Nate's Saturday Standouts from the AAU Shootout Series

BLOOMINGTON-- The magic number was 119 days, that’s how long it had been since I watched tournament basketball in the state of Minnesota. That number ended yesterday when the AAU Shoutout Series came to Bloomington. I felt like a little kid on his birthday too excited to open his presents the night before and when I got to the fieldhouse at Bloomington Kennedy High School and that excitement lasted thru the entirety of the 14 hours I was there, watching new up and coming prospects, programs, and prospects I have seen that continued to go to work on the AAU spectrum. These 17 players were the standouts, the ones that made a name for themselves when Prep Girls Hoops was in the building from when games started at 8 AM and ended at 9:30 PM. These standouts yesterday range from to be 8th graders to the to be seniors with state tournament experience. Kailey Korba, Minnesota Stars Voyce/Shakopee (2025) Korba is a long guard that is loaded with potential on Minnesota Stars Voyce. Korba has a nice build and uses it to her advantage when she uses her physicality to get to the basket. She plays the game very elusively and can be difficult to stop. One of a few future Shakopee Sabers we will be talking about in this story. Raeanna Skattum, Minnesota Heat/Shakopee (2025) Skattum is a three-level scorer has the potential to be a very versatile shooter as she showed yesterday in the first game of the morning in Bloomington. She may be suited down the road as a quality outside shooter as we again have found another quality prospect from Shakopee. Lydia Schmitter, Minnesota Stars Voyce/Eagan (2025) Schmitter was by far the game MVP I watched in game one yesterday morning. Her strong all-around game was what made her so hard to stop for the Heat. She has very long arms and is a significant scorer inside the paint. What I liked most, was her mobility when she was in the post as she made getting around to score much easier. Had a 25 point game later in the day yesterday against Minnesota Rise. A native of Eagan, the Wildcats better make sure Schmitter is on their wish list from the Class of 2025. Hallie Evans, Jump Start/Proctor (2023) What do you know, another fun guard prospect from the Proctor Rails? Evans is an extremely raw talent that had some nice buckets yesterday against Start Strong Black out of the North Metro. She’s a much different scorer than say [player_tooltip player_id="110554" first="Sam" last="Pogatchnik"], who is more of an outside shooter. Evans, gets most of her buckets at the basket, as she may need some development from the outside as a pure shooter. Jump Start is an AAU program that focuses on your schools north of the metro such as Ogilive, Chisago Lakes, East Central (Hinckley), and more. Jenny Ntambwe, Start Strong Black/Coon Rapids (2022) You may remember Ntambwe from her game I watched against Rogers during the regular season. Ntambwe then was coming off the bench for Coon Rapids but was a key starter for Start Strong Black yesterday morning. Her inside presence is once again what I liked about her game most as she used most of her play on the block yesterday in Bloomington. Alexa Snesrud, Wisconsin Playmakers North/Cloquet (2023) If I need a vocal team leader from yesterday, Snesrud would be my first call. She is an absolute warrior defensively and tallied multiple steals against a very good Minnesota Stars Diemer team. What was also impressive in her game is how she moves without the basketball as she found the seams to get the basketball and get a path to the bucket yesterday. Justice Paro, Wisconsin Playmakers North/Cloquet (2022) Paro is another prospect from Playmakers North that jumped out to us on Saturday morning. Another prospect from the Cloquet Lumberjacks, Paro is a strong body that can stretch it from mid-range but is also a bruiser in the heart of the paint. She needs a little development as far as her first step in the paint but has the time as only a to-be junior for the Lumberjacks. Taryn Frazer, Minnesota Stars Diemer/Cass Lake-Bena (2022) I’m dishing out my Saturday tournament MVP to Taryn Frazer of Minnesota Stars Diemer and Cass Lake-Bena High School. What a phenomenal performance yesterday against Playmakers North she had finished with 26 points and was in "can’t miss" mode from outside as she knocked down seven three points in their overtime win. If I’m a college coach looking for a strong outside shooter, I’m buying the stock right now on Frazer as she is going to be one of the best shooters I’ll see in both days I will spend in Bloomington [player_tooltip player_id="109156" first="Natalie" last="Mikrot"], Wisconsin Playmakers North/Moose Lake-Willow River (2023) At Prep Girls Hoops Minnesota we’ve always known that Natalie can score as she’s been a starting guard for the Rebels at Moose Lake-Willow River since junior high. She showed that again yesterday in Bloomington. Mikrot is a guard you can build your program around as she a fluent scorer from inside the three-point line and can make that outside shoot too. Her ball handling is also very bouncy and if you are not careful, can be taken to the basket. Kylie Verthein, Rochester Shock /Lewiston-Altura (2023) Although it was an underwhelming afternoon for the Rochester Shock, Kylie Verthein was the effort player that the Shock needed to blossom. It took until the second half, but we were able to find out about another young prospect from Lewiston-Altura. Verthein has the build you want as a bigger guard and has good mobility to move around. Where she was most effective was from the outside line where she made the Shock appear a better team against Northwest Elite out of New Richmond, Wisconsin. As a to be sophomore, she does need some development as far as her dribble drives going to the basket. [player_tooltip player_id="188137" first="Kyrah" last="Clark"], Crossfire South-Corley/Shakopee (2024) We were told thru the grapevine the program of Crossfire South-Corley (2024) had some prospects, and they certainly did live up the hype from what I witnessed Saturday afternoon. The intensity and chip in Clark’s game are what made me a fan right away. Her motor was second to none, she created opportunities for her team to blossom even it wasn’t as much on the scoring end. When I talk about the term "team points" meaning getting steals, blocks, assists for your team, Clark was one of my top scorers in all the games I watched from 8:00 AM to 9:30 PM yesterday. Kailey Tomzak, Crossfire South-Corley/Lakeville North (2024) Tomzak was another prospect from Crossfire South-Corley that stood out. A well-versed scorer and second in the team points category from Crossfire, Tomzak will be competitive not only for Crossfire this summer but for Lakeville North in the coming years as the Panthers just spit out excellent talent year by year. Charlotte Henry, Crossfire South-Corley/Prior Lake (2024) Henry made it a huge problem for Five Star Future as far as creating turnovers especially at halfcourt, where their guard struggled to find her step and her passing ability to create turnovers at scores for Crossfire South-Corley. Henry can score on a few levels, and it will be interesting to see how she turns in the rest of her summer as far as what her role is on the team! Grace DeSchepper, Minnesota Stars Zabel/New London-Spicer (2021) This would be now 2.5 times (half of the game against Duluth Marshall in the state tournament) I have watched DeSchepper and again, left impressed. It’s not her scoring that impresses me it’s the way she rebounds. At 6’1, she is just a board gobbler and grabs every rebound with authority if the ball is coming near her. Her frame may draw some questions at the next level, but against a more stout frontcourt in Minnesota Metro Stars yesterday, she held her own on the boards. Taylor Laube, Minnesota Metro Stars/Chanhassen (2021) Lighting the biggest scorer I watched off the bench yesterday was Taylor Laube of Minnesota Metro Stars. They are a program that I witnessed yesterday that are just strong 1-8 and didn’t show off much stardom from what I can see, they just have some very strong role players. Laube was proficient inside and from mid-range and got her team a victory in what was probably the best game I watched yesterday because of how evenly matched these two programs were. Ella Matzke, Southern MN Fury 2024/Lake City (2024) Matzke was quite the surprise yesterday. A to-be freshman at Lake City, Matzke showed off her versatility in the scoring department for Southern Minnesota Fury. Her strong build was enough to be another board gobbler against the slightly smaller Crossfire South-Corley on Saturday evening. Matzke is a player that I think after a strong summer, will get more minutes for the Lake City Tigers next season. [player_tooltip player_id="148341" first="Sammi" last="Chandler"], Minnesota Stars Knight/Red Wing (2023) In the last game of my long day on Saturday, I found another standout in [player_tooltip player_id="148341" first="Sammi" last="Chandler"] of Minnesota Stars Knight and from the Red Wing Wingers. Chandler has very long arms and was causing significant problems for Crossfire South-Ede the entire game. Another plus to Chandler’s game is how fast she is coast to coast when she seems an opportunity at the bucket with her court vision. Chandler ranks 2nd on the Wingers behind [player_tooltip player_id="108325" first="Sydnee" last="Nelson"] as far as points per game last season among freshmen for the Wingers, who got to the state tournament last year and lost in a nail biter I took in at Maturi Pavillion