North Tartan 9th Elite wraps up the summer on top

Every time I talked to Mike Contreras before a tournament this summer the coach of North Tartan’s top 2022 squad said pretty much the same thing: “We’re just hoping to win a game.” Of course the statement was always accompanied by a devilish grin and a sly chuckle and could in no way be taken seriously. It was clear, however, that Mike was relishing the role of underdog for once among a strong group of 9th grade teams that includes the state-champion Fury 2022 UAA squad and the high-flying upstarts of DTA Academy. In the end the incoming sophomores from North Tartan 9th Elite did what they did last year: won a national championship. The team achieved that feat Monday afternoon in Edina with a 47-38 win over DTA in the title game of the North Tartan Meltdown, which doubles as AAU’s official version of a national championship. It was the semifinal contest with the Fury that was a little more dramatic, however, and it took some good fortune from the basketball gods to get the job done. Trailing by a point in the waning seconds, the Fury sprinted up the floor in a last-gasp effort to win but a <strong>Callin Hake</strong> layup attempt missed. The rebound fell into the hands of forward <strong>Lilly Meister</strong> who launched a quick put-back attempt. The ball found the bottom of the cylinder just as time expired, the referee in closest proximity signaled it was a good basket and the game was over. Except it wasn’t. A rather vocal discussion ensued, Contreras said his piece and the call was reversed. Final score: North Tartan 60 Fury 59 It wasn’t an easy way to win – in fact NT came from deep double digits down against both the Fury and DTA – but then nothing came easy this year for North Tartan 9th Elite. <strong>A summer of individual improvement</strong> There is no shortage of talent on this North Tartan team which is led by point guard <strong>Amaya Battle</strong> of Hopkins, the #2-ranked player in the Prep Girls Hoops Class of 2022. Her Hopkins teammate <strong>Taylor Woodson</strong>, a 2023 prospect who is one of the very best in that class, is a force up front. Shooting guard <strong>Alayna Contreras</strong>, also of Hopkins, is a top-30 prospect. Defensive standout <strong>Ari Gordon</strong> of Maple Grove (#45) is an emerging star. Last summer the squad lost just 5 games. This year was a little tougher. “We lost one game in pretty much every tournament to the team that won it all,” Contreras said. “I guess for some teams that would be great but our goal coming to a tournament is a little different. Our goal is to win it all the time.” One of the most satisfying aspects of the season for the coach is just how much some of his players have improved. <strong>Selam Maher</strong>, a long-distance shooter from Hopkins, has continued to get better. Ditto for forward <strong>Izzy John</strong> of Champlin Park, forward <strong>London Sahlberg-Thornton</strong> of Hopkins and 2024 post <strong>Emma Dasovich</strong> of Minnetonka, who has been a revelation playing two years up. (We'll save our analysis on Dasovich for later given her age.) The most-improved prospect, however, is Contreras. “She is getting more aggressive. She is keeping teams honest. She is starting to shoot, which is what everyone has asked her to do and told her to do,” the coach said. “Ari and London are getting more aggressive with the ball. They are starting to think ‘catch and score’ instead of ‘catch and get rid of it.’ Izzy has coming a long way, too. Their whole mindset was ‘I’ve got to get it and pass it to someone else.’ I’m trying to tell them, ‘No, you get to score, too. You get to shoot just like everybody else… Ari is just a great defender who really reads passing lanes very well. She shoots that gap and gets that steal, and she’s long,” The evolution of those players paid off again in the back half of the week as North Tartan 9th Elite concluded its AAU season by going 5-0 at the Battle of the Best in Iowa. So did DTA, but Contreras opted to skip another encounter with the squad from St. Cloud. Thus ended the season. “I’m so proud to coach this group of girls,” he said. “I couldn’t be happier.” <strong>A crucial addition at a key time</strong> North Tartan 9th Elite obviously played its best basketball at the right time. One factor that played into that in a big way was the arrival of point guard <strong>Kaylynn Asberry</strong> of St. Paul Como Park. Asberry started the season with the new MN P.R.E.P squad that was heavy with talent but never really gelled. A couple of players left the team midway through the summer and the group basically disbanded prior to the crucial July viewing period. That’s when Asberry joined Contreras’ group for whom she had made similar cameo appearances in the past. Asberry is a difference-maker and she proved it once again. “She brings some toughness, some ball handling and some defense,” Contreras said of the 5’5 guard who goes by ‘KK’. “It’s a small package but every bone in her body is just tough. She doesn’t care who’s guarding her, she doesn’t care what we ask her to do, she’ll do it.” That toughness was evident in Louisville and Chicago when North Tartan faced some rough-and-tumble squads from Ohio and Pennsylvania. In the Ohio contest the opponent was engaging in some obvious gamesmanship. Every time Contreras would huddle with his players during a free throw or a similar break in the action the Ohio players would venture over to the North Tartan huddle and listen in. “It’s legal because we were on the court,” Contreras said. “Then KK started doing it to them. She went over to their huddle. The coach got distracted by her, they missed the free throw and we made a layup. It was hilarious, but that’s karma. “ We have Asberry in our 2022 top 10, but I don’t think college coaches at the D1 level have bought into that assessment yet. Yes, she is small. But this is an extremely talented kid with a high, high basketball IQ and an innate sense of timing. Contreras is certainly impressed. “You know we’ve thrown every play we have at her and she remembers all of them. She can read the defender, she knows where to get the ball, and she makes some great passes,” he said. “I really, really trust her with the ball. If we’ve got a lead and we have to keep it I tell her, ‘KK get in there.’ I know she’s not going to shoot a bad shot. I know she’s not going to turn it over. She’s going to take care of the ball, she’s going to get us possessions back. She has really a good IQ for basketball.” <strong>Built around a dynamic duo</strong> Much is expected of teams that have players like Woodson and Battle on board. Both athletes are a lock to play power-conference basketball and there’s not a whole lot more you can say about Taylor and Amaya that hasn’t been said already. How good is Woodson? “Oh man. Taylor could probably go start at some small colleges next year!” he said only half-jokingly. “She’s pretty good. She’s built like she’s a senior right now and she’s tough as heck. When she gets the ball you probably don’t want to get in her way because she’s going to go for a layup. And her mid-range game is really, really getting good now, too. Taylor has a scorer’s mentality and you can’t teach that. She’s just so fast and strong.” And Battle? “The first thing I can tell you about Amaya is that off the court she is just a great kid with a great family. She’s polite and she’s respectful, but once you get her on that court she’s a killer,” Contreras said. What separates her from other great players in the class? “Her athleticism. She rebounds the ball like she’s 7 feet tall. That’s the first thing I noticed about her when I saw her. She goes after every rebound and she gets it. She can block shots. She can do the things that other normal guards try to do.”