Stars Turner wins its first title at Great Plains Alliance

Minnesota Stars 2019 Turner is sneaky good. They proved it Saturday in St. Cloud as Derek Turner's eclectic collection of basketball talent put it all together for the first time this season to knock off Fury 2020 Yellow and win the 11th Grade White Division at the Great Plains Alliance tournament. It was their first title of the season. "Truthfully this is the first weekend that the entire team just trusted in the process. Everyone played well," Turner said. "We played an all-around game, and the things that have hurt us in the past we did a great job with." [caption id="attachment_8473" align="alignleft" width="300"] Miyah Dubose of Champlin Park (photo courtesy StarTribune)[/caption] It wasn't easy. The Stars lost by a basket to the hosts from Comets 10th Elite but scored victories over United 11th, Great Lakes Elite and FM Fierce. The Fury nearly forced overtime on a pair of valiant three-point attempts by <strong>Rylie Polomny</strong> of Moorhead, including one at the final buzzer. Polomny, who showed flashes of the athleticism and scoring prowess she'll need with the Spuds this year, was a pain in the Stars' backside throughout. "Rylie is a great player with a great future," Turner said. "All I know is at the beginning of the game she gave us trouble and caught fire. I was really jumping on <strong>Kayla Cox</strong> and <strong>Miyah Dubose</strong> to do a better job of guarding her, and the rest is history." Once Cox and Dubose went to work by taking away Polomny's time and space, the Stars became a different team. "Our rebounding was amazing and our defense was a lot better," Turner said. "Our free throw shooting was great all weekend, too. We were 18 of 19 against United. The biggest thing was they never gave up." One of the keys for Turner, as is often the case, was the play of <strong>Katie Vaske</strong> of Woodbury, one of several unsung foot soldiers on the squad. Vaske is the kind of player whose name fans struggle to recall but coaches absolutely love. Nobody works harder. Nobody has a better attitude than Vaske, who was great again on Saturday. "I think we really picked up the intensity on both ends of the court, especially defensively, focusing in and playing lock-down defense," Vaske said. "Overall we played team basketball, and everyone stepped up and contributed." <strong>An eclectic collection of talent</strong> This edition of the Stars is no glamour squad. The organization has six 2019 teams – count 'em, 6! – and Turner's may be the least known of all. It is made up of an unusual collection of players in all shapes and sizes. They come from the city and the suburbs and small towns. They are not household names with college coaches lining up to pass out scholarships. Turner, who coaches at St. Louis Park, worked tirelessly over the winter to assemble the team and he's not done yet. This weekend they added big forward <strong>Lindsey Smitsdorff</strong> of Legacy Christian. Smitsdorff is a banger who put up some impressive numbers at Legacy, including 15 points and 5 rebounds per game. She also had 74 blocks and made 126 free throws. [caption id="attachment_8471" align="alignleft" width="224"] Katie Vaske of Woodbury[/caption] The most talented player is probably Cox of Park Center. She has previously played on some of the highest-level teams around, but this year threw her hat in the ring with Turner. There is the very long and gifted <strong>Sierra Morrow</strong> from Minneapolis Edison, a somewhat enigmatic player with Division 1 talent who is finally starting to figure it all out. Dubose is tiny but plays with a chip on her shoulder and fire in her eyes. She's a dynamite defender who came off the bench at Champlin Park and was a huge sparkplug on many, many nights. There's quick guard <strong>Andrea Gray</strong>. She played very well at Minneapolis North but has struggled for playing time since transferring to Hopkins. <strong>Imani Hollie-Jones</strong> and <strong>Suzannae Paterson</strong> are also from Hopkins. Role players such as <strong>McKenna Clouse</strong> of Irondale, <strong>Tessa Goerish</strong> of Litchfield, and <strong>Brooke Heisler</strong> of Osseo do whatever is required of them. "Tessa is a sleeper," Turner said. "She played her butt off all weekend!" Ironically, Stars Turner was a late addition to the tournament after the event they planned to play in was cancelled. Needless to say this group was happy they showed up and excited to take the court again at the Under Armour Cup in Louisville next weekend. "It feels great," Vaske said, "to be able to come together as a team and win a tournament going into July." <span style="font-size: 10pt"><em>Photo top: Stars 2019 Turner captured a title Saturday at the Great Plains Alliance tournament in St. Cloud.</em></span>