We had a couple of upsets--minor upsets, maybe, but upsets nonetheless--on the girls side tonight, both involving private schools.
Holy Angels (3-1) knocked previously #1AA-rated Minnehaha (2-3) below .500 by the score of 62-60 in the RedHawks gym. And unbeaten St. Paul Como defeated highly regarded, now once-beaten Maranatha 76-59 in St. Paul.
Minnehaha returns 4 of last year's 5 starters and was the pre-season choice to win the Class AA state title. That could of course still happen, but losses to Zumbrota, St. Paul Como and now Holy Angels suggests they've got a long ways to go. We knew they weren't deep and their leading scorer, junior guard Mia Curtis, has been averaging more than 4 PF per game, so that might be part of it. A coaching change might be part of it. But, mainly, they're just not scoring enough points (55 per game) to win.
Meanwhile, Holy Angels lost star post Destiny Oberg and power forward Kaylee Van Der Werf to transfers, so expectations were somewhat muted. And they lost their opener to West Des Moines Dowling. But against MN competition they're now 3-0 and all 3 are quality wins--Cretin, Cooper and now Minnehaha. 6-0 sophomore guard Frankie Vascellero is having a breakout year, scoring 20 ppg so far.
Not much was expected of St. Paul Como either. They lost 3-point specialist Makayla Van Nett to graduation and they had lost forward Elaina Jones to transfer though, granted, that was 2 years ago. Still, that left a void of experienced leadership. Instead Como coach Alexis Gray-Lawson is starting 4 9th graders and an 8th grader. The latter is Shania Nichols, who is Van Nett's sister. But the leaders of the pack are freshmen Kaylynn Asberry and Ronnie Porter, who average 18 and 17 ppg. Last night, they combined for 31, while Nichols had 13.
Meanwhile, Maranatha is just 1-1 but may not be the juggernaut that we expected. They're replacing 2 stars in PG Kylie Post and PF Jaclyn Jarnot, and they're doing it with a new coach. Unfortunately, they decided to terminate coach Chris Buerman because he didn't play his starters enough minutes. This seemed strange considering that the Mustangs won 27 times by an average of 35 points, and won by more than 50 points 7 times.
The new regime showed that it understood its marching orders, winning its opener last week 107-10. This is what they do at Maranatha. They humiliate people. Which seems strange, secondly, for a school that calls itself a Christian Academy. You can look it up.
Player of the Day--Adalia McKenzie, Park Center. In the day's 3rd big game, St. Michael-Albertville survived the Pirates on the road, 63-62, despite McKenzie's 25 points.
Team of the Day--St. Paul Como
Coach of the Day--Alexis Gray-Lawson, Como
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