Class AAA
1st Team
Tournament MVP--Julia Bengtson, Becker, 5-10, senior, point guard. Bengtson is the most exciting player in this year's tournament regardless of class. She is perhaps the most instinctive player in the state regardless of whether they made the tournament or not. She's a Miss Basketball finalist despite being pretty much totally disrespected by Prep Girls Hoops, who have her at #21 among the senior class. Seriously? I won't say who she's better than but I will say this. 2 girls who are more highly rated than Bengtson played in final games today, and Bengtson is better than either of them. If not top 5, then top 6. And back into serious contention for Miss Basketball.
Jordyn Hilgemann, Marshall, 5-11, senior, forward. Then there's Hilgemann, or Hil-GUM-mon, as Dave Lee pronounced it on the air most of the day. #39 on Prep Girls Hoops. The #1 scorer in Marshall history, led the AAA tournament in scoring with 61 points, and, oh, yeah, 8 steals against Becker, and #39. Sure, she's going D2, but she led her team to 2nd place in Class AAA. C'mon, guys, this is embarrassing.
Emily Meier, Marshall, 5-10, senior, power forward.
And Abigail Wendorff, Marshall, 5-10, center. Marshall's "big girls" only go 5-10 but they sure do what they want in the lane. Wendorff scored 40 and Meier 39. Becker gave Hilgemann a tough time on the perimeter, and so Wendorff and Meier got it going inside for 33 points.
Courtney Nuest, Becker, 5-9, senior, shooting guard. You could have any one of 3 or 4 Becker girls in this spot but Nuest scored 33 points and helped out on the boards.
2nd Team
Adeline Kent, Becker, 5-8, junior, shooting guard.
Megan Gamble, Becker, 5-10, senior, power forward. Again, there are 2 or 3 more Becker girls you could put here. Kent was their #2 scorer at 44, while Gamble did the dirty work in the lane, scoring just 17 points but adding 16 boards and a handful of assists and steals.
Frankie Vascellero, Holy Angels, 5-11, shooting guard. Great shooter with 19 points in each of 2 games but came up one game short of the final for the 3rd time.
Kassandra Caron, Holy Angels, 6-0, junior, power forward. Scored 31 points in 2 games. 30 in the quarter-finals and one in the semis. But she added 3 rebounds, 7 assists and 4 steals in that 2nd game.
Lilli Mackley, Hill-Murray, 6-0, senior, combo guard. Becker demolished Hill-Murray but Mackley and teammates Bella Hartzell and Ella Runyon had a great season. One of them had to sneak in here and I like Mackley.
Class AAAA
1st Team
Tournament MVP--Helen Staley, Rosemount, 6-0, senior, combo guard. OK, I've never been a big admirer of Helen Staley but of course I haven't seen very much ball this year, and I also thought Rosemount had no chance whatsoever in this tournament, even after Chaska knocked off Hopkins. I was wrong, wrong, wrong. Staley dominated the final. Granted, she does not appear to have been the star of Rosemount's really big upset win over Farmington, but then she had 9 assists in the semis vs. Centennial. And now 17 pints, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, and she did most of the heavy lifting in guarding Mallory Heyer and holding the Gopher recruit to 7 points. The only thing Staley didn't do was drain the 3 at the buzzer. That was just too much to ask. Other than that, she was darn near perfect.
Mallory Heyer, Chaska, 6-1, junior, power forward. Scored 50 points in 3 games with 22 rebounds in the TV games and 4 assists and 4 blocks in the final. She totally outplayed metro player of the year Maya Nnaji in the semis.
Kennedy Sanders, Chaska, 5-8, sophomore, point guard. Led AAAA with 62 points. Gotta say, Rosemount defended her like, uh, Rosemount. It's not that she scored 10 in the final. She had zero assists! Still, she scored 21 against Hopkins to make the final game win over Rosemount possible.
Taylor Woodson, Hopkins, 6-0, sophomore, forward. Was Hopkins best player in the tournament with 31 points in 2 games and 13 boards vs. Chaska.
Kaylee Van Eps, Chaska, 5-11, senior, forward. Scored the winning basket for a total of 33 points in 3 games, plus 12 rebounds in the 2 TV games. Also a solid ball handler and a great defender.
2nd Team
Jodi Anderson, Centennial, 5-11, senior, wing. Scored 34 points in 2 games with 17 rebounds.
Nicole O'Neil, Rosemount, 5-10, sophomore, shooting guard. I called her Rosemount's secret weapon, its top 3-point shooter. But her big sister Larisa did exactly the same thing, making 70 of them last year. Well, Nicole is not a secret anymore with 31 points in 3 games and 3-of-5 3s in the final.
Nu Nu Agara, Hopkins
Maya Nnaji, Hopkins. Agara scored 23 points in 2 games with 10 boards against Chaska. Nnaji also scored 23 and blamed herself the the loss as Mallory Heyer outplayed the metro player of the year.
Peyton Blandin, Farmington. How in the world anybody scored 26 points vs. Rosemount is beyond me. I mean, they held Jodi Anderson to 10, Mallory Heyer to 7. But Blandin did it. It's not her fault that Farmington failed to return to the title game.
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