Monticello’s twin towers stood tall at the Community Clash
There is no shortage of height in the Class of 2020, where the top 25 includes 6'3″ Annika Stewart (Wayzata), 6'2″ Liza Karlen (St. Paul Central) and a trio of 6'1 forwards – Jayda Johnston (Roseville), Lindsay Becher (Mounds View) and…
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Continue ReadingThere is no shortage of height in the Class of 2020, where the top 25 includes 6'3″ Annika Stewart (Wayzata), 6'2″ Liza Karlen (St. Paul Central) and a trio of 6'1 forwards – Jayda Johnston (Roseville), Lindsay Becher (Mounds View) and Kaylie VanDerWerf (Holy Angels). The one who usually gets overlooked, however, is 6'1″ Anna Olson of Monticello. It's certainly not because of her game or her frame. Olson is very long, athletic, can get up and down the floor at speed, and knows what to do with the ball when she arrives at her destination. Despite playing in a low-profile high school program, and with a second-tier Minnesota Comets AAU team, Anna has made enough noise to earn the #22 spot in our recently updated 2020 rankings. On Saturday, Olson led the Monticello Magic to its third win of the week in a 42-37 victory over St. Cloud Tech at the 16-team Breakdown Community Clash in St. Michael.
“Anna can play inside or outside. She can play at the three-point line, the high post area or in the low post,” said Monticello coach Craig Geyen. “She is long and athletic, and her instincts for rebounding are second to none. The way she moves her feet to go get rebounds is special to watch. She is a tough matchup for teams.”
Olson was grabbing plenty of rebounds in St. Michael Saturday, and scored just above her season average with 17 points. Olson reminds me a bit of Wayzata's Kallie Theisen, or perhaps Tori Nelson of Henry Sibley. She's not quite as accomplished as those two, of course, but the way she uses her length and strength to get the advantage on opponents is similar. When Olson's leading arm is outstretched toward the basket waiting for the lob pass, it's simply too far away for the defender to do anything about it. In the past 10 days Olson has scored 19 points vs St. Michael-Albertville, 21 at Rogers, 22 vs Princeton and 23 against North Branch. “She leads our team in scoring and rebounds. Against Rocori she had 24 points and 20 rebounds, and has 12 double doubles this year,” Geyer said. “Anna works hard at everything she does on and off the court, and she still has a lot of room to grow as a player.”
One reason Olson is so effective is the fact she isn't the only big on the floor for Monticello. Her fellow sophomore Cat Terres stands 6'3″ tall and has a big frame and nice length. While Terres isn't as polished or athletic as Olson, she is still a handful in the paint and becoming more so. “Cat mainly plays inside for us, and short corner, but she can stretch the floor and hit the three, as well,” Geyer said. “She does a nice job of sealing and working for position in the low post, and she can run the floor.”
Terres is rather adept at blocking and altering shots – she had a school-record nine blocks in a game earlier in the year – and has nice defensive awareness. She is also quite mobile for a player of her size. The one thing we have always wanted more of from Terres is aggressiveness and physicality, and there are signs that it's coming. Cat's improvement was rewarded in last week's rankings update when she moved up 27 spots to #119. This summer, Terres will play for Scott Antl's top Minnesota Stars 2020 team, where she will be tested against size-large posts and will practice against a high quality big in New Prague's Emily Russo, the #8 player in the class. “Cat has really turned up her defensive presence this year as well as her offensive game,” said Geyer. “It has been great to watch her continue to develop, but she still has room to grow her game.”
It has been a tough season for the Magic. Entering the week, they were winless in the month of January and had only scored two victories all year. Over the past seven days, however, things began to click for the team that does not have a single senior or junior on the roster. Thanks to the the marked improvement of Olson and Terres, and the continuing maturation of talented 5'2″ sophomore point guard Lauren Zwack, the Magic were able to pull not one, not two, but three rabbits out of the hat last week beginning with a surprising 45-40 win over a ranked Princeton squad on Tuesday. They followed that up with a three-point decision against North Branch on Friday. On Saturday at the Community Clash, they made it a trifecta. “It's finally coming together,” Guyen said. “We have been patiently waiting for the freshmen to start playing like sophomores and the sophomores to start playing like juniors. It is finally happening.”