Paige Bueckers quiets Defensive Detractors in 2019 State Game against Lakeville North

The Lakeville North girls basketball team watched the movie ‘Miracle’ leading into the Class 4A state tournament. A miracle didn’t happen, as Hopkins topped the unseeded Panthers 68-46 in a quarterfinal game at Williams Arena.

Royals junior guard Paige Bueckers scored 29 points on just 12 shots to pace Hopkins (30-0), which got off to a slow start before stepping on the gas in the second half to pull away and race into Thursday night’s semifinals.

“We had an average practice yesterday,” Hopkins coach Brian Cosgriff said. “We’ve got to get better. The problem is we don’t have a practice tomorrow. We have basically a walk-through so we’ve got to play better. But you know what? At this point, it’s survive and advance and onto the next one.”

Hopkins trailed 7-6 early before Bueckers scored eight straight points to create some separation. But her greatest feat Wednesday might have been on the defensive end, where she held Lakeville North junior standout Lauren Jensen to nine points on 2-for-10 shooting. Jensen, a Star Tribune All-Metro first-team selection, is now playing for Iowa.

“It was tough, and I knew it was going to be like that,” Jensen said. “Paige is an awesome defender. She’s so lengthy, too. We’ve played AAU together for so long, she knows me. She knows what I do and she made life difficult today.”

Bueckers admitted she looks forward to those types of defensive challenges. “I’m not just a huge offensive-minded person,” Bueckers said. “I want to stop the person I’m guarding and make them score zero. That’s the goal.”

So ample are her offensive talents that Paige Bueckers doesn’t often get credit for her abilities on the defensive end. Bueckers had the chance to show her complete game Wednesday in the Royals’ 68-46 victory over Lakeville North. Offensively, she scored a game-high 29 points. She was just as good at stopping the opponent, holding Lakeville North guard Lauren Jensen to just nine points, 18 below her per-game average.

Jensen said she was thankful for her teammates stepping up offensively. Lakeville North (18-12) was paced by Analiese Tschida, who scored 20 and notched her 1,000th career point. Panthers coach Shelly Clemons was a little disappointed with the way her team handled Hopkins’ full-court press, as Lakeville North committed 24 turnovers.

Still, the Panthers kept the game reasonably close for much of the morning, a far cry from their 83-41 loss to Hopkins at the start of the season. And even advancing this far was an impressive feat for a Lakeville North team that lost several key players during the season.

If Lakeville North harbored any notions of a comeback after halftime, Hopkins dispelled them with a 12-0 run to start the second half. “We talked about that at halftime,” Bueckers said. “We picked up the energy in the second half. But tomorrow, we’ve got to pick it up from the start.”

Видео Paige Bueckers quiets Defensive Detractors in 2019 State Game against Lakeville North канала Barry Cosgriff