Girls All-Star Games Set for April 20-21 EDIT ROSTERS NOW SET, TOO

EDIT

As we reported earlier, the MGBCA all-star game is going to a new format. Players have now been drafted by the four teams--Gold, Green, Blue, Maroon.

Gold, led by Marissa Janning and Jackie Johnson, would have to be regarded as a contender. Richell Mehus, Josie Dillon and Whitney Olson are also potential difference-makers. Coaches are Rick Koivisto and Nick Furnstahl of Red Lake County Central, whose Michaela Casavan is also a Goldie.

Blue has Abbie Whitney, Whitney Tinjum and a bevy of guards including Alexis Foley. Coaches are Deb Williams and Francene Lee of St. Paul Highland, whose Kionda Nicks is also Blue.

Green looks like a contender with Mariah Monke, Kali Peschel and guards Brittney Scherber, Mikayla Bailey, Mariah Adanane, Tessa Cichy and others. Scott Bergman and Don Peschel of Sauk are coaches.

Maroon is loaded with Schumpert and Healy inside and Mullaney, Biewen and Sydney Coffey outside.

In the end the winner will be the team with the best guards and that looks like 1) Maroon, 2) Green, 3) Gold and 4) Blue.

Gold Team

Josie Dillon 6’1 W Benilde-Margaret

Whitney Olson 5’7 PG Cambridge Isanti

Jackie Johnson 6’2 P Eden Prairie

Jessy Noreen 5’7 PG Hawley

Whitney Burmeister 5’10 W Jackson County Central

Mattie Lueck 6’0 P Pequot Lakes

Michaela Casavan 5’10 W Red Lake County Central

Richell Mehus 5’7 W Spring Grove

Katy Kuiper 5’9 PG St. Peter

Marissa Janning 5’8 PG Watertown-Mayer

Coaches:

Rick Koivisto—Red Lake County Central

Nick Furnstahl—Red Lake County Central

Blue Team

Katie Myhre 5’8 W Barnum

Whitney Tinjum 6’2 W Chisago Lakes

Courtney Hulstein 5’7 PG Fulda

Gabbi Steinstra 5’11 PG Minnehaha Academy

Abbie Whitney 6’5 P Sartell-St Stephen

Ellie Zeller 5’8 PG St. Anthony Village

Christine Thorn 5’7 W St. Michael-Albertville

Kionda Nicks 6’1 P St. Paul Highland Park

Alexis Foley 5’10 PG White Bear Lake

Coaches:

Deb Williams—St. Paul Highland Park

Francene Lee—St. Paul Highland Park

Green Team

Britney Scherber 5’9 PG Bloomington Jefferson

Riley Nordgaard 5’11 PG Canby

Mariah Adenane 5’10 W DeLaSalle

Mariah Monke 6’2 P Fergus Falls

Tessa Cichy 6’0 W Hill-Murray

Lindsey Lahr 5’6 PG Isle

Tara Roelofs 5’9 G Lake Crystal-Welcome Memorial

Mikayla Bailey 5’9 G Osseo

Katrina Moenkedick 5’10 P Perham

Kali Peschel 6’1 G Sauk Centre

Coaches:

Scott Bergman—Sauke Centre

Don Peschel—Sauk Centre

Maroon Team

Khadijah Shumpert 6’1 P Benilde-St. Margaret

Heather Strese 6’0 P Brandon-Evansville

Shayne Mullaney 5’8 PG Eden Prairie

Katybeth Biewen 5’9 PG Edina

Sydney Coffey 6’0 W Hopkins

Alissa Retterath G Hutchinson

Alexis Long 5’6 PG Maranatha

AnnMarie Healey 6’1 P Providence Academy

Jess Lillquist 5’11 P Sebeka

ORIGINAL POST

The MGBCA all-star games will be Friday night and Saturday afternoon, April 20-21 at the Leonard Center at Macalester College. 6 and 7:30 p.m. on Friday, and 1:30 and 3 p.m. on Saturday.

The 39 participants have been identified by Class (as follows). But my understanding is that the teams will be redistributed, lottery style and, like the Boys, you will end up with Gold, Maroon, Blue and Green or some such. With the games just one week away, maybe we'll only find out who is who on game night?

Class A	Class AA
Richell Mehus Spring Grove	Katy Kuiper St. Peter
Riley Nordgaard Canby	Tara Roelofs LCWM Knights
Courtney Hulstein Fulda	Whitney Burmeister Jackson County Central
Alexis Long Marantha Christian Academy	Gabbi Stienstra Minnehaha Academy
Lindsey Lahr Isle	AnnMarie Healy Providence Academy
Jesica Lillquist Sebeka	Marissa Janning Watertown-Mayer
Michaela Casavan Red Lake County Central	Kali Peschel Sauk Centre
Heather Strese Brandon-Evansville	Jessy Noreen Hawley
Katie Myhre Barnum	Mattie Lueck Pequot Lakes
	Katrina Moenkedick Perham

Class AAA	Class AAAA
Alissa Retterath Hutchinson	Britney Scherber Bloomington Jefferson
Mariah Adanene DeLaSalle	Jackie Johnson Eden Prairie
Ellie Zeller St. Anthony Village	Shayne Mullaney Eden Prairie
Tessa Cichy Hill-Murray	Katybeth Biewen Edina
Kiondra Nicks St. Paul Highland Park	Alexis Foley White Bear Lake
Khadijah Shumpert Benilde-St. Margarets	Mikayla Bailey Osseo
Josie Dillon Benilde-St. Margarets	Sydney Coffey Hopkins
Whitney Tinjum Chisago Lakes	Marissa Grossfeld Wayzata
Abbie Whitney Sartell-St. Stephen	Whitney Olson Cambridge-Isanti
Mariah Monke Fergus Falls	Christine Thorn St. Michael-Albertville

2011-2012 Minnesota Hoops Player(s) of the Year

Congrats to Taylor Young and her many fans, who apparently got the word out, and found their way to Minnesota Hoops to vote for her in our 2nd annual Player of the Year vote. Young won the fan balloting with 73 of 254 ballots (28 percent).

Last year's PoY based on the fan balloting, Kevin Love, was this year's runner-up with 62 votes (24 percent).

3rd was Lindsay Whalen with 29 votes (11 percent), followed by:

Rachel Banham was 4th with 23 votes (9 percent)
Tyus Jones was 5th with 20 votes (7 percent).
Seimone Augustus with 19 votes (7 percent)
Ricky Rubio with 13 (5 percent)
James Ellisor with 10 (3 percent)
Nia Coffey with 3 votes (1 percent)
Siyani Chambers with 2 votes (0 percent)

Last year I wrote after the balloting was complete that I was within an eyelash of picking Tyler Nicolai, point guard for St. Thomas' national champions, as my PoY. But Love won the reader poll by a landslide, and so I decided to go with the consensus and pick Love as my PoY.

Keep in mind that I have picked a Minnesota PoY for every season going back to 1900. Check out the list on the post entitled Minnesota Player of the Year. (As of today it is the next post down.)

This year I'm going in a different direction:

Taylor Young is the MnHoops Readers Poll PoY. God bless all of you who made the effort to give her your support in the poll.

But Lindsay Whalen is the official Minnesota PoY and goes on that list of Minnesota PoYs that stretches all the way back to 1900.

Thanks to all who cast 254 ballots this year. Last year we had about 120.

This Weekend (April 20-22) It's the Boys' Turn

OK, the girls coaches all-star games are at 6 and 7:30 Friday night and 1:30 and 3 Saturday afternoon at Macalester.

But otherwise this is a week for the boys to take the spotlight, after the girls Midwest Kickoff tournament last weekend.

Thanks to Gopher Warrior over at the GopherHole.com, by the way, for alerting me to these events. They are not 1, not 2, but 3 in number, and without making an actual count I would estimate we're talking about almost 500 games of basketball to be played Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

NIKE EYBL

The Nike Elite Youth Basketball League consists of 40 elite traveling teams that will play in 3 events in the Twin Cities, Hampton, VA, and Dallas. This week's games are at the High Performance Academy, 2950 Lexington Avenue South, Eagan.

Friday night 4-20--15 games at 6, 7:30 and 9 p.m. The local entry, Howard Pulley, plays the Georgia Stars at 7:30 on Court 3.

Saturday 4-21--40 games from 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Pulley plays Albany City Rocks at 2 p.m again on Court 3. If you just plop yourself down on Court 3 you'll see Pulley, Albany, Indy Spiece, Boo Williams, NY Lightning, Georgia Stars, Team Texas Titans, Wisconsin Playground, Mean Streets (IL), CP3 (NC) and All Iowa Attack.

Sunday 4-22--25 games from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Pulley plays NJ Playaz at 9:30 a.m. on Court 1.

The Pulley 17U features Dion Bradley, St. Paul Highland; Anders Broman, Lakeview Christian; Kamali Chambers and Jamal Davis, Hopkins; Gage Deis, Prairie Seeds; Quinton Hooker, Park Center; Wayland Johnson, St. Paul Johnson; Tyus Jones, Apple Valley; Sam Neumann, Cretin; Henry Sonie, Apple Valley; Renard Suggs, Woodbury; Kyle Washington; and others.

Pump n Run's Best Buy Spring Classic

April 20-22 in Bloomington at Jefferson, Kennedy and Olson Middle School. This is all 17U with 48 teams, 24 from MN and the same number from elsewhere. Elsewhere means Wisconsin (7 teams), Kansas City (4), Nebraska, Illinois and Iowa (3 each), and 1 each from North Dakota, Arkansas, Michigan, Florida and Texas.

Games are at 7:10, 8:20 and 9:30 Friday night, all day Saturday, and 10:15 through 2:45 (the 3 championship games) on Sunday.

Pump n Run does not appear to have up to date rosters on its Web site yet, but last year's 16U (2013s) included Graham Woodward of Edina, Ian Theisen of Osseo, and Elwood Ellenson of Rice Lake. Whether these fellows are returning to this year's 17U I don't know. Jamal Davis, who has jumped to Pulley, was on Pump n Run's 16U a year ago. Some of its 15U last year were Marshawn Wilson of Tartan, Jarvis Johnson and Reid Travis of DeLaSalle, and Henry Ellenson.

NY2LA Sports

The Spring Extravaganza will be at Hopkins Lindbergh and Minnetonka. Play opens at 6 p.m. Friday, and 8 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. There is play all the way from 9U to 17U, with 15U-16U and 17U somewhat featured. There are 36 17Us, 32 16Us and 24 15Us. Like the Best Buy Classic, the older teams are predominantly from the upper midwest but with some coming from elsewhere all over the country. The younger brackets feature anywhere from 6 to 12 teams.

The 15-16-17U finals are at 12:40 and 1:50 Sunday at Hopkins. The other finals follow at 3:30 at Hopkins.

Minnesotans in the 17U division are MN Select White, MN Comets Elite Hanson, 43 Hoops, MN Select Blue and MN Comets Elite Stock.

Select White, coached by Mitch Ohnstad, features Carson Shanks of Prior Lake, Kebu Johnson of Blake, Brady Wohler of Orono, Logan Brown of Roseville, and others. Select Blue is coached by Patrick Boughton.

Comets Stock, coached by Jordan Stock, is a greater MN team with kids from Lac Qui Parle Valley, Long Prairie, Willmar, Fergus, Melrose, Braham, New London-Spicer, etc. Comets Hanson, coached by Josh Hanson, is also greater MN based featuring Aaron Lien of Moorhead, Jonah Eisenschenk of Rocori, 6-11 Conor Voss of St. Cloud Cathedral, and more.

43 Hoops, coached by Chris Carr, hasn't published a 17U roster yet.

Summary

The caliber of play is in the order given. I would probably think of NY2LA on Friday night, EYBL on Saturday, and Pump n Run/Best Buy on Sunday, assuming I wanted to see as much MN talent as possible plus a smattering of the best of the rest. If I just wanted the best of the best I'd be at the High Performance Academy for 3 days.

Lynx Pick Deveraux Peters

The Lynx have 6 picks in this year's WNBA draft, but being the defending champs, it is thought to be very doubtful that anybody after the #3 pick in the 1st round would stick with the club.

So the only name you probably have to get accustomed to is Deveraux Peters, a 6-2 power forward from Notre Dame. She scored career highs of 12 points with 9 boards and 2 assists as a 5th year senior this past year, when she helped the Irish to 2nd place in the NCAA. You might recall they defeated UConn in OT in the semi, then got blowed out by Baylor in the final.

The draft went according to Hoyle for exactly one pick, Nnemkadi Obumwike of Stanford, at #1. #2 was expected to be Shenise Johnson of Miami Florida but instead it was Shekinne Stricklen of Tennessee. The Lynx had been expected to take Stricklen, but now the reached down past Stricklen's college teammate, Glory Johnson, who was projected at #4, and grabbed Peters instead. Glory Johnson went 4th and Shenise Johnson 5th, and Lynx fans will be following the trio for years to come to evaluate how the Lynx did with their #3 pick.

They Also Ran

At #12 the Lynx grabbed perhaps the top 19 year old in the world, Damaris Dantas of Brazil. She's a 6-4 center who was the #1 scorer at the 2011 FIBA 19 & Under worlds at 21 ppg (plus 12.5 rebounds and 2 steals). Her upside would seem to be greater than current Lynx back-up post Jessica Adair but Adair performed well enough in last summer's playoffs that her position ought to be pretty solid. Perhaps the point of picking Dantas, aside from her upside potential, is that she can stay with and in Brazil for a couple of years and then the Lynx can harvest her when she is more mature and perhaps the Lynx' need will be "enhanced."

At #18 it was Julie Wojta, 6-footer from Wisconsin-Green Bay. Her senior numbers are 20 ppg, 10 boards, 4 assists and 4 steals. She would be a keeper under anything other than the Lynx' "loaded" status. Hopefully she can be flipped for some future draft choices when the Lynx need them.

Ditto #19 Kayla Standish of Gonzaga, another tall one at 6-2, but clearly behind Wojta with 16 ppg, 8 boards and a .473 shooting percentage to Wojta's .501 (career) and .522 (senior).

And ditto #20 Nika Baric of Slovenia, a 5-7 point guard who scored 14 ppg with 5 rebounds and 3 assists.

5 down and 1 to go.

Surprises Galore at Girls Midwest Kickoff EDIT We now have all the finals

There were plenty of surprises at the Midwest Kickoff, at least in the top 2 (Gold and Silver) divisions, and at least based on Kevin Anderson's early ratings.

Gold was won by #5-rated (#4 among Midwest Kickoff participants) Metro Stars Black. I guess it just goes to show that one ought never to under-estimate Hopkins girls--i.e. Taylor Anderson and Nia Coffey, who led Metro Stars Black with 14 and 12 points in the 35-33 championship game win over All-Iowa Attack (AIA) Jensen. MC McGrory added 4 points, Leah Szabla 3 and Emily Spier 2.

Silver was won by AIA Johnson, a 10th grade team, #4-rated (#3 among participants). Johnson upset Metro Stars 15u 49-32 in the semis and then did the same to North Tartan's #1-rated and #1-seeded 15u team 52-41. Tia Elbert led Tartan with 13 while Cayla McMorris scored 9, Maddie Lee 6, Kenisha Bell 5, Anna Monke 3, Micaela Noga 2, Alexis Alexander 2 and Ayo Porte 1.

The MN Fury 2016 Blue played Metro Stars White (Martin) for the Platinum title, with Martin prevailing 48-31.

Metro Stars also won in the Emerald Division, Metro Stars Nelson beating Minnesota 36ers Keys in the final 65-41.

In the Pearl Division, the final was MN Heat Elite 7th 35 Winona Fury 24.

Bad Day for North Tartan

Overall it was a bad weekend and a bad Sunday for Minnesota's top club. The Elite was shocked 54-53 on Saturday in the Gold Division by Wisconsin Lakers White on a half-court 3 at the final buzzer. They went on to defeat Southern MinneMagic Black but then lose also to Kingdom Hoops Elite in the 5th place game.

Also in Gold, Wisconsin Lakers White went on to take 3rd place over MN Fury Elite 55-39. Minnesota clubs won 1 and lost 4 vs. Wisconsin entries.

Minnesota went 2-2 vs. Wisconsin (including 2-0 in championship round games) in Silver, but AIA Johnson knocked off 3 Minnesota teams en route to the title. North Tartan defeated Kingdom Hoops Red 67-40 and MN Fury 2014 Blue 50-43 to get to the final. Tonoia Wade led the way vs. Fury with 9 points, McMorris and Clare Lundberg added 8, Bell 7, Alexander 5, Elbert and Porte 4, Lee 3 and Noga 2.

North Tartan split a pair of finals with Kingdom Hoops. NT 15u Silver took 3rd place in Emerald, beating Kingdom Hoops Black 70-19. Tartan's 12u took 2nd behind Kingdom Hoops 7th (grade) 53-45 in Sapphire.

Finally at 4:10 NT Herbrechtsmeyer (14u) finally won a title in the Diamond division 46-25 over MN Fury Peper. At 5:20 NT West took the Ruby title 53-29 over MN Heat Elite 8th.

So, yeah, Tartan won a pair of titles. It hardly calls for a lot of doom and gloom. But most eyes were on the top 2 divisions, Gold and Silver, and the losses there were still the big surprises of the day.

High School Coaches of the Year

EDIT APRIL 14, 2012

The 2 coaches associations have announced their CoY for each class. They are now edited in below.

-----

Forgot to include the coaches in the season wrap up. Oops. I mean, what do coaches really do, anyway? (Just kidding.) You've pretty much got to get to the state tournament to be a coach of the year, or there would have to be some really strange circumstance....

Boys

Class AAAA--Tim Theisen, Osseo. Mark Gerber of Eastview was my pick going into the state tournament but I had to switch for fairly obvious reasons. The MBCA has chosen Theisen and Scott Swansson of Woodbury as co-coaches of the year. Gerber did not even make section CoY, which seems pretty harsh. 

Class AAA--Reggie Perkins, Minneapolis Washburn. I continue to consider Vern Simmons to be the best coach around, but Reggie had a better year this year. MBCA picked Bob Brink, which is undoubtedly a career award at this point. Reggie and Vern are both section CoY. Somebody on one of the forums gave me a hard time for picking Perkins, the point being that DeLaSalle won the title and coach Dave Thorson should be the coach of the year. The MBCA did not pick Thorson as section CoY.

Class AA--Kirk Thompson, Plainview-EM. Kelly Raymond of St. Peter and John Carlson of Litch get at least a hats off. Ron Vorwald of Worthington somehow bumped Thompson, who is not even section CoY. Raymond and Carlson are both section CoY.

Class A--Hard not to pick the champ Dave Montbriand of BBE, but Tom Vix, Rushford-Peterson, remains the best coach in Class A, career-wise. Montbriand all the way. Vix is section CoY.

Overall--Tim Theisen, Osseo. Let's say Montbriand second and Gerber third. There is no overall by the MBCA.

Girls

Class AAAA--Brian Cosgriff. Hard not to pick Matt Nilsen of Edina or Melissa Guebert of Eastview. The best DAY was Charlita Williamson's of Tartan in guiding her team to an upset of Stillwater in Section 4. The MGBCA picked Nilsen as did Kevin Anderson pick Nilsen overall regardless of class. Neither Cos nor Guebert was section CoY.

Class AAA--Josh Mohagen, Fergus Falls. The best DAY anybody had was Michael Wright's of Minneapolis Roosevelt in a near-upset of Park Center in Section 3. Mohagen all the way.

Class AA--Scott Bergman, Sauk Centre. Scott Paukert did a nice job to get Zumbrota-Mazeppa to the state tournament. Bergman all the way for the 2nd straight year.

Class A--Jeff Buffetta, Mountain Iron-Buhl. Dave Smart of Ada-Borup is still pretty smart in my book. Ashlee Zupancich of the new North Woods high school at Cook, MN, also gets a shout-out along with Tammy Filzen, new to Bethlehem Academy. The MGBCA picked Buffetta, not only Jeff but B. Buffetta as assistant of the year.

Overall--Cosgriff, then Buffetta, then Guebert. Again there is no overall CoY.

Overall

1. Thiesen
2. Cosgriff
3. Montbriand

Girls "Summer" Kicks Off

The girls summer AAU season kicks off this weekend with the midwest, well, "kick off" at Bloomington Kennedy. There are 8 divisions and 8 teams in each. They are not specifically by age group.

Gold Division


Gold is the top division, and here everybody is 2013 oriented. You've got 4 quarter-finals at 7:30 Saturday night, 2 semis at 10:10 a.m. Sunday and the final is at 12:30 p.m. Sunday.


The top 2 teams are probably playing at 10:10, however, rather than 12:30, those being North Tartan Elite/Coury and All Iowa Attack Elite/Jensen. Kevin Anderson has Jensen rated #2  in the 2013 class and Tartan #3. (#1 Nebraska CSS Bison is not entered.) AIA's top team is awesome with Iowa State recruit and point guard Jadda Buckley; Iowa recruit Ally Disterhoff; Shaya Kellogg, Kionna's little sister; Madelin Robinson, KJ Veldman and 3-point specialist Mackenzie Freeman, MVP of last month's Iowa AAU championships. (KJA had Kellogg and Veldman on his weekly high five.) 


North Tartan Coury features Savanna Trapp, Onye Osemenam, Tyseanna Johnson, T. T. Starks, Tesha Buck, Joanna Hedstrom, Grace Coughlin and Rebekah Dahlman, among others.


The other 10:10 semi may feature #5 Metro Stars Black and #6 MN Fury 2013 Elite. MSB features Bryanna Fernstrom, Tiffany Flaata, Nia Coffey, Natalie Ratliff, MC McGrory, Taylor Anderson, Leah Szabla and more. Fury has Erin O'Toole, Lauren Shifflett, Natalie Van Whye, Katie McDaniels. Larissa Lurken, Jacquie Poss and more.


The final should be #2 AIA Jensen vs. #5 Metro Stars Black with #3 Tartan settling for 3rd.


Silver Division


In Silver you've got mostly 2014s, and here AIA and Tartan should meet in the 11:20 a.m. final. 


AIA Johnson is rated #4 in its class after getting to the Iowa AAU final vs. its sisters at AIA Jensen. The older girls won 66-43. Veldman, a Johnson last year, came off the bench to lead Jensen with 19 points. Freeman had 15, Disterhoff and Buckley 11, Kellogg 10. Buckley led with 9 boards and 9 defensive stops while Kellogg had 5 distributions. 


For Johnson, Myah Mellman scored 13 points and Shareece Burrell 12; Haley Lorenzen and Burrell had 7 boards each; Lorenzen had 7 defensive stops; and Mellman and Burrell 5 distributions.


Tartan's 15s are defending state champs (as 14s) with Cayla McMorris, Claire Lundberg, Maddy Lee, Alexis Alexander, Tia Elbert, Nakesha Bell, Micaela Noga and others.


The quarter-finals are at 6:20 Saturday night and the semis at 9:20 Sunday a.m. One other semi-finalists could be MN Fury 2014 Blue (Storm) featuring Ellie Thompson, Kylie Brown, Katie Quandt and others. The other will be either Wisconsin Fury 17U or Metro Stars 15U. Metro Stars 15U (Reiter) feature Hannah Grim, Taylor Thunstedt, Chase Coley, McKenna Happke, Jordan Meyer and others. Wisconsin Fury 17U is a mix of 2013s and 2014s with a 2015 thrown in for good measure. I would have to believe their age differential would make them the favorite against Metro Stars 15s but not against AIA Johnson.


Diamond Division


Here the championship round games are at 5:10 Saturday, 1:50 Sunday and 4:10 Sunday. You've got Iowa Extreme 15U and otherwise mostly 14Us, including Tartan14U, AIA Mauro, 2 MN Stars, a MN Fury and a Metro Stars. 


Look for semi-finalists to be AIA Mauro vs. Tartan 14s, and Metro Stars 14U vs. MN Fury 2015 Blue. Mariah Criswell scored 18 of Mauro's 41 points in a final game loss in the Iowa AAU tournament. The Tartan 14s are coached by John Herbrechtsmeyer and feature Sam Trammel, Courtney Frederickson, Monica Burich, Hannah Schaub, Viria Livingstone, Kanani Ascuncion, Alexa Lee and others.


Metro Stars 14U, coached by Ellen Wiese, feature Maddie Guebert, Raven DuBois, Hana Metoxen, Ellie Vraa and others. Fury 2015 Blue, coached by Tim Peper, feature Alexis Greene and Jacky Volkert.


Platinum Division


Platinum looks like a mix of 8th and 9th grade teams. Tartan's 13U and 14U Silver are both here, along with an AIA, a MN Stars and a Metro Stars, a Fury, and others. AIA and Tartan could meet in both the upper bracket semis and again in the finals. Platinum games are at 4 p.m. Saturday, then 1:50 and 4:10 Sunday. 


Tartan 14U Silver, coached by Josh Steck, are led by 3 Eden Prairie Eagles and 2 North St. Paul Polars. The Eagles are Emma Boehm, Rachel Platt and Alyssa Splittgerber. The Polars are Claire McNamara and Ashley Wiederhold. Tartan 13U, coached by Jake Kuppe, features Evelyn Knox, Hopkins, and Hannah Hedstrom, Minnetonka.


Fury 2016 Blue, coached by Ruth Sinn, features Emma Sinn and Erika Schlosser of Eastview plus 3 girls from Lakeville South and 2 more each from Shakopee and Maple Grove.


Emerald Division


Here we're back with 15s and 16s below the most elite level. North Tartan 15U Silver, for example, is coached by Ray Brodeur, features Mikayla Payne of Maranatha, Rachel Brodeur of Andover, Kailey and Kyla Adams of Kennedy, Sarah and Hannah Rowe of Chaska, Kayla Nickles of Braham, Katie Werth of Centennial, Olivia Baker of Minnetonka, and others.


Venturing way out on a limb, we'll suggest MN Stars Floyd as a finals opponent for Tartan. These Stars feature 2 girls each from Andover, Anoka and Chanhassan, plus 6-1 Maria Alipate of Jefferson.


Emerald games are at 4 p.m. Saturday, and 10:10 and 12:30 on Sunday.


Ruby Division


Ruby games are at 6:20 p.m. Saturday, and 3 and 5:20 p.m. Sunday. Going way out on a limb, again, I'll pick Metro Stars 14U Green and MN Fury 2015 Gold as finalists. Coached by Lindsay Hugstad-Vaa, the Green features Ashley Borland, Mackenzie Murtha and Megan Stewart from Providence Academy. 


Fury 2015 Gold features one 2016, Aeryauna Powell, a 5-10 post from Benilde-SM. Coach is Chris Satterlie.


Sapphire Division


Sapphire features 7th and 8th graders. As a wild guess, you could see Minnesota Stars-Metro Stars and Tartan-Fury in the semis. Metro Stars 13U, coached by Dave Stromme, has one of the more intriguing names among the younger girls, Catherine Retica of Hopkins. How, one wonders, is she related to John and Mario Retica? North Tartan 12U, coached by Jake Kuppe, features Danielle Schaub, and also features another interesting name, Temi Carda. How is she related to all-stater Mona Carda, Janesville 1983?


Sapphire games are at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 10:10 and 12:30 p.m. on Sunday.


Pearl Division


That leaves just the Pearl Division, where most of the usual suspects are involved (Stars, Stars, Suns, Fury, but no Tartan). And these again are youngsters, 7th grade, 2017, 12 & U. These games are at 5:10 p.m. Saturday, and 3 p.m. and 5:20 on Sunday. 


Minnesota Stars 7th Frericks features Jordan Lamberty of Park, while Fury 2017 Gold features 3 each from Minnetonka and Chaska. Metro Stars 12U, coached by Jamie Broback Waldo, features 3 Northfields, 2 Edinas and 2 Alexandrias, including Kendall Kohler.