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| St. Peter girls basketball has tall order this season |
By: Pat Beck
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Posted: Tuesday, November 24, 2009 11:15 am
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St. Peter girls basketball captains Alexa Thelen (bottom) and AnnMarie Brown think the Saints can go higher this season. St. Peter tips off the season at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 1 at United South Central.
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ST. PETER — Junior co-captains Ann Marie Brown and Alexa Thelen have high hopes for the St. Peter girls basketball team, even though the Saints haven’t consistently proven to be a top-level team yet.
The Saints have been young the last couple of years, and they’re still young with only one senior.
However, Brown and Thelen think the Saints have the ability to challenge for the South Central Conference and Section 2AA championships.
Optimism is great because of the Saints’ height, athleticism and experience. They’re versatile athletes who can do a lot of things well including running, jumping, shooting and passing. “And even academically we’re all pretty well well-rounded,” Thelen said.
Seven of the 10 varsity players stand 5-foot-9 or better. Nine letter winners return, including seven starters: 5-foot-4 guard Jenny Wilking , 6-foot junior guard-forward AnnMarie Brown, 5-9 junior guard-forward Alexa Thelen, 5-10 junior forward Alissa Lager, 5-9 junior guard/forward Katrina Siebels, 5-9 sophomore forward Sidney Dirks, 5-8 sophomore point guard Katy Kuiper and 5-10 freshman forward Tailor Raymond.
Moving up from the junior varsity are 5-10 junior guard Danielle Larson, 5-11 sophomore forward Ashley Lager and 5-4 sophomore guard Kassandra McCabe.
“The last couple of years we’ve been working up to get to this point where we’re at now,” said Thelen in her second season on the varsity. “ We’re older and wiser. We’ve been together for so long. We’re all really tall and we have great teamwork. I think we plan on going far.”
In her third season starting, Brown said, “ We will be more experienced and mature this year, so our decision making should go better. We can run the floor, a lot of fast-break opportunities. We don’t have to worry about conditioning this year. We’ve had lots of running and it’s only the second day of practice. We have some good shooters. Everyone can be a playmaker. We’re defensively strong. We’re not the greatest passers. We need to work on that. We need more leadership on the court.”
St. Peter finished 2-8 in the conference last year, but Brown thinks the Saints can win it this year. “Most of the conference games are usually really close,” she said.
The Saints, who finished 11-13 overall and lost in the first round of the playoffs last year to Hutchinson have moved down from Section 2AAA to 2AA. “It’s more like our area, like more of the people in our conference are in our section, too, so it will be more of our level of competition, so hopefully we can make it past a few rounds,” Brown said. “Our main goal is always to get to state, and this year we’re good.”
“It could go either way, but I think we’ll make it far if we stick together,” Thelen said.
The Saints have gotten better playing in summer and fall leagues. This fall they went 9-1 against bigger Twin Cities metro area teams in the Breakdown League at Bloomington Kennedy vs. teams including North Tartan, Minneapolis South and West, Forest Lake, Shakopee and Red Wing.
Brown, a one-time All-State honorable mention and two-time all-conference player, has led the Saints in scoring the last two seasons. Last year she averaged 16.1 points, 7.3 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 2.0 blocked shots.
“My shot has gotten better, more controlled when I drive and when I dribble,” Brown said. “I’ve improved defensively. I’m a good playmaker. I’ll play shooting guard/forward. Our offense isn’t really focused on one person. We’re all moving around constantly making cuts through the lanes. We’re all the same skill level, so we all can intermingle and not be stuck at one position. ”
Also a shooting guard/forward, Thelen was the co-winner of the Sixth Player Award last season. She averaged 2.8 points, 3.0 rebounds and 0.9 assists.
“I show good leadership on the floor, and when I get my shots up, I can make them, but I have weaknesses just like everybody else,” Thelen said. “I do more work with the team, set screens, get the ball, pass, get it up. We’re more of a guard team.”
Brown and Thelen are undecided about where they are going to college. But Brown is shooting for Division I basketball. She’s made one college visit to South Dakota State University, where three St. Peter alumni have played: Megan Vogel, Angie Loken and Jenny Sylvester. Brown is looking to study athletic training, physical therapy or pharmacy.
Thelen is leaning toward DePaul in Chicago or Boston College. She plans to study ecology. If she plays sports, she said it would be basketball.
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