Kaylee Van Eps edged Lauren Jensen to win the Nickle Dickle

It came down to the final ball Saturday night – the extra special, extra colorful, double-the-points money ball – for Kaylee Van Eps and she nailed it for a rather dramatic come-from-behind victory at the Nickle Dickle 3-point contest in Waconia. The junior from Chaska made seven or eight of her final 10 shots to squeeze past senior Lauren Jensen of Lakeville North and win the contest in her fourth try. Van Eps scored 19 points in the final round to beat Jensen by two. “I got hot more towards the end and ended up shooting really well in the last two spots,” Van Eps said after collecting her first-place medal. “In the corner I made my money ball at the end which I think kind of sealed it for me.” Not many people get to say they beat Jensen – the #2 player in the Prep Girls Hoops Class of 2020 – at anything related to basketball! “It’s awesome to have a competitor like that,” said Van Eps. “It was really fun to go against her and get to know her tonight… Every year I have come here it has been great, and it has been great getting to know the girls.” There was a three-way tie for third place at 12 points apiece between sophomore Desiree Ware of Minnetonka, junior Katie Johnson of Perham and sophomore Nicole Bowlin of Holy Family. Freshman Molly Lenz of Eden Prairie ended up with 11. The contest followed the format the WNBA uses for its 3-point shootout at the All Star Game. Each player took five shots from five spots on the floor for a total of 25 shots.  The 5th shot at each station was the "money ball" and was worth two points.  Players with the top scores in the first round advanced to the second and final round with a clean slate of scores. With a packed gym in a high-energy environment it can definitely be nerve-wracking. “Being here a couple of times it wasn’t nearly as stressful. I think you get used to it,” said Van Eps. “Definitely before I rushed it a lot more but now it’s different, plus they added 5 seconds this year. That kind of helped but I ended up having 10 seconds left anyway.” The great unknown One player who was definitely feeling the nerves was Johnson, the Perham Yellowjacket. She was pretty much an unknown coming into the event. All of the other competitors are among the top players in the state. Many compete with and against each other in AAU basketball and are accustomed to being in the spotlight. Johnson has never been in that realm. How nervous was she? “On a scale of 1 to 10 I would say about 11!” Johnson said with a laugh. “It was pretty rough at first.” Johnson admitted it was a little bit intimidating going up against such a great group of players. “Definitely. When I saw the Twitter going out introducing the girls I felt like the odd ball, the girl who nobody knew anything about,” she said. “I don’t play AAU because I play three sports. I just didn’t fit in very well with that group, but I met a bunch of the girls and they were great people. We got to hang out and I loved it.” It was Johnson’s first 3-point shooting competition. “It was a lot of fun,” she said. “I have my parents rebound for me all the time so I am used to that, but I have never done any type of contest like this before. It was a new thing for me.” Watching Johnson in the warmup session it very quickly became evident how the 5’4 guard was able to shoot 43 percent from three last winter. The girl has outstanding mechanics. Johnson’s delivery is fluid and smooth, and the ball comes off her fingers so softly and spins very slowly. I honestly don’t know if there is a correlation between spin rate and success – perhaps there is some research out there that might tell us – but there was a lot of similarity between the way the ball came off Johnson’s fingers and the delivery of Allie Quigley at last year’s WNBA 3-point contest in Minneapolis. I was fortunate to have an up-close-and-personal view of the Chicago Sky guard’s form and her balls were spinning at about half the rate of speed of anyone else in the field. Guess who won it in a runaway. The Hive in Perham has quickly built a reputation as the premiere new high school gym in Minnesota. Katie Johnson hopes college coaches will come and see for themselves. (Photo courtesy of TSP Design) Where did Johnson learn to shoot it that way? “I would say probably my mom because she played basketball in college at Morris. My brother tried basketball but went into wrestling instead so I kind of had to be her basketball child,” she said with a laugh. “I love it!” Like most great shooters Katie also spends a ton of time working at her craft. “Lots and lots of shooting. I am constantly in the gym,” she said. “I ask a lot of questions. If something isn’t working right I’m not afraid to be corrected because I want to get better, I want to improve.” We haven’t seen Johnson play in an actual game so I can’t tell you where she stacks up against the rest of the 2021 class. She was all-conference last season, however, while also competing for Perham in volleyball and softball. Katie told us she has been honing her defense, including being more vocal on the floor. She has primarily been a catch-and-shoot guard but has been working hard on getting to the basket and becoming more versatile. We’ll try to make it to The Hive in Perham this winter to watch Johnson play. She hopes college coaches might do the same. “I work my butt off every day,” she said, “and I’d love to play for somebody in college.” FINAL SCORES 19 – Kaylee Van Eps, Chaska 17 – Lauren Jensen, Lakeville North 12 – Desiree Ware, Minnetonka 12 – Katie Johnson, Perham 12 – Nicole Bowlin, Holy Family 11 – Molly Lenz, Eden Prairie QUALIFIER 19 – Kaylee Van Eps, Chaska 18 – Lauren Jensen, Lakeville North 16 – Molly Lenz, Eden Prairie 15 – Desiree Ware, Minnetonka 13 – Katie Johnson, Perham 13 – Nicole Bowlin, Holy Family 12 – Sydni Olson, Waconia 10 – Ellie Buzzelle, Rogers 10 – Callin Hake, Chanhassen 10 – Gianna Kneepkens, Duluth Marshall Top photo: The Nickle Dickle finalists were (left to right) Lauren Jensen, Kaylee Van Eps, Desiree Ware, Katie Johnson and Nicole Bowlin,