Pewamo-Westphalia at Portland St. Patrick – – CMAC Girls Co-Game of the Week – – The Bleacher Denizen – – December 12, 2023 – – by Chuck Krafft

Tonight, your Bleacher Denizen is having his first CMAC Girls Game of the Week! However, he is not sure if he should be naming this game this way because he will also be covering St. Patrick’s Girls when the play Fowler this Thursday! As I did not have the budget to have the lawyers from the powers that be that decide how games are to be made to make a determination, I decided to go with the Co-Game concept.

Those of you who do not wish to bet bogged in your Bleacher Denizen’s semi-moral dilemma may wish to escape and listen to this rendition of “Silent Night” from my You Tube Channel. (Diane Dowding from my church contributed her strong and beautiful voice to the lead vocal.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPXHuLAp83M

This is the first game of the season for the Shamrocks from St. Patrick, while the Pewamo-Westphalia Pirates have one loss to Division 1 East Lansing on their record.

P-W Coach Steve Eklund gave me some information about his Pirate players. Elly Bengel is a fine three point shooter who is also really good slashing to the basket. Brynn Bauer runs the point where she handles the ball well, breaks presses, slashes to the basket and defends the perimeter well.

Kambrie Thelen is a glue player who sets screens, makes the correct pass, and defends well on the perimeter. Alonna Thelen is a fine defender and rebounder from her wing position. Logan Drake is a junior in her third year on the varsity. She is a fine post defender and rebounder who gets her share of putbacks.

St. Patrick Coach Al Schrauben has a lot of experienced players on his team. He gave me this information about his players. Laynie Meredith is a ball of energy, especially on defense, on the perimeter. On offense, she handles the ball well, slashes to the basket well and is a threat from the three point line. Addy Scheurer is a determined perimeter who handles the ball well and is a fine three point shooter. Rylee Scheurer is tall for a perimeter player and very fast. In fact, she will be attending college on a track scholarship. She uses her size and quickness to be an excellent perimeter defender.

Gracelyn Rockey was a big contributor last year as an eighth grader. She is tall enough and strong enough to defend and rebound well in the paint. She is also quick enough to play on the perimeter. She is an excellent all around ball player who handles the ball well, can power her way to the basket and hit the three point shot. Tori Sandborn is an excellent perimeter defender and ball handler. Mattie Honsowitz is a good defender in the middle; she is excellent at scoring on post moves as well.

Hannah Weller is an accurate midrange shooter. Lily Sandborn is another tough perimeter defender and dependable ball handler. Isabella Russman is a strong post defender and rebounder. Megan Myers contributes good post defense.

I got to St. Patrick’s gym in time to watch the junior varsity game. Pewamo-Westphalia took a 13-0 lead after the first quarter and rolled to a 46-11 win.

Namoi Hass had 5 points for the Shamrock JVs. Macie Smith and Marian Davlin each scored two points. Joanna Dugan and Kennedy Drake each added 1 point.

Madeleine Weber led the victorious Pirate JVs with 10 points. Renell Eklund supported her with 8 points. Whitney Platte added 6 points. Delaney Smith and Trinity Pohl each contributed 5 points. Peyton Eklunc, Ava Hengesbach, Reylee Thelen, Aubrey Pline, Carlee Fox and Maria Klein each had 2 points. Lilly Anderson contributed several steals to the Pirate cause.

It is now time to review the events of tonight’s CMAC Co-Game of the week from the hopefully incisive perspective of an aging Bleacher Denizen who never was able to escape church league when he attempted to play basketball back when he was considered to be “young.”

Unfortunately, he never learned that “matador defense” was not a good thing until his coach refused to play him in games. I guess he felt that yelling “Ole” as the dribbler streaked by me and into the lane was inappropriate.

St. Patrick wins the opening tap. Alonna Thelen steals the ball for the Pirates. P-W misses a driving layup. Elly Bengel gets the offensive rebound for the Pirates. P-W drives and dishes a pass out of bounds and St. Patrick gets the ball. The P-W press causes St. Patrick to throw the ball out of bounds. P-W misses a threeball from the side. Elly Bengel hits a putback to give P-W a 2-0 lead.

St. Patrick misses a layup. Mattie Honsowitz hits a putback for the Shamrocks to tie the game. P-W is assessed with a double dribble violation. St. Patrick misses a driving layup. Gracelyn Rockey is fouled on a putback and hits one of her two free throws to give her Shamrocks a 3-2 lead with 6:23 remaining in the first quarter.

P-W misses a threeball from the wing. The rebound goes out of bounds and the Pirates get another possession. Gracelyn Rockey knocks a Pirate pass out of bounds; P-W gets the ball back. Brynn Bauer is fouled on a driving layup and hits two free throws to give P-W a 4-3 lead with 5:39 left in the quarter.

St. Patrick misses a driving layup. Mattie Honsowitz blocks a Pirate layup. Gracelyn Rockey is fouled on a driving layup and hits one of her two free throws to tie the game at 4-4 with 4:14 to play in the first quarter.

P-W loses the ball out of bounds against the St. Patrick press. Emerie Smith passes to a teammate who is fouled on an eight foot shot in the lane, but misses her two free throws. St. Patrick misses a driving reverse layup; the rebound goes out of bounds and the Shamrocks get the ball back. St. Patrick misses another driving reverse layup. Isabella Russman knocks the ball away from P-W and Lily Sandborn picks it up for St. Patrick. Gracelyn Rockey drives and hits a reverse layup to give St. Patrick a 6-4 lead.

Laynie Meredith steals the ball and hits a layup for St. Patrick. A P-W dribbler loses the ball out of bounds. Rylee Scheurer drives and hits a layup to give the Shamrocks a 10-4 lead.

P-W misses a three point shot from the side. The rebound goes out of bounds and St. Patrick gets the ball back. The Shamrocks miss a driving layup. Rylee Scheurer steals the ball for the Shamrocks. St. Patrick travels on a driving layup. Leah Miller passes to Logan Drake, who is fouled as she catches the ball and hits one of her two free throws. With 59 seconds left in the first quarter, St. Patrick has a 10-5 lead.

Logan Drake passes to Elly Bengel, who throws in a threeball from the wing for P-W to slash the St. Patrick lead to two points. Gracelyn Rockey is fouled and hits one of her two free throws for St. Patrick. Logan Drake passes to Elly Bengel, who hits a three point shot from the wing to tie the game for the Pirates. Laynie Meredith drives and hits a layup to give St. Patrick a 13-11 lead.

Rylee Scheurer knocks the ball out of bounds; P-W retains possession. Addy Scheurer knocks the ball away from P-W, but the Pirates are able to recover. P-W misses a threeball from the corner at the buzzer.

After one quarter, St. Patrick has a 13-11 lead.

P-W inbounds the ball to start the second quarter. Logan Drake passes to Brynn Bauer, who hits a three point shot from the wing to give P-W a one point lead. St. Patrick misses a layup. Mattie Honsowitz pulls down the offensive rebound for the Shamrocks. St. Patrick misses a layup. P-W misses a threeball from the side and fouls on the rebound.

Logan Drake blocks a St. Patrick layup. The loose ball is tied up. The Possession Arrow looks up from its evening coffee, contacts its Commerce Committee and awards the ball to St. Patrick. The Shamrocks miss an eight foot shot from the baseline. Elly Bengel passes to Brynn Bauer, who drills a threeball from the wing to give her Pirates a 17-13 lead.

St. Patrick misses a three pointer from the wing. P-W misses a threeball from the side. Logan Drake gets the offensive rebound for the Pirates. P-W misses a layup. Alonna Thelen knocks the ball away from St. Patrick. Elly Bengel grabs the ball and hits a fast break layup. She is fouled on the play, but misses her free throw. With 5:40 to play in the second quarter, P-W has a 19-13 lead.

Elyse Thelen goes to the floor to tie up the rebound from the missed free throw. The Possession Arrow and its decorating committee salute her hustle and award the ball to Pewamo-Westphalia. The Pirates miss a driving layup. St. Patrick misses a three point shot from the wing. Elly Bengel passes to Alonna Thelen, who hits a three point shot from the side to give the Pirates a 22-13 lead.

St. Patrick misses a threeball from the wing. Gracelyn Rockey pulls down the offensive rebound for the Shamrocks. St. Patrick misses a ten foot shot in the lane. Elly Bengel passes to Elyse Thelen, who hits a layup to give P-W a 24-13 lead.

Gracelyn Rockey hits a three point shot from the wing for St. Patrick. P-W misses a driving layup. Laynie Meredith gets the offesnive rebound for St. Patrick. The Shamrocks miss a threeball from the wing, but get the offensive rebound. St. Patrick misses a three pointer from the wing. P-W drives and misses an eight foot shot from the baseline. St. Patrick misses a layup; the rebound goes out of bounds and the Shamrocks get the ball back. Laynie Meredith drives and dishes the ball to Isabella, who hits a layup to trim the P-W lead to 24-18.

Logan Drake hits a layup for the Pirates. Rylee Scheurer is fouled on a driving layup and hits two free throws for St. Patrick to cut the P-W lead to 26-20 with 1:48 remaining in the half.

Gracelyn Rockey knocks the ball away from the Pirates and Rylee Scheurer picks it up for the Shamrocks. St. Patrick misses a driving layup. Laynie Meredith is fouled on the rebound and hits one of her two free throws to trim the P-W lead to 26-21 with 1:23 to play in the half.

Hannah Weller gets her hand on the ball and causes a P-W driver to travel. St. Patrick misses a driving layup. Julia Klein passes to Emerie Smith, who hits a three point shot from the side for P-W. Laynie Meredith drives and hits a layup just before the buzzer for St. Patrick.

At halftime Pewamo-Westphalia has a 29-23 lead.

Gracelyn Rockey has 8 points and Laynie Meredith 7 points for St. Patrick.

Elly Bengel leads the Pewamo-Westphalia scoring with 10 points and Brynn Bauer has 8 points.

As there is no halftime entertainment, perhaps we can enjoy a couple more Christmas tunes from my You Tube Channel.

“Snoopy’s Christmas” was a hit for the Royal Guardsmen in 1967 and I have loved the song ever since. (Yes, I’m that old.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1pZCnDBHL0

“Jesus Came to Save Us” is an original Christian song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGipc4NwzN8

I’m always amazed at how the score at the beginning of the third quarter always matches the score at the end of the second quarter. The mind boggles!!! I looked at the scoreboard and surely enough, Pewamo-Westphalia still has a 29-23 lead.

The Pirates ignore the Bleacher Denizen’s odd intellectual curiosity and inbound the ball to get the third quarter underway. The Pirates miss a driving layup. St. Patrick misses a three point shot from the wing. Laynie Meredith pulls down the offensive rebound for the Shamrocks. St. Patrick misses a layup. Pewamo-Westphalia is whistled for a double dribble violation. St. Patrick misses a driving layup. P-W reciprocates and misses a driving layup (with some help from great defense by Gracelyn Rockey.)

St. Patrick misses a six foot shot from the baseline. P-W misses a corner threeball. St. Patrick misses a sixteen foot shot from the baseline. P-W misses a corner threeball. Kambrie Thelen gets the offensive rebound for the Pirates. P-W misses a layup. St. Patrick misses a three point shot from the wing. The Bleacher Denizen misses balls going through the net.

The rebound from the missed shot goes out of bounds and the Pirates get the ball. Gracelyn Rockey knocks the ball away from P-W and Addy Scheurer picks it up for St. Patrick. Mattie Honsowitz hits a six foot shot in the lane. Laynie Meredith harasses P-W into throwing the ball out of bounds. Laynie Meredith is fouled on a driving layup. She hits two free throws to chop the Pirate lead to 29-27 with 4:51 to play in quarter number three.

Laynie Meredith knocks the ball away from the Pirates, but P-W is able to recover. Gracelyn Rockey steals the ball and hits a fast break layup for St. Patrick to tie the game. Elly Bengel alertly makes a great save of a loose ball to prevent a Pirate over and back violation. Mattie Honsowitz plays tough defense and forces P-W to call timeout to save its possession. The Pirates throw their inbound pass out of bounds.

St. Patrick misses a three point shot from the corner. Mattie Honsowitz gets the offensive rebound for the Shamrocks. St. Patrick misses a fifteen foot shot from the side. Gracelyn Rockey gets the offensive rebound for the Shamrocks. St. Patrick misses a layup. Mattie Honsowitz hits a layup to give St. Patrick a 31-29 lead.

P-W turns the ball over. Elly Bengel steals the ball and hits a fast break layup for P-W to tie the game. St. Patrick misses a driving layup. P-W misfires on a triple try from the side. St. Patrick misses a fifteen foot shot from the side. Mattie Honsowitz is fouled on a putback and hits one of her two free throws to give the Shamrocks a 32-31 lead with 2:22 left on the third quarter clock.

P-W misses a driving layup. Alonna Thelen gets the offensive rebound for the Pirates. Elyse Thelen is fouled on a putback and hits one of her two free throws to tie the game for P-W at 32-32 with 1:53 to play in the quarter.

St. Patrick misses a three point shot from the wing. Tori Sandborn gets the offensive rebound for the Shamrocks. St. Patrick misses a driving layup. P-W reciprocates and misses a driving layup. Kambrie Thelen grabs the offensive rebound for the Pirates. P-W misses a three pointer from the wing. Elly Bengel gets the offensive rebound for the Pirates. P-W misses a layup. St. Patrick misses a three point shot from the wing as the third quarter buzzer makes its presence known.

After three quarters, this intense and exciting game is tied at 32-32.

St. Patrick inbounds the ball and the final quarter is started. Laynie Meredith drives and hits a layup to give the Shamrocks a two point lead. Laynie Meredith ties up the ball. The Possession Arrow and its social committee are sipping tea and nibbling crumpets; they miss the play. The ball is awarded to P-W. A P-W dribbler loses the ball out of bounds; P-W gets the ball back. P-W misses a six foot shot in the lane. Laynie Meredith passes to Rylee Scheurer, who is fouled on a layup and hits one of her two free throws to boost the Shamrocks to a 35-32 lead with 6:42 remaining in the contest.

Gracelyn Rockey hits a putback of the missed free throw for St. Patrick. P-W throws a cross court pass out of bounds. St. Patrick misses a driving layup. P-W misses a three point shot from the corner. Elly Bengel hustles to near midcourt to track down the offensive rebound for the Pirates and is fouled. P-W misses a threeball from the wing. Laynie Meredith passes to Gracelyn Rockey, who knocks down a threeball from the side to give the Shamrocks a 40-32 lead.

Elly Bengel drives and hits a layup for P-W. St. Patrick misses a layup. P-W misfires on a triple try from the side. Elly Bengel gets the offensive rebound for the Pirates. Brynn Bauer drives and hits a layup for P-W to chop the Shamrock lead to 40-36.

Mattie Honsowitz passes to Rylee Scheurer, who hits a layup for St. Patrick. Brynn Bauer is fouled on a driving layup and hits one of her two free throws to trim the St. Patrick lead to 42-37 with 3:17 left on the clock.

Alonna Thelen steals the ball for the Pirates. Addy Scheurer gets her hand on the ball and P-W loses it out of bounds. St. Patrick misses a twelve foot shot from the baseline. Laynie Meredith steeals the ball for the Shamrocks and hits a layup to boost their lead to 44-37.

Laynie Meredith knocks the ball out of bounds; P-W retains possession. The Pirates miss a three pointer from the side; the rebound goes out of bounds and St. Patrick gets the ball. Elly Bengel knocks the ball out of bounds; St. Patrick gets another opportunity. St. Patrick is fouled, but misses two free throws. With 38-7 seconds to go, the Shamrock lead remains at 44-37.

P-W misses a three point shot from the side. Emerie Smith gets the offensive rebound and hits an eight foot shot from the baseline for P-W. Gracelyn Rockey is fouled catching the inbound pass and hits two free throws to give her Shamrocks a 46-39 lead with 20.5 seconds left in the game.

P-W misses a three point shot from the corner. Elly Bengel gets the offensive rebound for the Pirates. P-W misses a layup. Elly Bengel hits a putback for the Pirates and is fouled, but she misses her free throw. With just 10.6 seconds to play, St. Patrick has a 46-41 lead.

Brenna Thelen gets the offensive rebound for the Pirates. P-W misses a layup. Brenna Thelen gets another offensive rebound for P-W. The Pirates miss a layup at the buzzer.

St. Patrick wins its opening game of the season by the score of 46-41.

Elly Bengel played a fine all-around game and led the Pirates with 16 points. Brynn Bauer joined her teammate in double figures with 11 points. Emerie Smith tossed in 5 points. Logan Drake, Alonna Thelen and Elyse Thelen each tallied 3 points.

Gracelyn Rockey led St. Patrick’s scoring with 17 points. Laynie Meredith contributed 13 points. Rylee Scheurer and Mattie Honsowitz each chipped in with 7 points. Isabella Russman had 2 points.