Week 1 Team of the Week, and more

Team of the Week Candidates

Bloomington Kennedy, unranked, 2-0

Unranked Kennedy got the start it wanted with wins over St. Paul Central 46-34 and Stillwater 54-52, as junior wing Zaraya March scored 35 points in the 2 games.

DeLaSalle, #1AAA, 2-0 for the week

Much is expected of the Islanders and, so far, much has been delivered. Totino-Grace was the 1st victim 69-25 and Holy Family the 2nd 52-36. How deep is De? Well, their leading scorer in each game was an underclass power forward—two different players. Freshman Nora Francois led with 18 against TG, while sophomore Nurjei Weems led against Holy Family with 14.

Eastview, #5AAAA, 2-0

Much is expected of the Lightning and, well, you get the picture. They easily defeated #12 White Bear Lake 61-44, then clobbered #22AAA, defending state champion Orono 66-27. Megan Walstad led the way with 40 points in the 2 wins.

Lyle/Austin Pacelli, #5A, 2-0

Lye/Pacelli opened at the Dover-Eyota tournament and came away with a pair of wins, easily defeating the hosts 76-46, then beating Zumbrota/Mazeppa 56-41 one night after ZM beat highly-regarded AA Minnehaha.

St. Paul Como, #11AAA, 2-0

The loss of power forward Elaina Jones to a transfer was thought to be a huge blow to the Cougars, and it could be yet. But Como did not let anything bother it during a successful opening weekend, with wins over Orono 80-59 and Mounds View 63-60 as 5 different players scored in double figures in one game or the other. Senior wing Makayla Van Nett did so in both.

Week 1 Team of the Week

Our 1st Team of the Week is Bloomington Kennedy.

Breakout Team of the Week

Red Wing, unranked, 2-0

The Wingers started strong with wins over #24AAA Waconia 67-52, then #1A and defending state champion Goodhue by the same score on Saturday night. Red Wing had the home court advantage for both games, but who’s going to say we were right in having them unranked in our pre-season rankings? Not us.

Coach of the Week

Our candidates are:

• Quintin Johnson, Bloomington Kennedy, has his team playing well right out of the gate this year despite losing his top 2 scorers from a year ago.

• Jeremy DiGiovanni, Elk River, has more talent than experience at his disposal this year. Their 1-1 start was to be expected, as is continuous improvement throughout this season. The Elks will be a tough out before its done.

• Kris Hamling, Grand Rapids. Expectations are running high, and their 72-55 win over Princeton shows they’re on track so far.

• Ashlie Anzel, Mounds View. After a terribly disappointing year last year, Mounds View went out and got a new coach and, so far, she’s got the Mustangs playing hard and playing well.

• Jesse Nelson, Red Wing, has his team off to a 2-0 start against a pair of rated opponents.

• Alexis Gray-Lawson, St. Paul Como. They’re small, they’re young, and they’re 2-0.

Our 1st Coach of the Week is Ashlie Anzel, Mounds View.