Fall League opener a little bit ragged

As one coach observed, October is just about the only time all year that a girl can afford to get a little bit out of shape. From November through August or September, it’s go, go, go. If you’re ever gonna catch your breath, now’s the time. And, then, on top of that, a lot of key players are busy doing other things—playing volleyball, for example. So Fall League teams on the first day of fall featured a lot of experimental lineups. The results were mixed. The first game I saw was <strong>Chaska Gold vs. Irondale</strong>. I am sorry to say it was for all intents and purposes Chaska’s JV against Irondale’s varsity, and Chaska was winning late in the game. Irondale led 17-14 at the half as freshman post Dora Okpara was using her body to get open underneath pretty much at will, but not making enough of her makeable short shots. Forward Ashley Polson was active for her size, and guard Kahlan Jester was active and athletic as always. But, in the 2nd half, Chaska picked up the defensive intensity and Irondale didn’t rise to the occasion. Meanwhile, forward Summer Steinhoff (don’t know her year) was impressive offensively for Chaska on the dribble drive. Next up was <strong>Apple Valley vs. Owatonna.</strong> Apple Valley will have a new look with the departure of Lyndsey Robson, among others, and the arrival of coach Mike Doughty from White Bear Lake via Stillwater. Doughty promises new defensive intensity, and he’ll play a much larger rotation in order to support that defensive intensity. Well, Mykel Parham was her usual beastly self on defense and on the boards for the Eagles and that was almost enough all by itself to keep the Huskies on their heels. Of course, they were missing Syd Schultz this day and there was nobody to replace her inside scoring. Guards Jenna Zeman and Sara Anderson pushed the pace but to no particular result. Meanwhile, freshman Chynna Young bombed the net from long and sometimes longer range for the Eagles, and the they led 42-29 late in this one. Next came <strong>New Ulm and St. Louis Park. </strong>New Ulm is led by 5-5 guard Joey Batt and her stratospheric basketball IQ. She does everything for this team, and she apparently will have to do everything for this team. There is no ballhandler to help ease her load in that category, and her obvious scorers showed a reluctance to pull the trigger. St. Louis Park, on the other hand, has three blue chippers in Lindsay Olson, Shayla Miller and Kendall Coley. Olson is a 5-10 junior and Miller a 5-11 sophomore. But, while Olson is listed as a guard and Miller a forward, their games are very similarly. Both roam the perimeter and rotate from high to low, both have a nice basketball IQ, both have very nice mechanics on their jumper. On this particular day, Miller hit 3-of-4 shots including a pair of 3s and she also hit the boards, while Olson made 1-of-2 shots and had a pretty spectacular block. Then, add Coley, a 5-11 freshman and sister of the Iowa Hawkeyes Chase Coley, to the mix. She’s a streaky shooter who didn’t have streak against New Ulm but she also hit the boards. The surprise was Sophie Olmen, a junior guard who looks and plays like Olson and Miller who hit 3-of-4 shots for 7 points. I will just say that among Park’s big 3—Olson, Miller and Coley—I wish they were all a little more physical. But, add it all up, and it was more than enough firepower for New Ulm. Park led 28-18 midway through the 2nd when I wandered off to catch some of the other action. Specifically, that means <strong>Eagan vs. Mankato East</strong>. Both teams are rebuilding, but East is ahead of that game with 8th grade post, 6-2 Lexi Karge. Her sister Shayla scored 27.5 ppg last year, and Lexi looked like a senior out there, very active, just playing basketball like it’s meant to be played. East led 15-7 early on and Lexi had 6 of those 13 points. Junior guard Abby Grams also played well for Mankato. Eagan post Natalie Smith, forward Lauren Funk and guard McKenna Miller led the way. All 3 are seniors who have had precious little success previously. They had just 6 players so clearly there were some potential contributors who weren’t there, but even so they’ve got a bit of ground to make up in their rebuilding effort. Finally, I caught a bit of <strong>Providence</strong> and post Anna Counts was pretty solid, finding seams in the defense for an easy path to the rim and some easy baskets. After that, I high-tailed it over to Hopkins to watch Centennial vs. Eastview and Hopkins vs. Wayzata. Grant has already written about some of the action at Hopkins, except I don’t think he saw Centennial or Eastview. Unfortunately, <strong>Centennial vs. Eastview</strong> wasn’t particularly competitive early on as Centennial had almost none of its starting 5. Emma Carpenter and Macy Guebert were impressive as Eastview took an early 15-4 lead. But Sara Stapleton arrived in time to play the 2nd half for Centennial and, even, still absent 3 starters, they were a new and different team with the 6-3 junior in the lineup. Centennial roared back to within 36-33 late in the 2nd half, but fell short with a final score of 38-33. I was mostly interested in watching Centennial’s Sara Lavell, a 6-2 junior power forward, who is expected to contribute. She showed good mobility and a willingness to mix it up physically. She put a monster block on Guebert at the rim in Centennial’s 1st half highlight. Meanwhile, on the Eastview side, Mariah Alipate is back from injury and has just committed to play ball at St. Cloud State next year. She showed good mobility and a new tendency to go inside and get physical more than she’s generally done in the past. All to the good. Eastview had more of its team here than Centennial did and the fact that the Cougars got back into it speaks well. Still, Eastview has an awful lot of weapons and that collective motor that just doesn’t ever stop. Finally, the main event—<strong>Hopkins vs. Wayzata</strong>. Again, Grant has already described the action. I’m just going to echo the amazement that was just palpable in the gym as freshman Jenna Johnson outplayed every other big on both sides down the stretch for the Trojans. Wayzata can go 5-deep with 6-footers and is a tremendously physical team. The challenge right now is to find a ball-handler to provide some help and relief for Mimi Schrader. Hopkins gave Wayzata everything it could handle in terms of pressure on the ball. Jasmine Smiley does lots of good things for Wayzata but, right now, that’s not one of them. Hopkins was playing without Paige Bueckers, Kira Mosley and Angie Hammond. Raena Suggs and Dlayla Chakolis carried the whole burden on offense, and it was almost enough. When everybody is healthy, that is a whole lot of weapons. <strong>Best of the Day</strong> <strong>Post—</strong>Mykel Parham, 6-2, junior, Apple Valley. Defensive destroyer. <strong>Power Forward—</strong>Kallie Theisen, 6-1, junior, Wayzata. Offensive destroyer. <strong>Small Forward—</strong>Macy Guebert, 5-8, senior, Eastview. Perpetual motion machine. <strong>Point Guard</strong>—Mimi Schrader, 5-9, junior, Wayzata. Totally takes charge. <strong>Shooting Guard—</strong>Raena Suggs, 5-7, senior, Hopkins. Her shot selection is pretty repetitive and predictable. So how come nobody can stop her? <strong>Stock Raisers</strong> <strong>Post—</strong>Lexi Karge, 6-2, 8th grade, Mankato East. Plays like a senior, mobile, physical, does it all. <strong>Power Forward—</strong>Anna Counts, 6-1, senior, Providence. Strong, active, gets to the rim. <strong>Small Forward—</strong>Chynna Young, 5-9, freshman, Apple Valley. Wow. Didn't shoot much for Tayler Hill last summer. Here, her range was unlimited and she could not miss. <strong>Point Guard</strong>—Amaya Battle, 5-6, 8th, Hopkins. With Bueckers out, Battle ran the point all day long and looked like a veteran. Her late 3 almost pulled it out for the Royals. <strong>Shooting Guard—</strong>Sophie Olmen, 5-9, junior, St. Louis Park. Overshadowed by Olson, Miller and Coley, but active, athletic, good skills and excellent basketball IQ. Great teammate.