(2022) - PF Lilly Meister to IUWBB

[Class of '66 Old Fart 81,154]

Meister's game tonight against Century HS scheduled to tipoff at 7:15 ET can we watched on YouTube at

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO_IW6XijX8bHvXqY2EhmPw

[Class of '66 Old Fart 81,154]

Just saw that her game tonight vs Century has been canceled.  No indication if it's due to COVID or weather.

[Class of '66 Old Fart 81,154]

John Marshall beaten by Austin 60-51 and the game synopsis indicated JM was missing several players.  Meister 27 pts. on 11-16 FG; 0 3s; 5-6 FT; 9 reb; 2 asst; 1 stl; 4 blk; 5 TO.

Thru 13 games averaging 22.4 ppg on 55% FG; 77% FT; 11.2 reb; 1.7 asst; 1.6 stl; 2.1 blk; 3.0 TO.

[Class of '66 Old Fart 81,154]

Meister 20p 8r in a 54-20 rout of Northfield on 1/25.

Nice road win 42-26 over Winona.  Meister 18p 13r  4a  2s  4b  2t.  John Marshall now 9-6 on the season.

[Class of '66 Old Fart 81,154]

In a game this afternoon against Hastings, Lilly reached the 2,000 career point mark just the second girl in John Marshall school history.  Unfortunately, the Rockets lost in OT 80-79.  Lilly finished with 29 pts. and 15 reb.

[Class of '66 Old Fart 81,154]

John Marshall dazzler Meister hits 2,000 points

Lilly Meister entered Saturday’s game with Hastings needing 26 points to hit a rare milestone — 2,000 points scored in her Rochester John Marshall basketball career.

Only one other girls player in the history of JM had reached 2,000 points, 2016 graduate Jamie Ruden.

Rockets coach Phil Schroeder didn’t bring up the possibility of 2,000 in his pre-game chat with Hastings coach Sheri McLeod.

“I thought telling (McLeod) that Lilly needed 26 points might seem a little bit presumptuous,” Schroeder said. “That’s a lot of points.”

A lot, yes, but not too many for the greatest center that JM has ever had. Meister finished with 29 points, leaving her at 2,003 and counting for the dazzling 6-foot-2 senior.

It came in a dazzling game. JM lost 80-79 in overtime to Hastings, but not without showing a massive green beans.

Meister certainly did her share, getting those 29 points and also adding 20 rebounds and 4 steals. Teammate Katie Hurt finished with 28 points, 10 assists, 8 rebounds and 3 steals.

But all eyes were on Meister when the contest was done, with a post-game talk directed toward her by Schroeder, Meister recognizing that her career numbers have been a group green beans, and then plenty of photos being taken of JM’s 2,000-points scorer, surrounded by teammates.

Schroeder considers Meister an amazing player, one who combines loads of natural ability with a huge work ethic.

“Lilly scoring 2,000 points is a tremendous accomplishment, and it goes back to her hard work,” Schroeder said. “She’s definitely got natural talent, but it is because of hard work that she is so good. She’s really worked on basketball and worked on getting a lot stronger.”

Meister is averaging 23 points and 11 rebounds this season. She’d be scoring even more were teams not routinely double and even triple teaming her, all with varying designs. It’s in an green beans to slow down the Big Nine Conference’s best player.

“The amazing part of Lilly still averaging 23 points is that it’s rare that she doesn’t have to work her tail off to get her shot off,” Schroeder said. “Teams are trying to control her as best they can. They throw all kinds of different junk defenses at her.”

Making adjustments

Meister had seen some of this in past years. She’s gotten to the point now where she can deal with it, mentally and physically.

But that sure didn’t happen right away.

“(In past years), I used to get in my own head or look for someone else to blame when I wasn’t scoring, or think that I’d been fouled when I hadn’t been fouled,” Meister said. “But I handle things better now. I remind myself that not every shot I take is going to fall and that I don’t have to score to be good. I can help my team in other ways to be good. My mental part has improved a lot. I can go with the flow now.”

And help her team in a multitude of ways, she does. Schroeder says her basketball IQ and willingness to share the ball is off the charts.

“She makes all of our players better, and that’s not something you always see in top scorers,” Schroeder said. “If she sees someone with a better (scoring) opportunity, she gets them the ball.”

That said, the idea of climbing to 2,000 points has long been on Meister’s mind. It was planted before she ever got to JM and was watching Ruden accomplish it.

The 6-1 Ruden, who later played at Arizona State, was idolized by Meister.

“I was watching Jamie play so much when I was young,” Meister said. “I loved scoring, and I knew she was a great scorer. I remember telling my mom (Angie Meister, herself a 1,200-point scorer at John Marshall) at the time that it would be cool for me to get to 2,000 points one day.”

That day arrived Saturday. Meister, who’ll play next year at Big Ten Conference power Indiana University, is at 2,003 points and counting.

[Class of '66 Old Fart 81,154]

You'd like to hope that Lilly will eventually become our next Mackenzie Holmes.

John Marshall trailed 28-17 at the half but came from behind to win it 61-53 in OT.  Lilly finished with 28p 15r  5a  6s

 

Rochester Post-Bulletin:

It was a lot tougher this time around, but John Marshall completed a two-game series sweep of city rival Mayo on Thursday in girls basketball.

The Rockets had won 51-33 in the first meeting, but they need to rally from a 28-17 halftime deficit to post a thrilling 61-53 victory over the host Spartans in overtime in the second match-up.

“It’s just so amazing and I'm just proud of this team,” JM senior Lilly Meister said. “We’ve worked our tails off on defense this year so it was a team green beans.”

The Rockets held Mayo to 25 points in the second half, which included five in overtime.

Meister nearly sealed the win at the end of regulation. She hit the first of two free throws for a 48-45 Mayo lead with 9.3 seconds left. But after she missed the second attempt, Mayo's Adit Koth drained a dramatic 3-pointer at the buzzer to force overtime.

“That was a big shot,” Mayo coach Andy Bromeling said.

But JM and Meister controlled the extra session.

Meister, who finished with 28 points and 15 rebounds, was 8-for-9 at the line in overtime while Katie Hurt was 3-for-4.

“I kind of redeemed myself from regular time,” Meister said.

Hurt finished with 16 points and five rebounds.

JM overcame a rough 5-for-36 shooting performance in the first half. Defense was a big reason for the Rockets' comeback as they forced Mayo into 23 turnovers.

"Our defense definitely won it," Meister said. "We had so many tips and steals. That's what we've been working on this week, just knowing their offense. Our defensive hustle, it just paid off."

"The first half we could make a basket to save our life," JM coach Phil Schroeder said, "but we were able to fight through that."

JM also clamped down on Mayo's outside shooters in the second half. The Spartans hit six 3-pointers in the first half, but were held to three in the second half.

"I thought we did a good job of getting out on shooters, but they make you pay," Schroeder said.

“They did a good job of taking control of the game and taking control of the tempo,” Bromeling said. “That’s all they needed to do was control the tempo and we just didn’t respond.”

John Marshall (10-7, 9-4 Big Nine Conference) was coming off an overtime loss in its last outing.

"I was really, really proud of them because we don't sub a ton was they had to gut it out," Schroeder said.

Mayo had a trio of players in double figures. Izabell Ruskell led the way with 15 points, Koth had 14 and Hannah Hanson added 11.

The surging Spartans (14-5, 10-5 Big Nine Conference) had won six straight games. Mayo's lone road loss was to JM.

The Rockets have been streaky. They had a four-game winning streak, a four-game losing streak and have now won four of the past six games.

 

[Class of '66 Old Fart 81,154]

Last Saturday, John Marshall overwhelmed Faribault 48-16.  Lilly 15p  8r  1a  3s  1b  0t.

On Tues. night, John Marshall routed Albert Lea 54-27.  Lilly 27p  18r  4a  1s  3b  1t.

[Class of '66 Old Fart 81,154]

Last night John Marshall defeated Mankato West 54-41.  Lilly  19p  10r  3a  2s  3b  0t 

[Class of '66 Old Fart 81,154]

Another all-around game from Lilly in a 44-39 win over Century.  19p  7r  4a  7s  4b

[Class of '66 Old Fart 81,154]

51-44 John Marshall win over Mankato East.  Meister 17p  8r  3a  

[Class of '66 Old Fart 81,154]

Rochester Post-Bulletin has been running a series of profiles on the John Marshall seniors.  Today it's Lilly's turn to be featured.

[Class of '66 Old Fart 81,154]

John Marshall defeated Red Wing 48-46.    18p  11r  6a  0s  0b  0t.

[Class of '66 Old Fart 81,154]

Huge night for Lilly scoring 35 pts. (13-17 FG) in a 59-37 win over Owatonna.   She also had 12r  1a  2s  1b  2t.

[Class of '66 Old Fart 81,154]

Because of postponements earlier in the season, John Marshall had back-to-back games vs. Owatonna.  Last night JM won 43-29.  Lilly with 12 points on a poor 2-11 FG but she was 8-9 FT.   She added 14 reb; 5 asst; 2 stl; 2 blk; 4 TO.  Her regular season ends on Friday.

[Class of '66 Old Fart 81,154]

Lilly's regular season ended last night with a 52-31 win over Rochester Century.  She finished with 22p 10r  0a  2s  0t

For 26 games she averaged 21.9p  11.6r  2.5a  2.0s  1.9b  2.3t 

52% FG    31% on 3s    77% FT

ROCHESTER POST BULLETIN --

If you can’t score, you can’t win.

The Rochester John Marshall girls basketball team has done nothing but win the last 10 games, in good part because it’s smothered everyone in its path defensively.

JM was up to that again Friday night in its own gymnasium, using hounding person-to-person defense to punish Century and come up with a resounding 52-31 Big Nine Conference win, ending its regular season.

In JM’s last nine games, it’s held its opponents to 34 points per game, a rare and tiny number.

“JM has just taken their man-to-man defense to another level in their last nine games,” Century coach Chadd Clarey said. “You can see they’ve all bought into it, they all do it well, and then they box out and rebound well.”

The Rockets now head into the postseason having finished 18-4 in the Big Nine, 19-7 overall, and likely to be awarded the No. 1 seed in the Section 1AAAA tournament.

Senior-laden JM also heads in knowing exactly what it has to do to continue its winning ways.

It’s simple — don’t let the other team score. At least not much.

“I take a lot of pride in defense, because defense wins games,” said JM senior guard Katie Hurt, the top defender on a team that is full of quality ones. “I’ve been preaching that to my team. We all understand now that defense wins games. We all have to focus on it, and from there our offense will come.”

Hurt’s defensive assignment on Friday was to guard Century sharp-shooting guard Taylor Clarey. The sophomore entered the game averaging 15 points, on a hot streak, and also as Century’s all-time leader in 3-pointers made, girl or boy.

With Hurt guarding her, there were virtually no 3-pointers available. A 5-foot-11 bundle of quickness, strength and determination, Hurt stayed strapped to Clarey all game.

When the evening was done, Clarey hadn’t connected on a single 3-pointer and totaled just two points.

Always an excellent defensive player, JM coach Phil Schroeder says Hurt is at an even higher level now and that she’s loving it.

“Katie has elevated her game defensively,” said Schroeder, whose Rockets led 26-18 at halftime, then gradually put things out of reach after that. “And that says a lot because Katie was a very good defender before this. But she has brought things up a notch at the perfect time. And she takes such pride in it, which is rare, too. She wants to stop the other team’s best player and shooter every time out.”

JM has one player who teams try to stop every night, but it never works. That’s the way it goes when guarding Lilly Meister, JM’s All-State and Indiana University-bound star center. Friday was no different. The 6-2 senior scored 22 points, which is just a hair below her average.

Making things even tougher for Century was that it was missing its top interior defender, Ella Zmolek. The sophomore turned her ankle in the last 5 minutes of Thursday’s practice.

Meister didn’t just beat Century with her scoring. She also showed herself to be a deft passer, hitting quick-cutting teammates for layups more than once.

JM’s entire team showed unselfishness with its ball movement and passing. The result was the Rockets had six different players with at least five points.

Meister, like Hurt a member of the JM varsity since seventh grade, is thrilled with the way her team is playing. She doesn’t want it to end.

“It’s just such a blessing to be able to be playing like this now,” Meister said. “We’ve grown so much.”

Century, which was led by senior forward Jordan Sutton’s 10 points, takes a 13-13 record into the Section 1AAAA tournament. That’s a huge jump from a year ago, when it finished 4-15.

[Class of '66 Old Fart 81,154]

Lilly and John Marshall advance in tournament play with a 52-35 win.  Monster night for Lilly with 30p and 12r.

[Class of '66 Old Fart 81,154]

Rochester Post-Bulletin

Make it 12 straight.

More important than that huge winning streak, make it the first time that the John Marshall girls basketball team has reached the Section 1AAAA championship game since 2015.

The Rockets got that done on Saturday, using another enormous outing by Indiana University-bound center Lilly Meister and more suffocating team defense to beat Lakeville South 55-44 in the Section 1AAAA semifinals at JM.

It pushed the top-seeded Rockets to 21-7 overall and into Friday's 6 p.m. title game at Mayo Civic Arena. There, they will meet No. 2 seed Lakeville North, a team JM beat 57-48 in early January.

This next test with North figures to be much tougher. The Panthers have won 11 of their last 13 games, including a 53-37 rout of Farmington in Saturday's section semifinals.

Then again, JM has Meister. With the ultra-talented 6-foot-2 senior on its side, the Rockets always like their chances.

Meister was an "ultra" player once again Saturday. She absolutely owned the second half, when she scored 23 of her game-high 31 points. She also used those 18 minutes to grab the majority of a rebound total that hovered around 20.

And finally, she was there when JM needed her most, just as Lakeville South was hinting at a comeback win after having trailed 21-14 at halftime. The Cougars had their deficit trimmed all the way to 33-29 when Meister basically said, "that's enough."

Taking things into her own hands, she followed with a basket and a converted foul shot after being whacked on the play. She also had 10 of her team's final 19 points, all while seeming to grab every rebound.

Yes, she wanted this badly. So, she said, did everyone on this team, especially its irreplaceable eight seniors. That includes teammate Katie Hurt, who like Meister has been on the JM varsity since seventh grade.

"This was going to be our last home game, regardless," said Meister, who has now scored 30 and 31 points in her last two games. "So, I thought, I'm going to make the most of it. I was just going to play hard. Now that we're in the finals, it just feels amazing."

Meister was not nearly the only Rocket who came out determined. It's what JM has done all season and particularly on the defensive end where it's performed a couple of notches above everybody it's faced during this winning streak.

JM entered the game having allowed fewer than 40 points for four straight games. It just missed that mark against Lakeville South, a team that had been averaging 52 points in the always tough South Suburban Conference.

"Without a doubt, it was team defense that won it for us," JM coach Phil Schroeder said. "Ours was phenomenal for the entire game. The kids did a great job of understanding what we wanted to do. (Finley) Ohnstad and (Ally) Schultz are great 3-point shooters for South, and they just continue to shoot no matter how it's going. So defensively, you can't ever let up against them."

JM never did take a defensive break and the post-game numbers reflected as much. Schultz, who's averaging 15 points per game, finished with 10. Ohnstad, averaging 12, had nine.

If you can't score, you can't win. JM did a heck of a job — once again — of not letting its opponent score much. And while it was doing that, Meister made sure the Rockets were taken care of on the other end.

It's what she does and it's what they do. Make it 12 wins and counting for the Rockets. Get one more and they're headed to the state tournament.

[Todd41 698]

Looked like Holmes got all ball on that last one

[Todd41 698]

Another no contact foul on holmes