Legacy Christian-Mayer Lutheran Standouts
MAYER— We found ourselves in Mayer on Tuesday night watching 1 seed Mayer Lutheran take on 4 seed Legacy Christian Academy out of Andover in the Section 4A semifinals. I’ll give you a quick recap of what happened in Mayer Lutheran’s 67-30…
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Continue ReadingMAYER— We found ourselves in Mayer on Tuesday night watching 1 seed Mayer Lutheran take on 4 seed Legacy Christian Academy out of Andover in the Section 4A semifinals. I’ll give you a quick recap of what happened in Mayer Lutheran’s 67-30 defeat of the Lions.
QUICK RECAP
The dominance of the Crusaders started early and often when they were creating turnovers easily in the first half. What messed with the Lions most was their inability to break the press set by the Crusaders early and often, which fatigued the Lions and caused them to throw the ball away while the Crusaders contributed early and often. The Crusaders looked poised the entire game to get to the section final, Legacy Christian Academy, on the other hand, looked overmatched and never could get much scoring until towards the end of the game when all Lions seniors were in the lineup.
WHO STOOD OUT?
These were players that caught my eye, a couple we already know at Prep Girls Hoops Minnesota, but I found plenty of new faces that played extremely well.
Ariana Shank, Guard, Legacy Christian Academy (2020)
I’ll admit Shank looked flustered as the point guard against the lengthy guards of Mayer Lutheran, but she provided an outside shooter’s spark that got loud cheers from the bench and from the Lions faithful of fans that made the hour trip to Mayer. Her two 3 pointers weren’t nearly enough to get the job done, but Shank kept battling regardless of what the scoreboard said, and that’s all you can ask.
Megan Spencer, Forward, Legacy Christian Academy (2024)
The grinder for the Lions was the 8th grader Megan Spencer. She performed well in the team points category and competed with multiple players from the Crusaders of Mayer Lutheran. Where she was most impressive, is when she put up back to back blocks on a player that is ranked in Prep Girls Hoops Minnesota’s top 150 list which is a great accomplishment you have to be proud of. I think Spencer will in plenty of time turn into a productive forward over the next 4 years.
Hannah Compton, Forward, Legacy Christian Academy (2023)
The youth production of this Lions roster has to make head coach Kaia Hill excited for what’s in store for Legacy Christian shortly, especially her young forwards including Hannah Compton. Compton checked in as the only double-digit scorer for the Lions but she also was a board collector with 6 rebounds and 3 steals on a mobile, pass first Mayer Lutheran team which is a nice stat to see from this freshman that has good potential.
Lexi Schermann Lexi Schermann 5'9" | CG Mayer Lutheran | 2020 State MN , Guard, Mayer Lutheran (#102, 2020) Gustavus Commit
What I like in the first game I watched from Schermann was the competitive edge she brings to the table. While she had 6 points, 4 rebounds and 5 team points (steals and assists) she also was a motivator off the basketball court too. You consistently saw her cheering on and motivating her younger teammates when the game was well over, but much like a coach that keeps coaching when his team is winning big, a player that builds up the younger girls is something that someone’s gifted with as a senior leader.
Emma Lade Emma Lade 5'9" | CG Mayer Lutheran | 2022 State MN , Guard, Mayer Lutheran (#76, 2022)
A young guard that stood out to me was Emma Lade Emma Lade 5'9" | CG Mayer Lutheran | 2022 State MN . Lade’s ability to feed the open teammate makes this Mayer Lutheran program have great depth even with the graduation of Schermann next year. Lade provides a good 3rd option from shooting the deep ball or driving to the hoop.
Olivia Tjernagle Olivia Tjernagle 6'0" | PF Mayer Lutheran | 2020 State MN , Forward, Mayer Lutheran ( #117, 2020) Nothern Iowa Volleyball Commit
Our good friends over at Prep Dig Minnesota might know something about Olivia too. Tjernagel provides a long ability to rebound the basketball but also a dominant post player that can also get outside the post and make a key mid-range bucket. Tjernagel is a confident big that’s not afraid to use her size, and she showed that tonight against the undersized Lions of Legacy Christian Academy.
Morgan Chmiekewski, Guard, Mayer Lutheran (2021)
Morgan was a walking inside bucket tonight against the Lions. The bulk of her scoring was getting inside the post and causing trouble with the Lions defenders. She has a great basketball IQ of knowing where the basketball was and making sure she did whatever it took to steal it. She also has a good feed, as Mayer Lutheran may be one of the top passing teams I’ve watched all season, as that was my “favorite” about coach Kris Gustin’s offense is the 5+ passes his team would make before a shot when up, just old school, feed it to the open shooter basketball!
GAME MVP
Brooke Paulsrud, Guard, Mayer Lutheran (2020)
A player that has turned on the jets as a late senior bloomer starting in February, Paulsrud was the top player I watched tonight. It wasn’t just her 16 points at the bucket where she was spectacular, it was her in your face defense that got her as the leader the steals department too for the Crusaders. A player that I would give an A rating on the night, Paulsrad sure has gained some confidence in her final two months of high school basketball. She didn’t have a 10 point game this season until the middle of January but has had now six 10 point+ games including a 17 point game against Concordia Academy in mid-February.
Paulsrud is still an unsigned 2020 guard, but you can check out her Hudl profile here.
Mayer Lutheran (22-5) will head to Coon Rapids to take on 2 seed Heritage Christian (19-7) at Anoka Ramsey Community College which will be a 5:45 tip this Friday.