Callin Hake (14) led Chanhassen with 18 points in a victory over Benilde-St. Margaret's Friday night in St. Louis Park. Photo by Korey McDermott, SportsEngine
There are many variables that contribute to winning and losing in basketball. For Chanhassen, free throws were the key variable in deciding its fate on Friday night against Benilde-St. Margaret’s.
After a tight 33 minutes, the Storm (12-7, 9-3) were able to start pulling away near the end of the game. They led 54-45 with three minutes left. If the Storm could make their free throws, they’d get onto the team bus with an impressive road conference win.
The Storm went to the line five times over the final three minutes, and they shot a perfect 10-10 in those trips to close out the game.
Photo Gallery: Chanhassen vs Benilde-St. Margaret's
“We have six seniors on the team, so I think experience is the biggest thing,” senior Madi Hicks said. “A lot of us have shot those kind of free throws in either JV or varsity.”
Hicks made a few of those free throws at the end of the game. Senior Lauren Seubert and sophomore Lauren Arnold helped ice the game too.
While Hicks credited the experience, Chanhassen head coach Kayla Walsh credits the tense environment they set up in practice to simulate late-game free throws.
“In practice however many they miss, if we shoot five or ten they run that many. That really adds that pressure to them,” Walsh said. “I’m not a big proponent of making them run but the more pressure you can add to them in a practice setting, in a game then it’s that much easier.” The Storm did much more than just make clutch free throws to win this game. They outscored the Red Knights (15-5, 10-2) 39-27 in the second half through high intensity on both ends. On defense, they doubled Kendall McGee anytime someone came to set a screen for her. With the Red Knights playing without leading scorer Olivia Olson, the pressure was on McGee to pick up the slack. She did a tremendous job of that, scoring a game-high 32 points. But the rest of the Red Knights struggled to hit shots, so the Storm did everything they could to get the ball out of McGee’s hands.
“We knew coming in they ran that pick-and-roll offense, so we really worked in practice of the person guarding the corner being in help,” said Hicks, who was the primary defender on McGee. “That really helped me knowing that if I can beat, I have help there, it’s not the end of the play.” The heavy trapping led to the Storm forcing 15 turnovers in the game, with plenty of those leading to easy buckets.
While the Red Knights got an incredible performance out of McGee, the Storm had a more balanced offensive attack. Callin Hake led the team with 18 points, and three of her teammates chipped in with over 10 points.
“We all have to be a threat, we all have to be able to go off on any night. We can’t just leave it all up to Callin,” Walsh said. “That’s the bright side of our team is you never know who’s going to be the strong one.”
The best example of that may have been Seubert, who finished with 11 points, all of them coming in the second half.
Red Knight freshman Kendall McGee (30) hangs in the air for a shot en route to her 32 points on the night. McGee's double-double was still not enough to beat visiting Chanhassen. Photo by Korey McDermott, SportsEngine
First Report
Chanhassen relied on a strong second-half performance to leave Benilde-St. Margaret’s with a 64-53 victory on Friday night.
The Red Knights (15-5, 10-2) led 26-25 at halftime, as both teams struggled to find a rhythm on the offensive end. The Storm (12-7, 9-3) picked up the defensive intensity in the second half and used that to break away in the final five minutes. They forced 15 turnovers in the game, with Lauren Arnold, Madi Hicks and Lauren Seubert each getting two steals apiece. The offensive attack was led by Callin Hake, who finished with 18 points. Arnold, Hicks and Seubert all finished in the double digits in that department as well, as they combined to score 40 points.
The Red Knights got a stellar offensive performance from Kendall McGee, who finished with a double-double of 32 points and 11 rebounds. Sierre Lumpkin filled up the stat sheet as well, as she had six points, nine rebounds, four assists, two blocks and a steal.
Players and coaches from the Chanhassen Storm gather during a late second half timeout. Chanhassen held off Benilde-St. Margaret's for a road victory Feb 4. Photo by Korey McDermott, SportsEngine
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