The Week That Was #8: Almost as good as the real thing

I watched one live basketball game last week – I can’t even remember the last time that happened during the high school season – but I still saw 11 full games and bits and pieces of another eight or nine. Thanks to the explosion of online games this winter, things have changed a bit from our perspective, and we have been able to watch a lot of teams this year that weren’t possible to see before. The real beneficiaries of this development are the kids from the hinterlands, places like Tracy-Milroy-Balaton, Minneota and Cass Lake-Bena, who were all on my dance card during The Week That Was #8. Thanks to online viewing, I’m closing in on 100 teams seen to date. In some ways the online opportunity makes up for the loss of the Breakdown and showcase events, those one- and two-day extravaganzas where we can watch eight or 10 games in a day. What’s missing, however, is the chance to meet people, build relationships and see the nuances of a player’s game up close and in person. There’s just no substitute for being there live. Hopefully next season we’ll be closer to normal than we are right now. Here’s what we watched in Week #8: <ul> <li>Monday – New London-Spicer at Albany, Tracy-Milroy-Balaton at Pipestone</li> <li>Tuesday – Fridley at Mahtomedi</li> <li>Wednesday – DeLaSalle at Minnehaha Academy, Breck at Mounds Park Academy</li> <li>Thursday – Crosby-Ironton at Mountain Iron-Buhl, Waconia at Marshall</li> <li>Friday – Cass Lake-Bena at Duluth Marshall, Minneota at Canby</li> <li>Saturday – Dover-Eyota at Stewartville, Como Park at St. Paul Central</li> </ul> <strong>Player of the Week –</strong> [player_tooltip player_id="109746" first="Jordyn" last="Hilgemann"]<strong>,  Marshall (Northern State)</strong> The Marshall Tigers are always a bit of an enigma. Every year they seem to pile up wins in obscurity. Coach Dan Westby isn’t much for hoopla, and his teams play pretty much the same hard-nosed style of basketball as they always have. Despite being routinely overlooked when folks are discussing the best teams in the state, the Tigers have been regulars at the big dance with titles and finalist medals to show for it. With a record of 14-0, they just might be back again this year. On Wednesday night against Waconia, Marshall’s modus operandi was in high gear as they physically pounded the Wildcats into submission by a score of 67-60. Next year’s version of the Tigers will probably look similar save for one key element: [player_tooltip player_id="109746" first="Jordyn" last="Hilgemann"]. For the past five years the gifted scorer has set the world on fire in Marshall. A few teams have managed to cage the rest of the Tigers but taming Hilgemann has proven elusive. Jordyn has been on a roll for the past couple of weeks, posting a string of 30-point games. In Week #7 she because the Tigers’ all-time leading scorer, surpassing Shannon Bolden’s 2,143-point mark. On Wednesday the 5’11 forward from the Minnesota Rise scored 35 points against Waconia to once again propel her team to the W. <strong>Team of the Week – Mahtomedi</strong> While Marshall might be working in obscurity in Southwest Minnesota, Mahtomedi is very quietly putting together a quality season in the East Metro and precious few have been paying much attention... including me. That’s why I jumped at the opportunity to see the Zephyrs at home on Tuesday against a talented young Fridley team. Mahtomedi did not disappoint, pretty much having things their way in a 78-58 victory. That shouldn’t be surprising given just how much talent there is in the lineup. Their leader is senior [player_tooltip player_id="29489" first="Ella" last="Hronski"], a long, fluid shooting guard/wing who has committed to the University of Minnesota-Duluth. Ella buried five triples against Fridley. Last week she broke the school record for threes in a game with six against Henry Sibley. The #40-ranked Hronski is one of the smoothest shooters in the state, but she is by no means the only Zephyr with tools in her box. Junior point guard [player_tooltip player_id="109171" first="Zoie" last="Centers"], ranked #65 in the class, is averaging 13 ppg. Top 20 sophomore [player_tooltip player_id="108311" first="Zoey" last="Washington"] is a gifted player while her fellow sophomore [player_tooltip player_id="220833" first="Sonya" last="Potthoff"] is one of the state’s most improved this year. And then the Zephyrs have a pair of lengthy seniors in <strong>Greta Schimnowski</strong> and <strong>Mickey Stockness</strong>, plus junior post <strong>Layla Gile</strong> and more on the way. Like we said, it’s a talented group. Are they good enough to make it through section 4AAA and on to the state tournament? That’s a big ask considering they’ll have to get past the only team to beat them this season – Hill-Murray – and the always dangerous Islanders of DeLaSalle. <strong>Fresh faces of the week</strong> <strong>Mya Karsten – 8th grade guard, Fridley</strong> We have been hearing a lot about Mya’s play of late and, having now seen her live last week, we can confirm that the rumors are true: the girl is legit! Mya is a small but stocky point guard with terrific handles, nice court sense, and plenty of swagger. Her shot is a thing of beauty, with that kind of soft, lazy release that usually foreshadows that there’s a swish in the offing. Karsten’s set up and motion is similar to [player_tooltip player_id="2109" first="Paige" last="Kindseth"] of Farmington (Presbyterian), a top-10 senior who parlayed that little shoulder turn into a D1 scholarship. At Mahtomedi, Karsten went head-to-head for most of the game with [player_tooltip player_id="109171" first="Zoie" last="Centers"], a scholarship-level prospect three years her senior and one of the toughest competitors around. The 8th grader more than held her own. Karsten finished with 17 points and left us wanting more. She’ll play for the Minnesota Heat this spring. <strong>Ella Kletti – freshman guard, Mahtomedi</strong> I purposely arrived at Mahtomedi in time for the JV game because the Zephyrs have some bright young prospects, including 9th grade guard <strong>Ella Kletti</strong>. She was as good as anticipated. What I didn’t expect was to see her cracking a very strong varsity lineup on the same night. But there she was, earning minutes, competing hard and looking very much like she belonged with the older girls. Ella impressed us last summer with her aggressive defense, high-energy demeanor and overall feistiness. She caught our attention in the fall with a strong performance at the Top 250 Expo. And here we are now talking about what the 5’5 guard can bring to the table. There are more talented kids in the class. Bigger, stronger, more athletic kids, too. When it’s all said and done many of them will go no farther than high school basketball. Kletti, on the other hand, has the kind of infectious personality and intense desire that tells me she will figure out a way to earn a roster spot at the next level. I’d take her on my team seven days a week. <strong>Week #8 Milestones</strong> Pine City has had a great run over the past few years and this week captured its second straight Great River Conference title with a perfect 14-0 record. A huge chunk of the Dragons’ success can be attributed to the leadership of senior [player_tooltip player_id="109757" first="Ellie" last="Hasz"], who this week became the program’s all-time leading scorer. The University of Mary commit scored 29 points on Tuesday in a win over Braham to reach the 2,000 point mark. On Friday she had 25 more against East Central to pass 2020 graduate [player_tooltip player_id="110555" first="Lily" last="Wilson"], who had the previous high-water mark of 2,024. Speaking of successful stretches, it has been a good run the past few years for Wayzata thanks to a string of outstanding players. This week junior [player_tooltip player_id="12715" first="Mara" last="Braun"] (Minnesota) passed the 1,000-point mark in her career, joining senior [player_tooltip player_id="2090" first="Jenna" last="Johnson"] (Utah) along with 2020 graduate [player_tooltip player_id="28788" first="Annika" last="Stewart"] (Nebraska) and 2019 #1 [player_tooltip player_id="1709" first="Kallie" last="Theisen"] (South Dakota State). The 5th D1 participant in that group was 2019 graduate [player_tooltip player_id="55336" first="Mimi" last="Schrader"] of Navy, who finished with 929. It all adds up to 5,872 points. What’s truly remarkable is doing it at the highest level playing as tough of a schedule as there is. Not all 1,000-point achievements are created equal, and reaching the milestone in the Lake Conference is worthy of notice. Hill-Murray now has three 1,000-point scorers in its lineup after senior [player_tooltip player_id="2134" first="Lilli" last="Mackley"] and junior [player_tooltip player_id="109165" first="Ella" last="Runyon"] hit that milestone last week to join senior [player_tooltip player_id="109763" first="Bella" last="Hartzel"] in the club. Mackley did it on Friday night against South St. Paul. With the game pretty much over, Hill-Murray coach Erin Herman was about to park the starters. When Mackley cashed in on an and-1 to pull within two points of the milestone, the coach left her in the game and Lilli almost immediately buried the three. She had 20 points and 14 rebounds on the night. On Saturday it was Runyon’s turn as the uber-athletic junior reached the milestone in the first half before finishing the game with 24 points. Runyon is a multi-sport competitor who will have plenty of options of what to play at the next level. We can only hope basketball is still a possibility. Also reaching the 1,000-point mark this week were: <ul> <li>Senior [player_tooltip player_id="57079" first="Cassidy" last="Carson"] of Eastview (South Dakota)</li> <li>Senior [player_tooltip player_id="109786" first="Juel" last="Skrien"] of St. Croix Lutheran</li> <li>Senior [player_tooltip player_id="146169" first="Logan" last="Anderson"] of Forest Lake</li> <li>Senior [player_tooltip player_id="14165" first="Samantha" last="Zimmerman"] of Moorhead</li> <li>Senior [player_tooltip player_id="2109" first="Paige" last="Kindseth"] of Farmington (Presbyterian)</li> <li>Senior [player_tooltip player_id="109756" first="Peyton" last="Blandin"] of Farmington (SMSU)</li> <li>Junior [player_tooltip player_id="109163" first="Taya" last="Jeffrey"] of Albert Lea</li> <li>Sophomore [player_tooltip player_id="186112" first="Ashlynne" last="Guenther"] of Duluth East</li> <li>Sophomore [player_tooltip player_id="108321" first="Aby" last="Shubert"] of Kasson-Mantorville</li> <li>Sophomore <strong>Adella Olesiak</strong> from South Ridge</li> </ul> Rosemount’s [player_tooltip player_id="109744" first="Helen" last="Staley"] recently achieved a rare feat. The Oakland University commit is a multi-faceted player who has had success at all five positions with the Irish. It’s only fitting that her record would take up half the scoresheet. That’s because Staley, a top-30 prospect in the class of 2021, is the first player in Rosemount history to record 1,000 points, 700 rebounds and 300 assists. It’s always difficult to establish what is actually a state record in Minnesota given the chaotic nature of keeping such history in girls basketball. So much just doesn’t get recorded or published. Record or not, it’s hard to imagine too many teams have had better shooting nights than Wayzata did against Moorhead on Friday. The Trojans went 33-for-40 from two-point range (82.5%) and 9-of-18 from three (50%) for an overall average of 72% Senior [player_tooltip player_id="2090" first="Jenna" last="Johnson"] was 12-for-13, junior [player_tooltip player_id="12715" first="Mara" last="Braun"] went 9-of-10 and sophomore [player_tooltip player_id="108345" first="Brynn" last="Senden"] was good on 5-of-6. Not bad.