Fall League Week 3: A sneak peek at the new Red Knights

After a two-week warmup of sorts, the Breakdown Sports Fall League got down to serious business this week as 170 varsity, junior varsity and freshmen teams launched a four-Sunday run of exhibition games at St. Michael-Albertville, Hopkins and East Ridge. You can learn a lot at Breakdown Fall League games and on Sunday we saw first-hand just how good Benilde-St. Margaret’s could be in the 2021-22 high school basketball season. It helps, of course, when one of the very best players in the entire country is on your roster. But in addition to 2024 #1 Olivia Olson Olivia Olson 6'1" | CG Benilde-SM | 2024 State MN , the Red Knights hopes have been bolstered by some very fine additions over the off-season.

On Sunday we saw most of the newcomers in action together for the first time as Kendall McGee Kendall McGee 5'10" | CG Benilde-St. Margaret's School | 2025 State MN , Zahara Bishop Zahara Bishop 5'10" | CG Benilde-St. Margaret's School | 2025 State MN and Brooklyn Pettis dressed up in matching red and white to do their day’s work as a unit. We don’t put a lot of stock in the game results at Fall League, particularly on opening weekend. It’s more about the trends. What we were focused on is the way BSM played and what kind of results that might produce going forward.

McGee is a consensus Top 5 prospect in the Prep Girls Hoops Class of 2025. We’ll release the Freshmen 50 in a couple of weeks and you can be sure Kendall’s name will be very near the top of a rather sparkly heap of talented freshmen. Kendall is coming off a superb summer during which she captured another AAU state championship with Minnesota Stars Borowicz. Once again she was the Stars’ go-to girl and she became more consistent at both ends of the floor. She transferred to BSM from Breck where she averaged over 20 points per game as an 8th grader, including a 40-point performance against Maranatha.

Bishop is a transfer from Richfield where she averaged over 13 ppg as 8th grader. She, too, is coming off a standout summer with Minnesota Fury 2025 UAA and is widely considered to be one of the best 15 or so freshmen in the state. The third newcomer of note is diminutive guard Brooklyn Pettis, another freshman who transferred in from DeLaSalle. She did some really nice work on Sunday and received recognition as a standout performer one week ago at the Prep Girls Hoops Top 250 Expo.

One more name of note is junior Sierre Lumpkin Sierre Lumpkin 5'10" | SF Benilde-SM | 2023 State MN , who was not present on Sunday. She transferred from Edina one year ago so was relegated to junior varsity action last year as a result of the Minnesota State High School League’s rather inconsistent transfer regulations. Add these four players to returnees Olson (23 ppg) and top 25 sophomore Tyreana Reliford Tyreana Reliford 5'11" | CG Cooper | 2024 MN (10 ppg) and you have the makings of a standout squad. There is one looming question, however: Will they be able to share the basketball in a productive way?

McGee, in particular, is accustomed to being the top dog everywhere she has played. Olson is the best 2024 in the country, a member of Team USA and the holder of more than three dozen high major offers. Among the recent viewers of open gyms at Benilde was University of Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma. That should tell you all you need to know about Olivia’s pedigree. If McGee and Olson mesh together smoothly and bring the others along for the ride, Benilde should have an excellent opportunity to improve on last year’s 9-9 campaign to represent section 6AAA at the state high school tournament in March. Given the evenly matched nature of 3A this season, the young Red Knights might just be capable of winning the whole thing.

Olson was in street clothes on Sunday, having just backstopped Benilde’s soccer team to a 4-0 win over Blake on Saturday which enabled them to advance to Tuesday’s section final against Orono. No sense risking an injury to your star goalkeeper whose skills are needed for an immediate run to a state tournament when the next state tournament is question is still five months into the future. Once the soccer has reached a conclusion, however, Liv will turn her attention 100 percent to the long-term task of molding and shaping the many talents of her new basketball teammates into a single cohesive unit. The quest begins for real when the Red Knights’ season opens Nov. 30 at Totino-Grace.

THE TRANSFER MARKET

Minnesota’s high school basketball eligibility rules allow for one free transfer entering 9th grade. As a result, it has become quite common for elite players in junior high to begin their high school careers at smaller schools where the competition is lesser and the opportunities are greater. After a year or two of getting their feet wet, the kids then select the actual high school they would like to attend and start over with a new basketball program. That’s exactly what the aforementioned McGee, Bishop and Pettis have done, but there were other transfers in action on Sunday, as well.

Perhaps the most prominent of these is 9th grader Aaliyah Crump Aaliyah Crump 6'1" | SF Montverde Academy | 2025 State FL , who started out at Hopkins but has now moved to Minnetonka. She is widely considered to be the state’s best freshman and has the college offers and high-level interest to show for it. On Sunday we saw the highest level of performance we have seen from Aaliyah in a long time. She was running the floor at pace and finishing at the rim with grace and ease and a soft touch. And it looked like she was really enjoying it, too, which hasn’t always been the case.

Minnetonka was already really good but the addition of Crump and elite 8th grader Lanelle Wright, also a Hopkins transfer, gives the Skippers a whole new dimension. Tonka’s starting lineup includes all D1-level kids – seniors Desiree Ware Desiree Ware 5'8" | CG Minnetonka | 2022 State MN (Alabama-Birmingham) and Kiani Lockett Kiani Lockett 5'9" | PG Minnetonka | 2022 State MN (Creighton) along with elite sophomores Emma Dasovich Emma Dasovich 6'1" | PF Valley Vista | 2024 MN and Tori McKinney Tori McKinney 6'1" | CG Minnetonka | 2024 State MN and now Crump.

Maranatha Christian Academy had some fresh faces on Sunday, too, including Top 50 sophomore Mackenzi Simmons Mackenzi Simmons 6'0" | SG Winona | 2024 State MN . The uber-lengthy wing/guard has moved all the way from Winona in the Southeastern corner of the state to the Twin Cities, and she will be a huge difference-maker for Maranatha. Ironically, the Mustangs faced DeLaSalle on Sunday and the Islanders’ lineup included one of Maranatha’s former standouts in 9th grader Maliyah White Maliyah White 5'8" | CG Hopkins | 2025 State MN . And so it goes.

FRESH FACES OF THE WEEK

Rhosario McClain – 2023 guard, Red Lake

Some 106 teams took to the court at Hopkins on Sunday but none travelled farther to play two hours of basketball than the Lady Thunder. Comprised of Native American players from Northern Minnesota and North Dakota, they logged some serious miles to try and get better and that’s exactly what they did. One player who caught our eye immediately was junior guard Rhozaria McClain of Red Lake. If you follow Minnesota basketball, the McClain name should be somewhat familiar. Rhozaria’s older brother Rob was a standout high school player who played D1 ball in Texas. Her older sister Angel had an excellent high school career, as well. And now there’s Rhosario.

The 5’9 guard with the impossibly long arms did some really nice stuff on Sunday. She’s very skilled with the basketball and quite crafty. She played the game at her own pace and would not be rushed into doing anything rash. And then suddenly there’d be a burst of speed and she was off to the hoop, elevating effortlessly along the way. Her shot is smooth with nice range and a soft release. McClain’s leaping ability and length made her really disruptive defensively, and we saw her get multiple tips, deflections and blocks against Edina. The Warriors should be good this season and the latest one named McClain will be a big reason why.

Elle Wildman Elle Wildman 5'8" | PG East Ridge | 2025 MN – 2025 guard, East Ridge

When kids don’t play AAU basketball it can be easy to forget just how good they really are. Such is the case with this East Ridge 9th grader, who spends her summers with Salvo Soccer Club where we’re told she is something special. Well she looked pretty special Sunday on the basketball court, as well. Wildman was very impressive last year as an 8th grader and Raptors coach Ashley Ellis-Milan is expecting more this time around.

Elle’s not very big, either in height or frame size, but she has some of the lightest feet and smoothest handles we’ve seen in the Class of 2025. Her lateral movement is exceptional, and she has a great sense of timing and pacing. She bobs and weaves her way up the court, picking and choosing her spots carefully, and doing it all as fast as is required. Elle has a sweet step-back jump shot and she can bury threes from downtown on a regular basis.

Sunday must have been interesting from her perspective. Here she is back on a high school court trying to get reacclimated just hours after the end of her soccer season and who does she have to face but the mighty Hopkins Royals. Wildman was under intense pressure from Hopkins sophomore guard Liv McGill Liv McGill 5'7" | CG Hopkins | 2024 State MN , the #2-rated prospect in Minnesota’s Class of 2024 and a Top 15 prospect nationally. McGill loomed loud and large and gave Wildman everything she could handle and then a little bit more. The Raptors got throttled but Elle kept coming back for more. She’s young, and lacks the experience that comes from playing AAU, but Wildman is a special talent – a scrappy point guard with a high level of skill and a very bright future.

THE BOSS IS BACK

Brian Cosgriff had an incredible career as the head coach at Hopkins before stepping down one year ago and moving on from the powerhouse program he built. It wasn’t quite the same at the Lindbergh Center without him over the past 18 months, but Coach Cos was back on Sunday as an assistant to Providence Academy head coach Connor Goetz. Cosgriff is teaching at Providence now and on Sunday he was madly scribbling notes about the young Lions who were performing on center court. Goetz has done a wonderful job with the Providence Academy program, and the squad made it all the way to the championship game in Class 2A last season. Now, with Minnesota’s most accomplished high school coach to turn to for input, Goetz’s girls can only get better.

Top photo: Benilde-St. Margaret’s new-look core lineup (left to right) of Zahara Bishop Zahara Bishop 5'10" | CG Benilde-St. Margaret's School | 2025 State MN , Kendall McGee Kendall McGee 5'10" | CG Benilde-St. Margaret's School | 2025 State MN , Olivia Olson Olivia Olson 6'1" | CG Benilde-SM | 2024 State MN , Tyreana Reliford Tyreana Reliford 5'11" | CG Cooper | 2024 MN and Brooklyn Pettis. Not pictured is Sierre Lumpkin Sierre Lumpkin 5'10" | SF Benilde-SM | 2023 State MN .