These were the Top 10 performers at the Meltdown, part 1
How good is Amaya Battle Amaya Battle 5'10" | PG Hopkins | 2022 State #29 Nation MN ? That’s a question I have been asked often over the past couple of years, mostly from college coaches who have watched her…
Access all of Prep Girls Hoops
Continue reading this article and more.
Continue ReadingHow good is Amaya Battle Amaya Battle 5'10" | PG Hopkins | 2022 State #29 Nation MN ? That’s a question I have been asked often over the past couple of years, mostly from college coaches who have watched her a fair amount but not nearly as much as we have. If you were at the Meltdown/AAU Nationals in Shakopee last weekend then you already know the answer: She’s good. She’s really good. She’s really, really, really good. And she’s going to be great.
After waiting what seemed like forever for Amaya’s Metro Stars 2022 team to make its summer debut – Tara Starks’ squad was dealing with the residual effects of the COVID-19 situation and that delayed its arrival – they showed up in the gym for the final three events of the AAU summer. After warming up with a second-place finish at Summer Jam, the Metro Stars turned up the heat the following weekend. By the time the tournament was over they were the 10th grade AAU state champions. Last weekend at the Meltdown the Metro Stars were even better and they went home as national champions because of it.
You could list a lot of reasons why the Starks girls won it all but the primary factor was Battle. That’s why she leads our list of the Prep Girls Hoops Top 10 Performers at the Meltdown/AAU Nationals.
THE TOP TWO
Amaya Battle Amaya Battle 5'10" | PG Hopkins | 2022 State #29 Nation MN – Metro Stars 2022 Starks (Hopkins)
Battle is a low-key star. She’s not a ‘look-at-me’ type of player who generates a lot of noise or has a big social media presence. No, Amaya lets her play do most of the talking. She doesn’t tweet every college offer she gets, and there are a lot of them. And she’s been playing in the shadow of the incomparable Paige Bueckers Paige Bueckers 5'11" | CG Hopkins | 2020 State MN since making her high school debut as a precocious 7th grader four years ago. She stepped into the spotlight then by hitting a memorable three-pointer from the corner that won the tournament for Hopkins in the St. Olaf event that Christmas. I remember thinking then that she just might turn out to be what she is now.
This weekend at the Meltdown Battle once again hit the winning shot, an off-balance mid-range jumper that ended a four-overtime extravaganza against North Tartan that truly could have gone either way. Really, though, that was just an exclamation point on a weekend-long statement that saw her score 26 points in a dominant semifinal performance against Minnesota Fury 2022 UAA. As if we needed a memory jolt, Amaya showed us why she is a top three prospect in the class of 2022 and why she will eventually be a star in college basketball.
Mallory Heyer Mallory Heyer 6'1" | PF Chaska | 2022 State #36 Nation MN – Minnesota Fury 2022 UAA (Chaska)
Battle isn’t the only budding collegiate star in the 2022 class, of course. It’s really a coin flip or two between the three best prospects among Minnesota’s incoming juniors. Wayzata’s Mara Braun Mara Braun 5'11" | CG Wayzata | 2022 State #21 Nation MN of North Tartan and Chaska’s Mallory Heyer Mallory Heyer 6'1" | PF Chaska | 2022 State #36 Nation MN of the Fury are also proven players who have knocked our socks off over the past couple of seasons. Each brings different assets to the table but all three are high major talents. We certainly saw that this weekend. Heyer was very, very good, but in the Fury’s semifinal encounter with the Metro Stars it was particularly evident.
Mallory came out on fire in that one, scoring early and often. She powered to the rim to cash in on multiple occasions even though she was up against another one Minnesota’s very best in Taylor Woodson Taylor Woodson 6'0" | PF Hopkins | 2023 State #28 Nation MN of Hopkins. She scored with the jump shot and she scored off the bounce, both highly desirable skills that Heyer has improved upon greatly over the last year or so. By halftime Mal had 19 points and she finished with 26. Nursing a 5-point lead with less than two minutes remaining, the Fury saw their teammate Ellie Buzzelle Ellie Buzzelle 5'9" | SG Rogers | 2022 State #60 Nation MN go down with a frightening neck injury. When play resumed after a lengthy delay, the Fury struggled through the game’s final 90 seconds and fell to the Metro Stars. Buzzelle, by the way, was diagnosed with a whiplash injury and will be out about six weeks. It could have been a whole lot worse.
THE NEXT THREE
While Battle and Heyer turned in the most notable performances of the weekend at the Meltdown, they weren’t the only leading lights who played at a very high level. Here are three more who spent their time in the glare of the spotlight.
Maty Wilke – North Tartan 2021 EYBL (Beaver Dam, Wisc.)
We have been watching Maty Wilke do her thing on behalf of North Tartan’s best 2021 team for the past two summers and she does it very, very well. We knew the Wisconsin import was good – we had seen it in high school when her Beavers made a splash at the St. Olaf high school tournament – but she won us over big time in two standout defensive performances against Bueckers last summer. This year we have witnessed more of the same from the Wisconsin commit. In Sunday’s semifinal meeting with a loaded Wisconsin Flight squad Wilke had four threes in the first half as North Tartan advanced in the 11th grade division which they eventually won. It has been our general policy to not extensively cover players from beyond Minnesota’s borders but Wilke has simply been too good to ignore.
Logan Nissley – North Tartan 2022 (Bismarck, ND)
Ditto for Logan Nissley. North Tartan isn’t shy about bringing in some of the best players from neighboring states. On this weekend that included a cameo appearance by Kamorea Arnold of Germantown, Wisc., who is ranked in the top 15 nationally in the class of 2023 by ESPN HoopGurlz. Also among the imports has been 2023 guard Logan Nissley of Bismarck, N.D., who has had an outstanding summer lighting it up on Marqus McGlothan’s 2022 North Tartan squad while also making special guest appearances with Gerard Coury’s 2021s. She did it again at the Meltdown. Nissley is a big guard with outstanding ball skills, terrific athleticism, a great feel for the game and the spirit of a warrior. Nissley reminded us this weekend why she is a high-major prospect. I hope she returns next summer because Logan is a superior talent who is entertaining as heck. While we’re mentioning imports, how about the play of Haleigh Timmer over the past few summers? The North Tartan guard from Rapid City, S.D. was also excellent at the Meltdown.
Gianna Kneepkens Gianna Kneepkens 5'11" | CG Duluth Marshall | 2021 State #86 Nation MN – Minnesota Fury 2021 UAA (Duluth Marshall)
Three years ago Kneepkens was a small guard with super skills and superior potential. Now standing a very lengthy 5’11, Gianna is a big guard who can do all that she could do back in the day but has the length to weaponize that skill set at a more potent level. We’ve certainly seen that this summer and we saw it once again over the weekend. In particular, the first half of the Fury’s 2021 Meltdown finale vs North Tartan was vintage Gianna. She roared out of the gate with her energy level clearly amped up even a notch or two higher than normal. Gianna nailed a couple of big threes early, scored at the rim and was pretty much everywhere as the Fury jumped out to an early lead. She finished the game with 17 points and was a whole lot of fun to watch. Kneepkens is ranked #5 in the class of 2021 and has committed to play next fall at the University of Utah.
TOP PERFORMERS 6-10
There were plenty of great players to choose from at the Meltdown. We’ll bring you the best of the rest tomorrow in part 2.