never got closer than 78-66.
Point’s other star is the 6-2 sophomore Awe, who is listed as a shooting guard on Prep Hoops. With Hopkins effectively pressuring Point’s guards, Seubert and senior Ellie Strong, Point went to Awe to get the ball over half court, and she did that She finished with 20 points on 7-of-15 shooting, 3-of-8 3s, and 3-of-6 FT, with 12 boards and 5 turnovers. When her job was to protect the ball and get it over the halfcourt line, she did that. When her job was to get to the rim and to score, well, then she did turn it over a little bit.
Hopkins other stars were Cupito and Diggs with 18 points apiece. Cupito shot 7-of-18 (4-of-13 3s), with a rebound, an assist, 4 steals and one turnover. Diggs shot 6-of-11, 1-of-2 3s, 3-of-4 FT, with 2 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals and 2 turnovers.
Dowling Catholic 59 Cretin-Derham Hall 40
Dowling Catholic from West DesMoines, IA, stifled Cretin’s slow and unimaginative offense to win an earlier game 59-40. Today (Friday), the four teams will swap opponents, with Cretin facing Stevens Point and Dowling Catholic facing Hopkins.