Saturday, March 17, 2012

THE LAKEVILLE NORTH PANTHERS TOOK ON THE HOPKINS ROYALS IN THE QUARTERFINALS OF THE MINNESOTA STATE HIGH SCHOOL LEAGUE STATE BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

In the first game of the 2012 Minnesota State High School League girls state basketball tournament Lakville North took on the Hopkins Royals. Lakeville North had a record of 21-8 going into the game. Hopkins Record was 28-1.

The Hopkins boys' basketball team was in the building cheering on their team. Each team brought a fair number of fans with them.

Lakeville North started the game in a zone defense. They looked to spread the Royals offense out. It took a while for each team to get used to playing on the bigger Target Center floor.

Hopkins started out hot as they opened the game on a 7-0 run with 12:55 left in the first half. Lakeville North didn't give up. They kept on shooting the ball and hopeful that a few will drop.

Hopkins looked for baskets in transition. They were able to get a few of them. Hopkins seemed a little bit quicker then Lakeville North.

Lakeville North caught fire midway through the first half. They went on a run and they got within three-points of Hopkins at 9-6 with 9:00 left in the first half.

Both teams did a good job on the defensive end. They were both able to lock up their players and looked to control them by making them go one direction.

Lakeville North called a timeout with 8:12 left in the first half. The score was Hopkins 11 and Lakeville North 6.

Lakeville North came out of the timeout and they held the ball at the top of the key. They wanted Hopkins to get out of the zone defense and wanted them go into a man-to-man defense. They did that and that made it difficult for them to shoot the ball.

Lakeville North did a good job of penetrating the lane. They were able to get lay-ups and jump shots in the lane. They were able to hit their shots from that range.

If a defensive oriented first half. The score at halftime was Hopkins 17 and Lakeville North 12.

As the second half got underway Lakeville North came out on a tear. They were able to tied the game at 17 points with just under 16 minutes left in regulation.

Lakeville North called a timeout with 13:59 left in regulation. The score was Hopkins 22 and Lakeville North 17.

Hopkins guard Nia Coffey was all over the floor. She found her shot early in the second half. The Lakeville North defenders were not able to slow her down when she was on offense.

Lakeville North couldn't get their shots to drop in the second half. The offense went stagnet as shots were hard to come by.

Lakeville North called a timeout with 10:04 left in regulation. The score was Hopkins 37 and Lakeville North 19.

In a first half that saw a tough defensive battle the scoring opened up a little bit in the second half. In the end Hopkins was too much for Lakeville North to handle. Lakeville North played hard throughout the entire game but in the end Hopkins came away with the 51-29 victory over Lakeville North.

The leading scorer for Lakeville North was Stewart with 11 points. Lakeville North shot 10-38 from the field that included going 2-8 from behind the three-point line. They were 7-10 from the free throw line. The Lakeville North bench scored 5 points.

The leading scorers for Hopkins were Nia Coffey with 18 points, and TT Starks with 11 points. Hopkins shot 16-48 from the field. That included going 1-10 from behind the three-point line. Hopkins was 18-24 from the free-throw line. Hopkins bench scored 5 points.

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