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Game 2: Plegia @ Enbarr
Plegia comes in hunting for the 8th seed in the North. Enbarr comes in tied for the Southern Conference lead with Garreg Mach. One team came out swinging, and it was not the team I expected.
Despite having 4 or 5 potential All-Star caliber players, Enbarr started off extremely slowly, mostly relying on the early scoring of Edelgard to keep them close to Plegia.
In reality, the main battle was between the guards; Morgan, Severa, Edelgard, and Petra.
Morgan in particular had a transcendent game:
Her defense was instrumental early for the Wizards as they kept Enbarr away from their standard practice of blowing out a team early, as Plegia kept up the pressure on the Eagles.
Even Defensive Player of the Year candidate Caspar struggled against the tandem of Lucina and Cynthia, the latter finding a large amount of space as she delivered justice:
Morgan continued to apply pressure to Enbarr, forcing a smaller lineup with Petra and Bernie playing in tandem. This got results for a little bit:
But with Hubert and Jeritza splitting time at the 5, Plegia’s bigs finally got an opportunity to score for themselves.
The man on man defense Enbarr applied to prevent Morgan from getting open looks now gave Brady and Owain open lanes inside, which they used effectively:
And the quarter ended in the worst possible way. Caspar fouled Owain, then went down with a non-contact injury on his ankle:
He would come back and play for small sections, but he was effectively useless to Enbarr for the rest of the game.
The game would be tied at the end of the 1st, 25-25.
Constance would get the game going in the 2nd quarter, and once again put her hat in the ring for 6th player of the year:
And Hubert showed why he’s still a formidable opponent:
His height created huge mismatches for Owain, Yarne, and Inigo, who all took turns struggling to stop him.
But his contributions largely resulted in nothing, as Morgan made sure to keep her monster game going.
And Cynthia continued to feast on the injured Caspar and less defensive minded Dorothea:
Which leads us to an earlier topic. I mentioned that the All-Star contests had been determined? Well, two of the Dunk contest competitors were in this particular game. Owain, who was largely held to layups in this contest, and Ferdinand Von Aegir.
Ferdinand got open lanes in the 2nd quarter, and decided to showboat his way to 8 points.
But of course, they forgot about Morgan:
And to end the half, Gerome provided his lone contribution:
Plegia and Enbarr would remain tied, 51-51.
Edelgard would once again get her team started in the second half:
(I’m starting to notice that Edelgard has 1 dunk per half in her, then she mostly passes the ball.)
Lo and behold, who should continue their excellence but Morgan?
Petra would once again find Ferdinand for a huge dunk:
Only for Brady…
To light up the scoreboard right when Plegia needed it!
Then Noire followed it up with a huge 3 of her own:
Then Dorothea would go down the court and respond a few minutes later:
Only for Owain to return the favor at the end of the 3rd.
The 3rd quarter would end with the teams still tied, 80-80.
Enbarr’s new coach is livid.
The 4th would honestly be a pretty boring affair for most of it. Enbarr finally got off a 4-0 run to start the quarter, and for most of the 4th would maintain a 4 point lead.
Lucina would attempt to start a comeback late in the 4th, though:
And Brady would tie the game up at 98 apiece:
But of all the people on Enbarr, it was Dorothea that would seal the game for the Black Eagle Dunk Force:
She would score 7 points on 3-3 shooting and 1 foul shot, and give Enbarr a 98-105 lead.
Owain would give Plegia a little life, but that early slip up in the beginning of the 4th would cost them a game that they had control of.
Enbarr sneaks by, 100-105.
(Caspar has an ankle contusion, which will in no way affect the game against Albinea)