2022 AAU Player of the Year & All-Star Team

2022 AAU Player of the Year &#038; All-Star Team

Grant McGinnis August 19, 2021 @ 04:24 PM

A summer season is comprised of so much more than a single game of basketball. In the case of Mara Braun Mara Braun 5'11" | CG Wayzata | 2022 State #21 Nation MN , however, her singular performance in the 17U AAU State Championship game was a big one that serves as a microcosm of the excellence she displayed throughout the campaign. The incoming senior from Wayzata scored 29 points in a truly dominant performance to lead her North Tartan EYBL squad to the title. After many more weeks of greatness through the conclusion of her grassroots career, we saw Mara do it all in 2021 which is why she is the Prep Girls Hoops Class of 2022 AAU Player of the Year.

Mara was not to be denied on that Sunday afternoon in May as North Tartan prevailed over a star-studded cast from the Minnesota Fury. She was everywhere, scoring in pretty much every way you can score, defending with passion, making one big play after another. North Tartan led by two at halftime but started to gain some breathing room midway through the second period when Braun cashed in on a three-for-three opportunity at the free throw line. She followed that with an end-to-end dash to score, then a pull-up jumper in transition, two more free throws and a drive to the hoop that gave NT a 10-point lead with 6 minutes to go. From there North Tartan played stellar defense to maintain its advantage and did a quality job of killing clock until the buzzer sounded. The final score was 52-44.

Mara has had an outstanding career to date, from the bright lights of high school basketball playing on one of the state’s highest-profile teams, to the trenches of AAU where she has gone head-to-head with the blue bloods time and time again and prevailed more often than not. Mara’s tenacity and will to win is unmatched. Her skills are pretty good, too!

Braun tops the list now of our 2022 AAU All Stars, a group that includes her North Tartan teammates Kiani Lockett Kiani Lockett 5'9" | PG Minnetonka | 2022 State MN , Nia Holloway Nia Holloway 6'0" | PF Eden Prairie | 2022 State #45 Nation MN , Madison Mathiowetz Madison Mathiowetz 5'10" | CG Sleepy Eye St. Mary's | 2022 State MN and Lily Fandre Lily Fandre 6'2" | SF Eagan | 2022 State MN , along with five members of that Fury UAA squad – Mallory Heyer Mallory Heyer 6'1" | PF Chaska | 2022 State #36 Nation MN , Callin Hake Callin Hake 5'8" | PG Chanhassen | 2022 State #64 Nation MN , Lilly Meister Lilly Meister 6'2" | PF Rochester John Marshall | 2022 State #55 Nation MN , Amber Scalia Amber Scalia 5'9" | CG Stillwater | 2022 State MN and Ellie Buzzelle Ellie Buzzelle 5'9" | SG Rogers | 2022 State #60 Nation MN . Also making the first team is Amaya Battle Amaya Battle 5'10" | PG Hopkins | 2022 State #29 Nation MN of Metro Stars 3SSB who was the 2020 AAU Player of the Year. Her Metro Stars teammate Alayna Contreras Alayna Contreras 5'7" | CG Hopkins | 2022 State MN is an honorable mention.

A dozen players return to the All-Star Team

By the time players reach their final season of AAU, there aren’t a ton of surprises anymore. The top athletes have separated themselves and it takes some mighty fine work to get into the conversation with the big dogs now. That’s why Braun, Battle, Heyer and Holloway – all of whom have committed to play for the University of Minnesota – returned to the First Team again this season. They’re joined by Lockett, who was a second-teamer one year ago. Kiani has verballed to Creighton University in Omaha.

In all, 12 of the 20 players selected this year were named to the squad last summer. Among the newcomers of note are Alicia Bates Alicia Bates 5'6" | CG Champlin Park | 2022 State MN of 43 Hoops Elite (Champlin Park), Kassie Caron Kassie Caron 6'0" | SF Holy Angels | 2022 State MN of Minnesota Fury Premier (Holy Angels/Missouri Western), Ronnie Porter Ronnie Porter 5'2" | CG Como Park | 2022 State MN of FBC Real (Como Park) and Ava Stier Ava Stier 5'10" | PF Waconia | 2022 State MN of Minnesota Stars Bjorgaard (Waconia/MSU-Mankato).

Eighteen of the 20 players selected have already made college commitments, including 13 at the Division 1 level. Seven of those are to high-major programs. Those are remarkable numbers. Only Bates, at #79, is ranked outside the Top 50 in the Prep Girls Hoops Class of 2022 prospect rankings.

1st Team