You really have to hand it to the folks at the Breakdown. They've made the annual Tip-Offs the best and most indispensable days of the entire high school basketball season, with the possible exception of the state tournament. Friday and Saturday it was the girls' turn, and the Tip-Off featured all of the top 9 teams in AAAA, 7 of the top 10 in AAA and 7 more from AA. In Class A it was #1 vs. #3.
(My rankings cited here, by the way, represent a composite of the rankings by the Breakdown itself and Minnesota Basketball News. And I saw all of the Saturday games. I was not there on Friday.)
And, to my mind, the most impressive performance by a Minnesota team was Wayzata's dismantling of a good White Bear Lake team. Of course, #6 Wayzata didn't draw the toughest opponent. White Bear's not even in the top 20 right now, but that's an oversight, just as it was last year when the Bears won 2 games at the state tournament. In their 73-44 win, Wayzata displayed the day's best combination of size, quickness and a team orientation. Their strength and quickness on defense, and their commitment to the defensive end will stand them in good stead throughout the year. More about Wayzata and White Bear below.
The Rest of the Best
Also impressive were #5 Chaska and #1 Hopkins. Kennedy Sanders hit 5 3s and scored 23 points in beating Lakeville North 64-50. Despite graduating Kaylee Van Epps and Mallory Heyer the past 2 years, Chaska coach Tara Seifert can surround Sanders with a smart, poised group featuring senior forward Anna Lenzen, who scored 11 points. 6-3 senior Kylie Silus came off the bench to add 9.
Hopkins, playing without Taylor Woodson at the moment, nevertheless throttled #4 Maple Grove 69-49. Nunu Agara dominated both ends of the floor inside, scoring 28 points. Maple Grove made just 1-of-17 3s, while Hopkins made just 9-of-18 FT.
But, wait, I said that Wayzata was the most impressive Minnesota team. By far the most impressive team overall was Hortonville, WI, who took it to Minnetonka 66-56. Minnetonka is of course playing without Tori McKinney for now. Still, Hortonville was very, very impressive on both ends of the floor. Their aggressive, attacking defense had the Skippers on their heels most of the time, and when they (Hortonville) missed a shot, they were super aggressive and very effective on the offensive board, especially in the 2nd half. Not only that, but their 2 best players are 5-9 freshman guard Rainey Welson and 6-2 junior wing Kallie Peppler, who scored 12. They outshot Tonka from behind the arc 11-0 as Welson made 4. I am told that Hortonville presently is rated #4 in Wisconsin but was #1 much of last year.
Individually my top players are:
C- Nunu Agara. Hopkins, 6-3, sr., 28 points
PF- Jocelyn Land, Holy Family, 6-1, jr., 24 points
SF- Alyssa Sand, Albany, 6-2, jr.
PG- Kennedy Sanders, Chaska, 5-9, sr., 23 points
CG- Rainey Welson, Hortonville, 5-9, fr., 21 points
or a 2nd G from Minnesota- Maren Westin, Becker, 5-8, sr.
My 2nd 5 would be Tori Schlagel, Eden Prairie; Hawkinson and Oberlander, Wayzata (see below); Tess Johnson of St. M-A; and Peppler. Or, if you prefer a 5th player from Minnesota, well, how about Kylan Gerads from Albany.
Wayzata 73 White Bear Lake 44
Both teams shot poorly through the first 10 minutes--Wayzata 2-for-11, White Bear 2-for-13, and Wayzata already had 5 turnovers while White Bear turned it over on their first possession and then withstood Wayzata's relentless defensive pressure, not turning it over again for the full 10 minutes. Wayzata led 5-4, White Bear tied it at 7, and it was still just 12-10 at the 7 minute mark.
But Wayzata's defense finally began to produce results. They wore White Bear out and the Bears attention to controlling the ball wavered just a bit. They turned it over 8 times in the second 10 minutes and Wayzata scored 13 points off of those turnovers. White Bear had 2 points off turnovers. Wayzata also scored off the offensive board 3 times, all in the final 3 minutes and change to increase their lead from 22-13 to 28-14. White Bear made just one of 7 shots over those 10 minutes.
The 2nd half saw more of the same. White Bear got within 31-21 but suddenly it was 43-23 at the 10 minute mark. White Bear turned it over 11 times in the 2nd half for a total of 20, and the points off turnovers for the day were 21-5 in favor of Wayzata. Wayzata got 15 offensive rebounds and the 2nd chance points were 14-3 Wayzata for the day.
Wayzata's balanced scoreing was impressive. Their most effective players were feisty 5-9 sophomore guard Sophie Hawkinson and 6-4 senior post Jessica Oberlander, who came off the bench, each with 15 points. Hawkinson's ball defense also set the tone, while Oberlander was active on the boards. 6-foot senior wing Abby Krzewinski and 5-10 junior guard Sam Johnson showed great jump shooting form, scoring 12 and 11 with 4 3s between them.
White Bear was led by 6-0 junior F Jordyn Schmittdiel. She is a warrior. She scored 17 points on just 2-of-9 2-pointers, but 2-of 4 3s, and she got to the FT line 8 times, making 7. She had 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks. Repeat after me: Under Rated. White Bear was playing without 5-10 senior post Blessing Adebisi. She would not have changed the outcome, but she sure would have helped on the boards which were won by Wayzata 41-27, and then of course there were those 14 2nd chance points.
In Closing....
In AAAA, Hopkins deserves to be #1 until somebody beats 'em, and good luck with that. Still, Wayzata will be competitive with the Royals.
In AAA, Becker was impressive in its 83-76 win over Providence. And if you don't have Maren Westin on your Ms. Basketball list, well, don't be the last on your block to add her. She is the best pure shooter in the state.
In AA, well, Providence was impressive in their 83-76 loss to Becker. They sure can score. They're a little helter skelter, which is my way of saying they don't value the ball well enough and their shot selection leaves something to be desired. But they were better than Becker on several fronts but (well, I haven't seen a box score, but I'm guessing that) shooting the ball was not one of them. Oh, and Albany is better than I thought, possibly as good as #3AA.
In A, #1 Mountain Iron-Buhl blew the doors off of #3 Hayfield 79-33. Hayfield had no chance of withstanding MIB's pressure defense, with neither the size, the strength nor the quickness to protect the ball. MIB is not as deep as usual, it was strange to see their starters playing all those minutes and their rotation going just 7 deep most of the time. But they never got tired and the defensive pressure never waned. Jordan Zubich barely shot the ball through most of the first half but, no problem, guards Sage Ganyo and Hali Savela scored almost at will. By the time all was said and done, of course, Zubich had 24 while Savela and Ganyo had 22 and 19.
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