Minnesota Women in Division 1

I thought I better take a quick look at Minnesota high school graduates playing Division 1 women's ball before the high school season kicks off, because I'll never get back to it then. So this is sketchy, based on a few early non-conference games. But sketchy or not, here's what's happening.

First Team Minnesota All-Stars

C- Martha Alwal, 6-3, Freshman, Mississippi State--Alwal, from Worthington, stepped right into the Bulldogs starting lineup. She's playing 29 minutes, the 10th most that I've seen. She's scoring 7 points a game on 56 percent FG shooting. But her real value was always her defense and here it's no exception: 12 rebounds, the best among all the Minnesotans I could think to look up, and 4 blocks, which ties her with Janae Burich at the top of the list. You saw this one coming, right?

F- Gina Lange, 6-foot, Junior, Valparaiso--I remember sitting in the stands with my clip-board at New Life Academy a 2 1/2 years ago. Because I have a clip-board, people think I know something. So this guy started chatting me up. Who've you seen? Who do you like? I said I thought the best player in the metro area who hadn't verballed D1 yet was Gina Lange of Forest Lake. The fellow turned out to be Keith Freeman, Valpo coach, and a couple months later Lange had verballed Valpo. Now she's scoring 14 p0ints, 4th best in this group, on 60 percent shooting (6th best).

Wings- Courtney Boylan, 5-9, Senior, Michigan--Making the Ms. Basketball people look good, finally. She hasn't played a ton in 3 years, but now, suddenly, she's the Wolverines top scorer with 15 points on 48 percent shooting. Oh, and the Wolves are 4-0. (From Chaska.)

Brittney Chambers, 5-8, Junior, Kansas State--Off to a slow start this year with 13 ppg on just 27 percent shooting. She'll come around. (Jordan.)

PG- Kamille Wahlin, 5-8, Senior, Iowa--Off to a slow start this year with 11 points and just 2 assists per game. Still she's shooting 46 percent from the perimeter. More than that, she's the quintessential glue player who does exactly what her team needs and makes everybody better. And with backcourt mates like Sam Logic and Jamie Printy, that really means BETTER. (Crookston.)

Second Team

C- Janae Burich, 6-5, Senior, North Dakota State--Scoring just 3 ppg on 21 percent shooting but she too will come around. Her stature as a player are best illustrated right now by her 4 blocks per game. (Roseville.)

PF- Jennie Sunnarborg, 6-2, Senior, South Dakota State--The Jackrabbits top scorer at 13 ppg on 52 percent shooting. (Osseo.)

SF- Megan Nipe, 6-foot, Junior, George Washington--Another slow starter this year, she's scoring just 5 ppg on 25 percent shooting. (Centennial.)

PG- Rachel Banham, 5-9, Freshman, Minnesota--Off to a great start: 2nd among Gopher scorers with 11 ppg; her 31 FG percent looks OK compared to some of those mentioned above; hopefully she can raise that up a bit. But mostly, her ball-handling and distribution have been stellar though you wouldn't necessarily know it with her 3 assists/3 turnover ratio. (Lakeville North.)

SG- Tayler Hill, 5-10, Junior, Ohio State. Top scorer among this group at 20 ppg with an excellent 50 FG percent; hard to keep her off the 1st team. But her other numbers (assists, rebounds) are well below those of some of the other guards like Chambers and Boylan.

Third Team

C- Georgie Jones, 6-2, Senior, Indiana--The St. Paul Central grad transferred from Marquette last year. Now she's scoring 10 points and adding 9 boards.

PF- Megan Howard, 5-11, Senior, St. Anselm--Also a Central grad (and teammate of G. Jones), she's the only D2 player to make the all-stars. Scoring 15 with 11 boards so far this year.

PF- Brittnye McSparron, 5-5, Senior, Drake--Missed last year with injuries but coming back strong: 11 ppg, 42 percent shooting, 2 assists, 3 steals. Her 4 turnovers per game are the most on the board, however.

SG- Kiara Buford, 5-10, Senior, Minnesota--13 points on 41 percent shooting, and an improved assist-to-turnover rate (3 to 2) so far.

SG- Kate Thompson, 6-3, Junior, Michigan--This might be a breakout year. She comes off the bench but scores 10 ppg with 5 boards.

Diaper Dandies

C- Alwal

PF-Apiew Ojulu, 6-3, Freshman, Marquette--8 points in 26 minutes

SF- Megan Waytashek, 6-0, Sophomore, South Dakota State--6 points on 57 FG percent

PG- Banham

SG- Suriya McGuire, 5-11, RS Freshman, Miami (Fla.)--6 ppg on 58 percent shooting

2nd Team Diaper Dandies

C- Pick 'em. Beth Doolittle, 6-4 Freshman, Iowa and Cassie Rochel, 6-4, RS freshman, Wisconsin. Neither is starting. Doolittle is scoring 6 points on 67 percent shooting in 13 minutes. Rochel is scoring 4 on 54 percent shooting in 14 minutes. Rochel is out-rebounding Doolittle 4-2.

PF- Hannah Strop, 6-1, Sophomore, South Dakota State--3 points in 13 minutes on 83 percent shooting.

PF- Kahla Becken, 5-8, Freshman, North Dakota State--8 points in 22 minutes.

SG- Morgan Van Riper-Rose, 5-10, Freshman, Denver--4 points in 24 minutes.

The Leader Board

Points--Tayler Hill 20, Courtney Boylan and Megan Howard 15, Gina Lange 14, Kiara Buford, Brittnye McSparron and Brittney Chambers 13.

Rebounds--Martha Alwal 12, Megan Howard 11, Georgie Jones 9, Janae Burich and Katie Loberg 7

Assists--Kiara Buford, Rachel Banham, Nicole Smart and Kahla Becken 3 each

Steals--Tayler Hill and Brittnye McSparron 3 each

Blocks--Martha Alwal and Janae Burich 4 each

Turnovers--Brittnye McSparron, Ephesia Holmes and Nytor Longar 4 each

Also Notable

Leah Dietel is scoring 7 points on 60 percent shooting for the Jackrabbits. Hannah Linz is scoring 10 points on 53 percent shooting with 4 assists for NDSU. Katie Loberg is at 9 points and 7 boards for Minnesota. Brianna Edwards is scoring just 2 points in 13 minutes for Providence.