The sun shines brightly on top 10 prospect Mimi Schrader

Perhaps the Minnesota Suns should adorn Mimi Schrader’s jersey with some big old gold stars on the shoulders and a couple of shiny medals on the front. After all, the sophomore point guard from Wayzata is their floor general, oozing confidence with every step, making you feel certain that she is in command and has it all under control. Of course, it probably hasn’t felt like that lately as her Suns Kietzer 2019 squad suffered through a difficult state tournament. Saturday at Bloomington Kennedy, however, the Suns were rolling to a pair of big wins and Schrader was at her best.

Currently ranked 10th in Northstar’s class of 2019 rankings, Schrader is a talented guard with great skills, tremendous court vision, a strong understanding of the game, and that swagger that you just can’t teach. She can hit the pull-up, mid-range jumper practically at will, but her best skill is getting the ball to the right place at the right time. Combining with forward Kallie Theisen (ranked 2nd in the class of 2019), Schrader has helped lead Wayzata out of the wilderness in high school basketball. At 5-8, Schrader isn’t an imposing figure but she does impose her will on the game, which is what she did Saturday in a 34-15 win over Bison Blue from Nebraska and a 78-22 defeat of Team Iowa Silver.

Schrader is by no means the only talent on the Kietzer squad. In fact, when you peruse their roster it makes you wonder why they don’t win more often. Solana Cushing of Minneapolis South, who has been in Northstar’s top 50, is a quick-footed guard with nice handles and terrific range. You’ll often find her dropping bombs from the corner. Jennifer Schaible is a talented 6-1 wing from Mound-Westonka (#37); Olivia Youndahl is a versatile 6-2 forward from Minneapolis Southwest (#61); and Mary-Claire Francois is a 6-1 post from De la Salle who rose 50 spots in the Northstar rankings this winter. That’s a pretty good group, and on Saturday Suns Kietzer shone very brightly.

Erin is no little Lamb

The class of 2021 was very impressive Friday night at Bloomington Kennedy. Saturday I saw one more reason why this 8th grade group is turning out to be very special: Erin Lamb. The 6-1 forward from Stewartville and Southern Minnesota Fury 2021 has made a lot of noise already in varsity high school basketball where she averaged 18 points per game this past winter. That will tend to get you noticed, even if you play for an under-the-radar program located south of Rochester. I had assumed she was probably a big, beefy center who scored mostly at the rim. My assumption was wrong. In fact, Lamb is an agile forward with beautiful touch and nice mobility. She scores with ease, as long as things don’t get too physical down low. It will be interesting to see how she evolves but one thing is certain – Ms. Lamb knows how to put the ball in the basket. She has 47 points this weekend in three games played. Stay tuned.

This and that

Minnesota Stars Hersch 2018 and Tayler Hill Elite 2018 are headed for a showdown on Sunday in the Platinum division as both squads are 3-0. Hersch recorded two victories on Saturday by a combined margin of 94 points. THE’s games were a little closer but the Hills were impressive nonetheless. Morgan Hill (Mpls. South) is averaging 15 points per game. Jaclyn Jarnot (Maranatha) leads Hersch with almost 12 ppg… Comets Elite 9 and Minnesota Stars Antl are perfect in the Silver division at 3-0. Antl won its Saturday games 69-19 and 72-17. I’ll reserve comment on the bracketing of these teams but there’s a pretty good chance the Comets and Stars will play for the title on Sunday.