Big 8 Week 5 Team of the Week

As we head toward the holiday break, the Big 8 heavy hitters are starting to take shape. And while the powerhouses fight for conference supremacy, these playmakers have performed exceptionally well on an individual level. Here’s your Big 8 Week 5 Team of the Week: G: [player_tooltip player_id="156057" first="Megan" last="Murphy"] | Verona | Class of 2023 | #12 Overall Prospect The Verona Wildcats had one of their biggest games of the season this past Friday against a talented La Follette team. The Lancers looked to bolster their case as the best team in the conference while Verona aimed to reassert themselves in the title race. And every time the Wildcats needed a big bucket, Murphy delivered. A chaotic, back-and-forth game with haymakers thrown on both sides, as La Follette tried to seize momentum, it was often a Murphy three-point bomb that stunted the Lancer comeback attempt in its tracks. The class of 2023 guard displayed comfort shooting in catch-and-shoot contexts, pull-up situations, and off picks--a versatility that was necessary considering the defensive intensity of the Lancer’s wings. Murphy finished with 19 points including 5 three-pointers, pacing the Wildcats as they shoot right back up to third in the conference. Alongside guard Abbi Rupnow, Murphy’s stability as a ball-handler was just as valuable as her shooting considering La Follette’s length and defensive pressure. The Lancers applied a three-quarter court press that really picked up once the Wildcats got past the timeline, and Murphy’s ability to make quick reads and comfort handling the ball provided an important safety net at times when the Lancers looked prime to make a huge run. Her overall guard skills (passing, handling, decision-making, etc.) have grown significantly since the start of the season, and her standout performance against the Lancers shows how well she has adjusted to her increased responsibility as one of Verona’s lead guards. G: [player_tooltip player_id="206576" first="Ellie" last="Magestro-Kennedy"] | Janesville-Craig | Class of 2023 | #11 Overall Prospect There are not many more positive things to be said about Magestro-Kennedy’s quality. She’s one of the most consistently aggressive players in the conference and overwhelms the opposition with her dribble-drive. Simply put, if she isn’t seeing multiple bodies once she initiates her attack on the rim, chalk it up as a bucket. And all of her talent as a ball-handler is complimented by her shooting touch from 12-feet onward. She averaged 19-a game this week and helped the Cougars to another conference win Friday night against Middleton (alongside to-be-mentioned forward [player_tooltip player_id="209609" first="Mya" last="Nicholson"]), where she outplayed one of the best guards in the state in [player_tooltip player_id="206581" first="Audrey" last="Deptula"]. Speaking of the game against the Middleton Cardinals, there’ll be fewer examples all season long of the kind of terror that EMK is capable of on the offensive end. One of the more subtle parts of her game that sets up her slashing onslaughts is her fakes. She’s such a threat as a shooter that one small movement can shift multiple defenders. Against the Cards, she utilized a series of eye, pump, and pass-fakes that the defense reacted to, opening up driving lanes and opportunities to create for herself and others. IUPUI has to be beaming knowing that Magestro-Kennedy still has a year to get <em>even sharper</em> before she joins their ranks. G: [player_tooltip player_id="132395" first="Tajah" last="Randall"] | Beloit Memorial | Class of 2022 | Unranked Randall has had a great start to her senior campaign and that continued in what was otherwise an off-week for Beloit Memorial. Despite the Purple Knights’ two losses (against Sun Prairie and Madison Memorial), Randall demonstrated a high-level two-way game, attacking offensively and applying a ton of on-ball pressure to try and get easy buckets in transition. The class of 2022 guard averaged 18.5 points per contest (16 Tuesday against SP and 21 against Memorial) while showing great touch on her midrange jumpers and nifty vision in half-court sets. Randall is a player that has little trouble breaking through the first line of defense in the half-court, but it’s what she does after the fact that makes her a noteworthy player. She’s shown the type of skill that you would expect from a veteran guard and executes reads at a high level. In both matchups, she demonstrated patience in finding her half-court looks, not settling for long, contested jump-shots but rather attacking the basket until she got the look she wanted. Equally impressive was her ability to read where the helpside defense was coming up from and attack that space with a pass, trying to find easy looks for her teammates. Randall’s performance has been a big bright spot during Beloit Memorial’s down week in Big 8 play. F: [player_tooltip player_id="209609" first="Mya" last="Nicholson"] | Janesville-Craig | Class of 2024 | #13 Overall Prospect Nicholson has had a rather start-stop beginning to the season, but few can doubt her talent. And while she started the week slow at Kenosha Bradford, she more than made up for it Friday night against Middleton.  One of the reasons for her aforementioned inconsistency to start the season was her drastic change in role from Game 1 to Game 5. The Cougars started the season without lead guards [player_tooltip player_id="204121" first="Kate" last="Huml"] and EMK, meaning that Nicholson was often the primary ball-handler, primary post presence, and primary initiator on the fastbreak. That took some adjustment for Nich. She put up a cool 20 and once again flashed her three-level scoring prowess. But what was the most impressive aspect of her game against the Cardinals was also something that we didn’t see a lot of early in the season. Nicholson’s movement after setting a screen completely opened up the Middleton defense. Her decision-making of whether to set a hard screen and roll, slip the screen and roll, or pop for an open outside look perfectly complimented the playmaking ability of the guards around her and showed how Nicholson’s offensive talent can still be maximized off the ball. And when JC liked the post-matchup for their do-it-all forward, they showed a series of plays that can get her the ball in her spots. Her post-footwork is so refined and that she was able to get clean looks even over the top of Middleton’s outstretched forwards. She had been getting similar looks throughout the season and it was only a matter of time before those shots started falling. This is a great sign for Janesville-Craig moving forward and for the synergy between their top three players. F: [player_tooltip player_id="132378" first="McKenna" last="Monogue"] | Middleton | Class of 2022 | #21 Overall Prospect Monogue is open the second the team bus parks outside the gym. Her range is flat-out impressive and forces the defense to respect her from an abominable 25 feet out. It opens up the middle of the court and accents some of the other aspects of her game that don’t get enough credit. Despite the loss to Janesville-Craig (a lot of teams in the Big 8 are going to lose to JC on the road), Monogue banged in 18 points on 6 threes and had stretches where her shooting and playmaking single-handedly kept Middleton competitive. That brings me to the other part of her game that doesn’t get as much attention. The shooting is always what’s going to stand out most with Monogue but her vision and passing ability are at times just as impressive. The 6 threes she hit certainly jump out more than her 6 dimes, though the latter figure could certainly have been higher with small improvements in finishing from her teammates. Against JC, Monogue was lethal as a passer at the top of the key. She saw over the defense and routinely picked out cutters and open shooters. Especially as her shot got going, the gravity she demanded as an outside threat forced the help defender to lean heavily toward her, and that’s where you saw some of her best and quickest decision-making. There were moments where she looked like a QB who can throw every pass in the book--outside the numbers, slants, posts, go-routes. Monogue’s double threat as a scorer and a passer is tremendously impactful for Middleton.