Monday Night Across the State: Class of 2023 Standouts
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The juniors had something to say on the Monday night that kicked off Week Five, and they couldn’t have said it any louder. Across the state, the Class of 2023 made big splashes and impacted the game on both ends.…
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Continue ReadingThe juniors had something to say on the Monday night that kicked off Week Five, and they couldn’t have said it any louder. Across the state, the Class of 2023 made big splashes and impacted the game on both ends. Here are some of the standout performances from December 13th, 2021:
Marnie Kahl Marnie Kahl 5'9" | CG Prairie Farm | 2023 WI | Prairie Farm | Guard/Forward | #79 Overall Prospect
Kahl’s game is based on her well-rounded skill set and her work rate. On a fastbreak, she’s the first one making the rim-run and getting inside positioning. Against Cornell, with no interior presence or shot-blocker to deny her a highway to the cup, Kahl feasted. 18 points and 8 boards for the junior in PF’s blowout win. But to narrow her game down to fastbreak layups would be a disservice to some of the nuance she brings to the table. She’s an excellent cutter off the ball and is a quick-jumper on the offensive glass. In one fluid motion, she grabs the rebound, resets with the ball above her head, and finishes strong at the rim.
All of this before mentioning her ability to make quick reads while driving to the hoop or in the post. She’s got great vision for a non-point guard, attracting the help-side defender to her while keeping an eye out for where the help was coming from in the first place. This lead to easy buckets for Prairie Farm and showed a more complex side to Kahl’s game than just aggressiveness around the cup. She also demonstrated great touch around the rim on floaters, runners, and hook shots.
Avery Hansen | Prairie Farm | Guard | Unranked
Opposite Kahl was Hansen, who was a defensive menace against Cornell. Two steals in the first 38 seconds of the game and 7 steals overall demonstrate her statistical impact on the defensive end, but the way she hounded the ball fullcourt and kept her hands active for full defensive possessions was equally telling. Hansen’s speed and quickness made advancing the ball past the timeline a challenge in it of itself, and her ability to push tempo off of the turnovers she creates is extremely valuable. She looked like a step faster than everyone in both her on-ball defense and creation for others.
While she initiated a ton of contact for herself on Monday night, she also utilized her speed as a mechanism to open up passing lanes, driving one way and making the simple read to find the aforementioned Kahl unguarded under the hoop. She finished with 14 points on the night, and though she looked a little reckless at times, you could see the game slowing down for her as the first half trailed on. She started adding slight hesitations and patience to her attacks on the rim and the defense looked even more befuddled. A great game and a great sign of growth for the unranked guard.
Tahlia Moe Tahlia Moe 5'10" | CG Stevens Point (SPASH) | 2023 WI | SPASH | Point Guard | #61 Overall Prospect
Box score commentators will notice that Moe only finished with 2 points. And they’d be correct, but like a great midfielder in soccer, Moe didn’t have to score to be one of the most impactful offensive players in SPASH’s narrow loss to Wisconsin Rapids. She was a maestro in half-court sets, delivering pinpoint passes and creating space for others with her passing ability. On drives, she would catch the strongside help defenders ball-gazing–or simply out of position–and sling the rock to open corner shooters. And in basic half-court sets, Moe would find cutters within the flow of the motion. But what was most impressive was her post-passing. Not many guards can post effectively, and while Moe didn’t flex Hakeem Olajuwon level post moves, her patience on the mid/low block garnered the defense’s attention, allowing her to hit pocket passes and find weakside cutters and shooters.
Her passing was also complimented by her handles. Though she’s not a speed demon type of player, but the threat of her passes makes her dribble moves and change of pace that much more dangerous. Multiple times against Rapids, Moe would get the defender on her hip and throw a simple hesitation to get past the first level of defense and create from the paint. On one play, she faked two dribble hand-offs with a hesitation dribble and rounded her way to the cup for an easy deuce. When a point guard demonstrates this much patience, it’s just plain fun to watch.
Emma Jossie Emma Jossie 5'8" | PF Stevens Point (SPASH) | 2023 State WI | SPASH | Guard/Forward | #83 Overall Prospect
Jossie was one of the players that benefitted most from Moe’s creativity. Her ability as a catch-and-shoot and off-the-dribble shooter was complimented and accentuated by Moe, but Jossie showed an adept ability to create space regardless of who was feeding her. She did her best work early, whether that was carving out space deep on the low block for an easy entry pass or hovering around the perimeter to find a pocket of space to set up a shot.
What most impressed me was Jossie’s screen navigation. When the screener came up to set a pick on the ball, Jossie was already moving toward the opposite side, such that when she shifted her movement with a simple crossover, the ultimate effect was a more drastic gain of space. Now, this wouldn’t mean anything if Jossie wasn’t shooting the lights out and attacking the basket with force. She finished with 28 points and SPASH needed every last one to contend with Wisconsin Rapids.
Grace Moravchik | Ashland | Guard/Forward | Unranked
When your best athlete is your hardest worker, good things happen. At the spear of Ashland’s 1-3-1 full-court press and half-court defense, Moravchik was a demon against Northland Pines. She applied intense pressure up and down all 84 feet and covered a ton of space laterally. Her defensive performance was special in it of itself but her offensive dominance as an athlete and passer was the icing on the cake that defined Ashland’s 53-2 start to the game. She made great passes over the top of the defense, out of baseline out of bound (BLOB) plays, and on the fastbreak as well. Within the first three minutes of the game, Moravchik had 4 assists and a handful of steals.
And where Moravchik’s athleticism really came into play was when Ashland was able to turn defense into offense. This goes back to that whole best-athlete/hardest-worker dynamic. She was the first one sprinting down the court whenever the 1-3-1 created a turnover and was the strongest finisher at the rim for Oredockers. Contact just simply did not bother her once she got a head of steam. Not to mention her aggression setting screens and rolling hard to the basket. She oftentimes found herself open by setting a hard pick and quickly flashing to the rim, and once again, any resistance she met at the cup was futile. She finished with 24 points and dominated the Northland Pines interior defense.
Hattie Fox Hattie Fox 5'9" | CG Osceola | 2023 State WI | Osceola | Point Guard | #70 Overall Prospect
They say energy finds the ball and this was certainly the case for Fox en route to dropping a 30-burger on Spooner. She was running off of pin-downs and cross-screens all night trying to find space, on top of her activity around the offensive glass and energy in the full-court press. Though she started sluggishly, all she needed was to see one go through the bottom of the net to detonate. Other than her excellent ability to get to the free-throw line, would stood out most from her 32 point performance was her comfort adding movement to her three-point attempts. As previously mentioned, she constantly found herself open by sprinting off of screens and stopping on a dime to get her shot off before the defense could adjust. And at times, she would add a jab-step to gain separation before launching. This is such an impressive wrinkle for a shooter; it works like a hesitation dribble and constantly keeps defenders guessing.
The Osceola point guard also stayed active as a help defender. Though she wasn’t always the one credited with the steal, she was always the one initiating the double team and guarding Spooner’s lead ball handlers. Her two-way performance as a scorer and lead defender was her most impressive of the season and one she’ll look to build off of as Ashland gears up for the thick of the Heart O’North conference title race.