Breakdown fall league recap: Part 2

The annual ritual that is fall league is done and we are less than two weeks away from the start of the high school season. Breakdown Sports does a great job every October of offering up pre-season preparatory basketball at locations across the state. I visited the most heavily populated sites, traveling once to Hopkins, once to St. Michael-Albertville and twice to Bloomington Kennedy. Yesterday we offered up part 1 of our fall league recap. Today we give you part 2. THE FUTURE IS NOW Can the kids come out and play in Wayzata? High school coaches aren’t allowed to participate during fall league so former college coach Peter Stewart was running the show for Wayzata and it didn’t take him long to figure out that a pair of talented freshmen deserved to be on the floor for the Trojans. That would be 5’10 forward Abby Krzewinski, who recently made her 2023 rankings debut at #16, and feisty freshman guard Brynn Senden, who also cracked our the Prep Girls Hoops Freshmen 50. The pair were super impressive. It’s unclear whether they’ll get the opportunity to repeat such performances on the varsity squad in the regular season. If it was up to me, Krzewinski would be top seven in the regular rotation and Senden would definitely see the floor in the right situations. We shall see what happens. Relighting the Fire at Holy Family It’s a new era at Holy Family following the graduation of several seniors who were the program’s core for years. That would be Leigh Steiner, Grace Conroy, Julia Geurs and Anna Vakulskas, the foursome who led the team to 20+ wins last winter. Holy Family does return standout sophomore point guard Nicole Bowlin (#26 In her class) and senior guard Grace Elander, but much of the burden will fall on a pair of rising talents – 6’0 freshman Sophi Hall and 5’7 sophomore Lucy Hertel. Hall just clocked in at #19 in our first ranking of the 2023s and Hertel made it onto the 2022 list for the first time. Both were terrific in fall league and will play a major role in whatever success the Fire have in 2019-20. Holy Family will certainly be different this winter. We suspect they’ll be good. It’s the Big D and we don’t mean Dallas It’s not often that a pre-season prediction for a high school team will emphasize the potential impact of an incoming 8th grader, but Emma Dasovich of Minnetonka is no orginary 8th grader. The 6’0 forward has the potential to be a force for the Skippers, and not just in the distant future. She played up two years in AAU this year with North Tartan 2022 Elite, one of the top AAU teams in the state. Their group includes such luminaries as Amaya Battle, Taylor Woodson and Alayna Contreras and Dasovich was a huge part of their success. She has a very big body, is strong for her age, has developed superior footwork and has no fear of making physical contact with opponents of any size or age. This summer she transformed from intriguing prospect into one of the top handful of players in the 2024 class. We should also mention that Emma is the daughter of ‘Tonka head coach Leah Dasovich and Lakeville South athletic director Tom Dasovich – both college athletes back in the day – and Emma’s understanding of the game has ‘coach’s kid’ written all over it. There is no doubt that the Big D will help the Skippers collect some big W’s this season. The pint-sized point guard The first time I saw 7th grader Addison Mack was at a showcase event this summer hosted by coach Crystal Flint at Cretin-Derham Hall. There were a lot of nice younger prospects in the gym that day, but nobody was of more interest than the pint-sized point guard from the class of 2025. The second time I saw Mack operate was on the first day of fall league at Hopkins when she played point guard on the Blake School varsity. To say she was impressive is an understatement. She managed the game like a veteran, displayed a superior skill set, and showed us just how much potential she has. Oh yeah, in two games she went 12-for-12 from beyond the arc! Here’s one more nugget to consider: Mack will most likely be the Bears starting point guard. She can’t weigh a hundred pounds but Mack will do the heavy lifting this winter. CHANGING ADDRESSES Fall league is always interesting when it comes to roster composition. That’s because it offers a preview of who has transferred where in time for the high school season. Although it isn’t always accurate because these games are not sanctioned by the high school league, based on what we saw over the past four Sundays it looks as though the recent relocations include these prospects: Senior guard Alani Pettis goes from Minneapolis North to Richfield. Senior guard Nevaeh Moeschter (#96) has left Tartan and moved to Cretin-Derham Hall. Junior forward Katie Leisen (#37) moves from Minnetonka to Eden Prairie. Junior guard Macy Smith (#48) transferred from Maranatha to Spring Lake Park. Junior point guard Lizzie Berkvam (#49) left Northfield for Lakeville North. Junior guard Destinee Bursch (#54) goes from Chaska to Eden Prairie. Junior guard Erika Lane (#56) has transferred from Pequot Lakes to Brainerd Junior guard Takara Mason (#58) moves from Tartan to Cretin-Derham Hall. Junior guard Haley Paulson (#77) moved from Delano to Orono Junior guard Lily Horn (#106) moves from Brainerd to Alexandria. Sophomore guard Leah Dengerud (#42) moves from DeLaSalle to Totino-Grace. Sophomore guard Kaila Youngs (#44) left Delano for Orono Sophomore forward Lily Niebuhr (#120) transferred from Jordan to Chaska Freshman guard Kennedy Klick (#10) leaves Maranatha for DeLaSalle. Freshman guard Ashley Fritz (#27) moves from Hastings to Eden Prairie. Top photo: Macy Smith (#23) did some celebrating at Maranatha Christian over the past four seasons but the talented junior has moved home to Spring Lake Park this fall. (Photo courtesy of StarTribune)