The Week that Was #2: New faces, new places and another McKenna milestone

Week #2 of the Minnesota high school girls basketball season is in the books, and what a week it was. It began with a quiet Monday night encounter at Irondale and ended with a dazzling 63-point performance by <strong>McKenna Hofschild</strong> Saturday at the Breakdown Tip Off. In between there was a whole lot of entertaining basketball. We’ll have a couple of separate reports on the Breakdown event over the next few days. This is the best of the rest. I witnessed 19 high schools games this week. Just 10 days into the new season I’m already up to 49 teams. [caption id="attachment_19449" align="alignleft" width="300"] Irondale senior Kahlen Jester has been known to knock it down from a long way out.[/caption] <strong>Monday</strong> Minneapolis Roosevelt at Irondale was pretty much the only game in the Twin Cities on Monday. I went there to watch three Irondale players: Senior <strong>Kahlen Jester</strong>, sophomore <strong>Dora Okpara</strong> and freshman <strong>Elizabeth Hiatt</strong>. Jester is a 5’11 guard with quality skills and plenty of natural ability who is weighing college opportunities at the NAIA and Division 3 levels. Her game has progressed nicely over the years but has never quite lived up to our expectations. Okpara is a talented 6-foot post who is a handful inside, has nice touch around the rim and cannot be moved out of the paint. The question mark has always been her conditioning which will likely determine what level she plays at. Okpara had 18 points Monday to lead all scorers. Hiatt is new to us, a 5’10 forward who is pretty mobile, sees the floor well and defends aggressively. She’s got nice range and just enough swagger to stand out from the crowd. &nbsp; [caption id="attachment_19448" align="alignleft" width="300"] Irondale freshman Elizabeth Hiatt (left) and sophomore Dora Okpara (right).[/caption] <strong>Tuesday</strong> It’s hard for me to get out of the office early enough on weekdays to take in an out-of-town game, which is why I have a self-imposed limit of 90 miles each way. That’s exactly how far it is up I-94 to Albany which is where I went Tuesday to see three great prospects: 2021 point guard <strong>Paige Meyer</strong> of Albany and 2022 guards <strong>Tori Ratz</strong> and <strong>Ellie Colbeck</strong> of Fergus Falls. After a slow start, Meyer put on a show in the second half, culminating with a long three at the buzzer to give Albany a 50-47 victory. Meyer had 33 points on the night. I'll have more on this game later in the week. <strong>Wednesday</strong> It took almost as long to get to Brooklyn Park in the snow Wednesday evening as it took to get to Albany the night before, which is why I missed the first three minutes of a great early season encounter between Park Center and Eden Prairie. The Pirates led by seven at the half but two things changed after the break: 6’2 post <strong>Natalie Mazurek</strong> found some space and her jump shot, and freshman <strong>Myra Moorjani</strong> was handed the keys and an opportunity to prove she is ready to play varsity ball. Apparently she’s ready. The freshman ran the show down the stretch en route to 17 points and a 67-57 EP victory. Junior <strong>Nneka Obiazor</strong> finished with 14 points for the Eagles, senior <strong>Abby Johnson</strong> had 12 and sophomore <strong>Alison Miranda</strong> finished with 11. <strong>Adalia McKenzie</strong> had 17 for Park Center, <strong>T’Naye Griffin</strong> scored 14 and <strong>Lauren Fros</strong>t had another nice outing. <strong>Thursday</strong> I have been watching a lot more of the Minnesota Gophers this season. Besides the shiny newness of having a legendary coach like Lindsay Whalen on board, the new regime’s stated preference to recruit more Minnesota players deserves our attention. Whalen was at the Breakdown for about 10 hours on Saturday. Her assistant Kelly Roysland was there for 14. They are committed to recruiting the best players in the state and we are committed to paying attention. Thursday night the new staff had its first signature victory, a nail-biter over #12 Syracuse. Coach Whalen’s handling of affairs in the game’s final five minutes should remove all doubt about her ability to coach at this level. After Sunday’s win over Air Force the Gophers are 7-0. <strong>Friday</strong> Friday I was in Elk River for the mini-tournament involving Roseville, Elk River, Wayzata and St. Francis. It was not pretty basketball. After looking like a well-oiled machine at Hamline, the Raiders sputtered like an old Model T last week. Roseville still earned two Ws while learning some hard lessons. Meanwhile Wayzata looked like Wayzata which is to say they looked really, really good. Sophomore #2 <strong>Jenna Johnson</strong>, who is averaging 22 ppg, was outstanding again for the Trojans. Those were the games I saw. Here’s some news from elsewhere. <strong>UPSET OF THE WEEK</strong> Como Park defeated Cooper 87-81 even though the Hawks’ outstanding sophomore big <strong>Kierra Wheeler</strong> had 32 points and her sister <strong>Aja Wheeler</strong> had 21. Como’s unique lineup of starters, which includes four 9th graders and an 8th grader, is a special group. 5’1 guard <strong>Ronnie Porter</strong> had 30 points for the Cougars in the win while point guard <strong>Kaylynn Asberry</strong> recorded 26. Como Park is now 4-0 with wins over Kennedy, Mounds View, Cooper and Minnehaha Academy. <strong>OTHER HIGHLIGHTS</strong> <ul> <li>Sophomore <strong>Sydni Olson</strong> puts up 6 threes for Waconia in her first varsity game. She has averaged 18 points thus far while her teammate sophomore <strong>Addy Salzer</strong> is averaging nearly 22.</li> <li>Hopkins destroyed Lakeville North 83-41 this week. We knew Lakeville North would be in a rebuilding mode this season but nobody was expecting this. <strong>Paige Bueckers</strong> had 26 for Hopkins; <strong>Lauren Jensen</strong> had just 6 points for Lakeville North.</li> <li>Chaska freshman <strong>Mallory Heyer</strong>, who is being courted by a long list of D1 schools, had 35 points in a win over Edina.</li> <li>Junior <strong>Mallory Brake</strong> of Hastings scored 40 points in loss at Burnsville after recording a 39-point game on the weekend.</li> <li>Sophomore <strong>Gianna Kneepkens</strong> had 45 points and passed the 1,000 career points mark for Duluth Marshall in a lopsided win over Silver Bay. She reached that milestone in the first game of her sophomore season! Crafty guard <strong>Grace Kirk</strong> had 26 points for the Hilltoppers.</li> <li>Senior <strong>Olivia Lane</strong> started her final year of high school ball off right. The North Dakota commit had 31 points and 13 rebounds for Pequot Lakes in a win over Little Falls. Lane shot 15 of 23 on the night.</li> <li>Freshman <strong>Maddie James</strong> of Princeton made a name for herself over the summer playing with DTA Academy. The 17th-ranked player in the class of 2022 began making a name for herself at the varsity level with 26 points against Hermantown.</li> </ul> <strong>NEWCOMER OF THE WEEK</strong> <strong>Myra Moorjani</strong>, freshman guard, Eden Prairie – If any newbie was expected to make an impact early for the Eagles it was much-heralded 8th grader <strong>Molly Lenz</strong>. She was in the game early for EP on Wednesday night at Park Center, but was quickly bitten by the turnover bug. That opened the door for the 9th grader Moorjani, who made the most of her opportunity. Simply put, she led Eden Prairie to a comeback victory and was very good at the Breakdown, too. Moorjani’s game is a little unorthodox but it works. She is ranked #34 in the class of 2022. <strong>THE WEEK AHEAD</strong> Here are some games to watch in the days ahead. <ul> <li>Tuesday – Heritage Christian at Concordia Academy, Cretin-Derham Hall at Hill-Murray, Watertown-Mayer at Holy Family</li> <li>Thursday – Becker at Big Lake, Kennedy at Holy Angels, Blue Earth at New Ulm</li> <li>Friday – Chaska at Eden Prairie, Red Wing at Northfield, DeLaSalle at Cooper</li> <li>Saturday – The Big South Showdown is on in St. James (7 games) while New York Mills is hosting four games. In the Twin Cities, Rochester John Marshall visits Edina at 1 p.m.</li> </ul> <strong>ADD YOUR OWN INFO AND STIR</strong> We scour the box scores and monitor Twitter for information on great performances, but we can’t be everywhere and we’re going to miss some great stuff. This is where you come in. If you know of a nice performance that deserves some sunshine, please add it in a comment at the end of the story. Or you can email it to me at gmachoops@gmail.com and we’ll do our best to make mention. <span style="font-size: 10pt"><em>Top photo: We weren't the only interested observers of Minnesota high school basketball this week. Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw (right) took in Thursday's Hopkins vs Lakeville North game with her assistant Niele Ivey (left) and Metro Stars AAU coach Tara Starks. (Photo by Crissha Walton)</em></span> <span style="font-size: 10pt"><em>Irondale photos courtesy of Lisa Scamehorn.</em></span> &nbsp;