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Mar. 13—MINNEAPOLIS — Late Thursday morning it was Walker-Hackensack-Akeley's turn to be introduced to what the Goodhue girls basketball team does.
It's all legal, but it's a lot: full-court pressure defense, sprinting and sprawling athletes, plenty of 3-pointers, and end-to-end fast breaks.
As usual, Goodhue did all of that Thursday and it all worked, this time to Walker-Hackensack-Akeley's demise. The Wildcats walked away from their Class 1A quarterfinal game at the University of Minnesota's Maturi Pavilion an easy 76-47 winner.
Next up for No. 1 ranked and seeded Goodhue is a semifinal game at noon Friday against the winner between West Central Area and Cromwell-Wright.
"Goodhue is what we knew they were," Wolves coach Jim Lien said. "They make it hard to get to your spots on offense and get quality shots."
If required to pick one thing that bothered Walker-Hackensack-Akeley most, it would be Goodhue's hell-bent, trapping defense. It drove W-H-A wild with it, as the Wildcats forced 14 first-half Wolves turnovers and had them shooting a miserable 2-for-19 from the field the first 18 minutes.
Those struggling numbers allowed Goodhue to build a big early lead and never feel threatened after grabbing a 31-16 halftime advantage.
And yes, Goodhue enjoyed every second of putting on that taxing defense. The Wildcats always do. It's winning stuff and they know it.
"Our defense gives us a lot of confidence; it's our biggest strength," said Goodhue All-State forward Kendyl Lodermeier, who keyed that defense and also scored a game-high 20 points. "When we can't get something going on offense, our defense gives us that energy to keep things up."
The key to it, according to Goodhue junior guard Natalie Thomforde, is the players' familiarity with each other. Coming from a small town such as Goodhue, they all know each other well.
They also know exactly what Wieme is looking for when it comes to all of that trapping defense. His system smothers opponents.
They delight in that smothering.
"Playing defense is fun because we all work so well together," Thomforde said. "We all know each other well and are really close. So we communicate well together. We all know where each other are going."
After building that 31-16 halftime lead, things just got even better for 25-5 Goodhue. That included the state's No. 1-ranked team now raining in 3-pointers after struggling some from there the first half. Goodhue finished the game with 12 of them, eight in the second half.
Kendyl Lodermeier's sophomore sister Makenzie Lodermeier was heavily into the 3-point barrage. She hit 4 of 6 3-point tries and finished second in scoring with 12 points. Goodhue had three others with at least eight points.
That balance was and is exactly what Wieme is looking for. He knows that is state championship kind of stuff, an achievement that Goodhue has made three times under Wieme, including claiming last year's title.
When Goodhue is playing like it was Thursday, getting so much from so many different sources, look out. The Wildcats are a heck of a show..
"We talk about having a deep team and having a lot of people who can affect the game, and do it offensively as well," Wieme said. "When we have so many kids making shots and moving the ball well, we look pretty good. I'm thrilled with how things went."
Goodhue finished the game with 10 players in the scoring column.
BOX SCORE: Goodhue 76, Walker-Hackensack-Akeley 47
Continue reading...
It's all legal, but it's a lot: full-court pressure defense, sprinting and sprawling athletes, plenty of 3-pointers, and end-to-end fast breaks.
As usual, Goodhue did all of that Thursday and it all worked, this time to Walker-Hackensack-Akeley's demise. The Wildcats walked away from their Class 1A quarterfinal game at the University of Minnesota's Maturi Pavilion an easy 76-47 winner.
Next up for No. 1 ranked and seeded Goodhue is a semifinal game at noon Friday against the winner between West Central Area and Cromwell-Wright.
"Goodhue is what we knew they were," Wolves coach Jim Lien said. "They make it hard to get to your spots on offense and get quality shots."
If required to pick one thing that bothered Walker-Hackensack-Akeley most, it would be Goodhue's hell-bent, trapping defense. It drove W-H-A wild with it, as the Wildcats forced 14 first-half Wolves turnovers and had them shooting a miserable 2-for-19 from the field the first 18 minutes.
Those struggling numbers allowed Goodhue to build a big early lead and never feel threatened after grabbing a 31-16 halftime advantage.
And yes, Goodhue enjoyed every second of putting on that taxing defense. The Wildcats always do. It's winning stuff and they know it.
"Our defense gives us a lot of confidence; it's our biggest strength," said Goodhue All-State forward Kendyl Lodermeier, who keyed that defense and also scored a game-high 20 points. "When we can't get something going on offense, our defense gives us that energy to keep things up."
The key to it, according to Goodhue junior guard Natalie Thomforde, is the players' familiarity with each other. Coming from a small town such as Goodhue, they all know each other well.
They also know exactly what Wieme is looking for when it comes to all of that trapping defense. His system smothers opponents.
They delight in that smothering.
"Playing defense is fun because we all work so well together," Thomforde said. "We all know each other well and are really close. So we communicate well together. We all know where each other are going."
After building that 31-16 halftime lead, things just got even better for 25-5 Goodhue. That included the state's No. 1-ranked team now raining in 3-pointers after struggling some from there the first half. Goodhue finished the game with 12 of them, eight in the second half.
Kendyl Lodermeier's sophomore sister Makenzie Lodermeier was heavily into the 3-point barrage. She hit 4 of 6 3-point tries and finished second in scoring with 12 points. Goodhue had three others with at least eight points.
That balance was and is exactly what Wieme is looking for. He knows that is state championship kind of stuff, an achievement that Goodhue has made three times under Wieme, including claiming last year's title.
When Goodhue is playing like it was Thursday, getting so much from so many different sources, look out. The Wildcats are a heck of a show..
"We talk about having a deep team and having a lot of people who can affect the game, and do it offensively as well," Wieme said. "When we have so many kids making shots and moving the ball well, we look pretty good. I'm thrilled with how things went."
Goodhue finished the game with 10 players in the scoring column.
BOX SCORE: Goodhue 76, Walker-Hackensack-Akeley 47
Continue reading...
