Saturday at the Midwest Kickoff

I spent Saturday, which as my wife noted was “the nice day,” from about 8:30 to 8:30 at the Midwest Kickoff. Over the next several days I will report on the 12 games that I watched. I will also give a broader report on the results at the Kickoff, the Comets Shootout nnd the Suns Spring Showcase as it relates to our team rankings.

For now, here is a quick rundown of the games that I saw on Saturday with again more detail on all games to follow.

9:10 a.m.—The 2017 summer season kicked off for me with Stars 11th DeSart vs. Rise 10th Purple in a tight game that ultimately went to OT. Stars DeSart started out with a 9-0 lead before Rise started to claw its way back. It took its 1st lead of the day at 39-38 with 21 seconds left on a steal-and-2 by Abby DeWitt of Fairmont. Noelle Josephson of Anoka scored the last of her 13 points off the glass, and then Joey Batt of New Ulm made a FT on the last of her 13 points to send it into OT. Stars DeSart scored the only point in OT to win it 41-40.

Our Game MVPs are Noelle Josephson and Joey Batt.

10:20—The tournament scoreboard shows Taylor Hill 8th Elite defeating Crossfire 10th Smith 40-32. According to my play-by-play the score was 57-32. Hill’s big, strong, athletic squad scored off the offensive glass at least 5 times. Kierra Wheeler led the way with 14 points and is our game MVP.

11:30—The 2nd best game of the day saw North Tartan 8th Coley edge Crossfire 9th Jorgenson 51-50. Crossfire rallied back from a double-digit deficit as Alaina Brenning of Rogers drained a buzzer-beating 3 to get within 1. Takara Mason of NT8C scored 13 points, including a long buzzer-beater of her own at the end of the 1st half to get our Game MVP award.

12:40 p.m.—It was another close game at 12:40, as Top Flight 2021 Metro edged Rise 8th 39-37. Co-Game MVPs are Lakesha Carter of Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial and the Rise and Abigail Deming of Red Wing and Top Flight.

1:50—Metro Stars 8th Berkvam outlasted So Minn Fury 2021 38-34. Co-Game MVPs are Adrienne Whitson of Northfield and Metro Stars and Macy Holtz of Plainview-EM and SMF.

3 p.m.—There are reports of clouds gathering outside now. Who knew? Fury 2020 Blue defeats Northern Lights 11th 68-40. Co-Game MVPs are Molly Mogenson of Farmington and the Fury, and Katie Lundeen of the Lights and Northwestern, WI.

4:10—It was another easy win for a Fury team as So Minn Fury 2018 Elite clobbered Thunder 2018 Blue 86-45. Ashley Gustavson of Mankato West had a big day shooting the ball and is our Game MVP.

5:20—My attention span was beginning to shorten so I split my viewing in the final 3 hours of the day. At 5:20 I watched Taylor Hill 11th Elite edge Fury 2019 Blue 54-49, and I also watched the action on the adjacent court where Crossfire 10th Theisen edge Iowa Barnstormers 2018 50-46 in what proved to be the Game of the Week. CFT won despite point guard Taylie Scott missing 2 segments of the game with a bloodied nose. The game was delayed 15 minutes in the 1st half because nobody could be found who had the requisite tools to clean up a large pool of blood on the floor.

Our Game MVPs for the 5:20 segment are Hannah Purcell of Annandale and CFT, and McKenna Hofschild of Prior Lake and the Fury.

6:30—Here again I split between a couple of games, neither of which was particularly close or compelling. Fury 2018 Blue defeated Rise 11th Purple 62-25 in one, while Metro Stars 11th Weise (Metro Stars Black) defeated LaCrosse Elevate 2018 Johnson 62-37. Monika Czinano (Watertown-Mayer) was dominant inside for the Fury, while Rachel Hakes (Woodbury) was solid for MSB. They are our Game MVPs for this time slot.

7:40—Finally at 7:40 High Impact 9th Briski edged Stars 9th Zabel 44-43. High Impact’s point guard Kaelynn Kudis (Cherry) is our Game MVP.

Throughout the next week we will have more detailed reports from these and other games from the Comets Shootout and the Suns Showdown.