More Weekly Top Performances

Now, the rest of our top performers for last week (Monday, December 4 through Saturday, December 9), including Breakout Performer, Best Team, Best Breakout Team and Best Coach. Best Breakout Performer Jaley Coplin, Shakopee, 5-9, junior, wing Hopkins brought out the best in Coplin, who broke loose for a career high 19 points. She scored 10 more points in a pair of Shakopee wins against Osseo and Armstrong. Julia Geurs, Holy Family, 6-3, junior, post Geurs isn’t setting the world on fire with her scoring but she scored 26 points in 3 Holy Family games against very tough competition—Cooper, Watertown Mayer and Rush City. Her confidence and court awareness seem much improved, and she’s simply more involved and making more plays than ever before. Jordyn Lamker, Maple Grove, 5-9, freshman, wing Lamker scored 20 points in a pair of Crimson wins over Rogers and Buffalo. Kourtney Manning, Hibbing, 6-0, sopohomore, post Manning, who did not play varsity ball last year, is a strong, athletic big who has exploded as a varsity performer just this week, scoring 56 points in 3 Hibbing wins. Lexi Matthews, Centennial, 5-10, senior, forward We don’t pick too many seniors as Breakthrough players, but Matthews has been playing for Centennial for years, but rarely seeing significant minutes. This year she’s definitely in the rotation and is responding with her best basketball ever. She scored 15 in 2 Centennial wins over Lakeville North and Eden Prairie this week. Nneka Obiazor, Eden Prairie, 5-10, sophomore, forward Obiazor score 30 points in 2 games this past week, after scoring 29 vs. Park Center earlier in the year. Best Team Edina 4-1, #16 As Grant pointed out in his ratings update, Edina beat East Ridge and Rosemount last week. But it was their loss to #2AAAA Wayzata (just 44-40) that showed that they belong on a list like this or that other one on which they are now #16, up 7 spots from last week. Hopkins 5-0, #1AAAA Maybe we could have Hopkins in here every week, and maybe we don’t want to have the same teams in here every week, but this week it is very hard to ignore the Royals. They knocked off 2 ranked AAAA teams in Centennial and Minnetonka, knocking the Skippers out of the top 20 in the process, then hammered the #1 team in Iowa, Iowa City West as Paige Bueckers scored 29, 30 and 27 points. Lyle/Austin Pacelli 5-0, #2A The A’s jumped 2 spots in the rankings by overpowering a good Cromwell team 64-53 at the Breakdown Invite. 6-5 Kristi Fett is just an unfair advantage in Class A. Mountain Iron-Buhl 5-0, #4A The competition on the Iron Range keeps getting better and better, thanks in large part to the high standard set by the Rangers of MIB. Yet, it’s still hard to tell when anybody is going to catch MIB, if ever. They knocked off one of the rising powers up there, Floodwood, and then, in keeping with their policy of playing anybody, anywhere, anytime, they travelled to the Breakdown Invite and beat western Minny power Lac Qui Parle Valley. Robbinsdale Cooper 3-0, #1AAA The Hawks knocked off 2 tough opponents in Holy Family and DeLaSalle this week to solidify their hold on #1 in their class. Mimi Wheeler, 5-11 freshman forward, is emerging as a total beast for the Hawks. Rush City 4-0, #2AA It seems that Rush City still has to prove itself after roaring into the Section 6AA final last year at 25-0 and losing to perennial power Sauk Centre 52-50. Well, they’ve come a long way in doing that by outlasting Holy Family 46-42 at the Breakdown Invite despite the absence of 6-0 post Jamie Guptill. Best Breakout Team Badger-Greenbush-Middle River The Gators—Wait! There are Gators up in Badger and Greenbush?—shocked the Roseau Rams—just never mind about that—to get to 3-0 on the year. Glencoe-Silver Lake KcKenna Monahan lit up Hutchinson with 40 points to lead the Panthers—not a word—to an 89-82 surprise. They’re also 3-0. Hibbing The Bluejackets and Abbey McDonald defeated Bemidji, North Branch and Princeton to get to 6-1 and #15 in the NSGH Class AAA rankings. Jordan The Jaguars drained 15 3s to rout Worthington 94-61 in a 3-0 week. They’re 4-0 overall and moved into our Class AA rankings. Marshall After struggling a year ago, Marshall is now surging with wins over Redwood Valley, St. Peter and Worthington to get to 4-0. They also popped into our Class AAA rankings. Winona Cotter Cotter won 3 games to become the 1st team in the state to get to 6-0, and also moved into our AA rankings. Best Coach Kiara Buford, Cooper Has her team in the conversation about possible Class AAA state title contenders. Mark Cook, Maple Grove Defeated Rogers and Buffalo to get to 3-1. Brad Dahl, Badger-Greenbush-Middle River Once again, the Gators…shocked Roseau to get to 3-0. Greg Dietel, Jordan Dietel may have his best team since the state tournament days with daughter Leah ten years ago. Quintin Johnson, Kennedy Kennedy plays as hard as anybody, which is good for a 4-1 start. David LaCoe, Hibbing Has his team at 6-1 and now #15 in our Class AAA ratings. The Envelope Please Best Breakout Performer—Kourtney Manning, Hibbing Best Team—Hopkins Best Breakout Team—Hibbing Best Coach—Mark Cook, Maple Grove