Tip Off Classic recap: Pirates rally past Delano

By Liz Smith, Northstar Girls Hoops, 12/06/14, 2:30PM CST

Balanced effort leads defending Class AAA champs to victory

The defending Class AAA champs, the Park Center Pirates, took on the Delano Tigers at the Breakdown Tip Off Classic at the Hopkins Lindbergh Center. Both teams were quick and looked to transition, but the Pirates many weapons proved to be too much for the Tigers. Park Center won by a final score of 69-54.

Alex Wittinger, who was ranked 16th in the nation by ESPN for wings in the 2015 class, scored the first bucket. She missed Delano's first two games this year with the flu and was expected to play limited minutes today. The Pirates called a timeout at 15:53 after another basket by Wittinger and Delano leading 6-2.

Park Center got untracked when senior guard Mckenna DuBois hit two early 3’s for a 9-8 lead at 13:38 in the first.

Still Delano led 22-17 when Park Center went full court pressure that proved to be effective,especially after Tiger point guard Brooke Lemke left the game at the 7:29mark with two fouls. The Pirates went ahead 26-24 and then stretched it out to 40-34 at the half.

Bria Barfnecht, Delano wing, led all scorers with 11 in the half while the Pirates were lead by Hayes, who had 10.

Again the Tigers roared back to lead 46-42, outscoring the Pirates 13-3 in the first nine minutes of the second. Park Center was slowed down by the Tigers' aggressive 2-3 defense.

But the Tigers run ended on a three by Hannah Schaub and two made free throws by Ann Simonet. Park Center retook the lead at 48-47 at 10:28. Hayes added to the lead with a drop step move over Wittinger. Simonet made a three increasing the lead to six, Simonet hit another three and the score was 56-47.

It was a game of runs, but Park Center's 27-8 run to the final horn was the last and best. The final was 69-54. Ann Simonet was player of the game with 15 points.