Who will be Miss Basketball 2022? Likely Candidates
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The loaded senior class is approaching their curtain calls. And while many of the state’s best players will be hunting down the ultimate team goal–a state championship–a personal award looms over their heads as well: the 2022 Miss Basketball. Awarded…
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Continue ReadingThe loaded senior class is approaching their curtain calls. And while many of the state’s best players will be hunting down the ultimate team goal–a state championship–a personal award looms over their heads as well: the 2022 Miss Basketball. Awarded to the best girls basketball senior in the state and is the culmination of the finest high school career in the state. Here are this year’s likeliest candidates:
Emily La Chapell Emily La Chapell 5'11" | CG Appleton East | 2022 State #57 Nation WI
Appleton East | 5’11″ Guard/Wing
Senior Season: 19.5 ppg / 6.1 rbg / 5.4 apg
Junior Season: 19.5 ppg / 6.7 rbg / 5 apg
Sophomore Season: 16.9 ppg / 8.0 rbg / 5 apg
Freshman Season: 17.1 ppg
La Chapell’s reign as the state’s best player would be encapsulated by the Miss Basketball award. Though she needs no material validation for her quality as a player–a scholarship and commitment to the state’s premier division 1 women’s basketball program Marquette is proof enough–she remains a front-runner for the honor.
Watching La Chapell play is like watching that one really awesome player at your local pick-up run. For the entirety of a game, she’s more than willing to play within the flow of the offense and find buckets whenever the defense gives them to her. But when it’s time to lock in, and the Patriots absolutely need to find a way to score, she goes into fifth gear. Her fluidity, operating speed, technical precision, and strength make her nearly impossible to guard at the high school level.
She’s also an incredible and underrated facilitator. If she maintains her Fox Valley Association leading 5.4 APG, it’ll be her second straight year leading the conference in assists and third-year finishing within the top 2. Her vision both on the break and in half-court sets is only complemented by her ability to react to double-teams efficiently, a tactic she’s surely seen since pee-wee leagues.
The only thing stopping her from being the clear runaway favorite is her lack of gaudy numbers. Yes, she opened the season with a 40-burger against Wisconsin Rapids, but Appleton East’s dominance (at times preventing her from playing considerable minutes) and her natural unselfishness mean she lacks the flashy stat line that other competitors hold. Nonetheless, La Chapell is a stud who’s more than deserving of Miss Basketball.
Honors and Awards: 3x All-FVA First Team, 3x All-FVA Defensive Team, 1x All-State, 1x All-State Honorable Mention
Jordan Meulemans Jordan Meulemans 5'10" | CG De Pere | 2022 State WI
De Pere | 6’0″ Combo Guard
Senior Season: 25 ppg
Junior Season: 20.7 ppg / 5 rbg / 2.9 apg
Sophomore Season: 17.1 ppg / 5.3 rbg / 2.8 apg
Freshman Season: 11.1 ppg / 5.3 rbg / 2.8 apg
Meulemans has risen to become one of the most explosive scorers in the state, and her improvement year after year is a testament to her work ethic, skill development, and overall savviness on the basketball court. The Butler-commit sits at 7th in the state in scoring and is the driving force behind #10 De Pere’s state championship aspirations.
As an offensive talent, Meulemans’s main scoring mechanisms are as efficient as it gets: assault the rim in transitions and bang in triples against weak coverage. Her ability to attack passing lanes as the spearhead of the De Pere defense makes her a threat at all times when she’s on the court. And at 6’0″ with guard skills, she’s an automatic mismatch, forcing the opposition into a decision on whether to place a slower forward or a smaller guard on her.
Meuleman’s most impactful skill on the court is her relocation and accuracy on movement threes, although her perimeter defense and instincts on the break are also lethal. Defenses have to respect her shooting ability 25-feet-and-in, making her gravity so much stronger and opening up passing/driving lanes in the process. It also forces defenses to react aggressively to her movement and shot fakes, and once she has the defender a step late, her explosion attacking the rim is mortifying.
But my favorite aspect of Meulemans’ candidacy is her growth. A 14 ppg increase throughout her career should be considered one of her primary achievements and her dedication to the game. In any conversation listing the front-runners for Miss Basketball 2022, Meulemans’ name must be mentioned.
Honors and awards: 2x All-FRC First-Team, 1x All-FRC Second-Team, 1x All-FRC Defensive Team, 1x All-State, 1x All-State Honorable Mention
Lily Krahn Lily Krahn 5'10" | CG Prairie Du Chien | 2022 State WI
Prairie Du Chien | 5’10″ Combo Guard
Senior Season: 21 ppg / 4.4 rbg / 4.7 apg
Junior Season: 20.6 ppg / 4.8 rbg / 3 apg
Sophomore Season: 20.8 ppg / 5.3 rbg / 2.2 apg
Freshman Season: 14.6 ppg / 3.2 rbg / 3 apg
Krahn’s career at PDC speaks for itself. Every year she’s added new and exciting elements to her game, becoming one of the most dangerous offensive weapons in the state by this her senior campaign.
Krahn’s a hooper’s hooper. An ultra-creative combo guard who’s just as capable of attacking off the dribble as she is off the catch, Krahn’s versatility as a scorer is the top reason her Blackhawks are D3’s #3 team in the state. In isolation, the future Badger demonstrates a tight handle and a quick first step. She initiates and finishes through contact in the paint, but has also shown a penchant for pulling up from the short wing/elbow area in response to specific defensive coverage and showing help defenders. And as an off-ball weapon, her sharpness coming off of pin-downs and cutting off of overplaying help defenders adds an element of spontaneity to her game that’s difficult for a defense to calculate.
As a sophomore, she broke out as a great scorer. And as a Junior, she improved on her ability to improvise in accordance with how a defense played her. But what’s been the most exciting part of her development as a senior has been her ability to use the attention she demands as a scorer to create for others. That same creativity that we see when she operates as a scorer starts functioning when she sees a passing lane.
The PDC ace has constantly grown as a player and built off of her talent to become UW-Madison head coach Marissa Mosely’s first big splash in recruiting. And though becoming a future Badger is the dream of so many prep athletes across the state, her resume as Miss Basketball would be another feather in her cap as one of the best in-state recruits Wisconsin’s had in recent years.
Honors and awards: 3x All-SWC First-Team, 1x SWC Player of the Year, 2x All-State
Abbie Aalsma Abbie Aalsma 6'0" | CG Waupun | 2022 State WI
Waupun | 5’10″ Combo Guard
Senior Season: 19.9 ppg / 4.9 rbg / 4.1 apg
Junior Season: 19.9 ppg / 5 rbg / 3.3 apg
Sophomore Season: 19.5 ppg / 4. 3 rbg / 2.7 apg
Freshman Season: 20.6 ppg / 3.8 rbg / 1.6 apg
Aalsma has one of the strongest career resumes of any candidate on the board. Over 1700 career points (160 more points than the #2 scorer on this list) and the Waupun senior still has 9 more games to add to her mark.
On both ends, Aalsma seems to be playing the game at a different pace than her opposition. With a lightning-quick release, natural scoring instincts, and a certain kinetic efficiency in her movements, Aalsma is one of the most entertaining scorers in the state. While she’s one of the state’s premier on-ball scoring talents, she’s also comfortable scoring off the catch, spacing the floors for her dynamic teammates to attack. Simply, she’s natural baller.
But in spite of her scoring prowess, her greatest impact on the game may be on the defensive end. Her motor and athleticism are in a class of their own. With her length, footwork, and positional awareness, she’s demonstrated all-state level defense against both guards and wings. She can play effective press coverage, gets over screens with physicality, and has precise timing in passing lanes. Her two-way talent may be what ultimately sets her apart.
Aalsma’ll take her talents to Normal-Bloomington as part of the Illinois State Redbirds Women’s Basketball program, where she’ll bring her intense on-ball defense and shooting touch to the team. And though Waupun has their eyes on a state-championship run, Aalsma remains a leading contender for Miss Basketball.
Honors and awards: 3x All-East Central First-Team, 3x East Central Player of the Year, 1x All-State, 2x All-State Honorable Mention
Kamy Peppler Kamy Peppler 5'9" | PG Hortonville | 2022 State WI
Hortonville | 5’6″ Point Guard
Senior Season: 15.2 ppg / 2.9 rbg / 5 apg
Junior Season: 14.8 ppg / 4.1 rbg / 3.7 apg
Sophomore Season: 8.4 ppg / 2.5 rbg / 5.7 apg
Freshman Season: 8.9 ppg / 2.3 rbg / 3.7 pag
Peppler’s the best pure point guard in the state, hands down. And for basketball purists and oldies, that should mean something when considering who’s the best senior in the state.
When Peppler’s in the game, the Hortonville offense sings. She’s the prototype for a point god who makes all those around her better. She operates a pick and roll with precision and decisiveness, and has a knack for slinging passing all around the half-court to pick out open shooters and cutters. Her leadership and guidance is the engine behind the Polar Bear’s high-level execution on ATOs, BLOBs, designated play-calls, and half-court offensive sets.
Like any true point guard, however, Peppler knows when it’s time to take game into her own hands and dominate. She has so many ways to put the ball in the bucket, including (but not limited to) her three-level jumper and short-twitch explosiveness. As Hortonville’s premier shooting threat, Peppler’s shot a combined 41.7% from beyond the arc the past two seasons, an elite mark and a testament to her threat-level when she decides to keep the ball.
Peppler’s the time of guard we all wish we had played with at somepoint in our basketball careers. She’ll be taking that synergistic playstyle of hers to UW-Milwaukee, but in the meantime it firmly has her supplanted as a contender for Miss Basketball.
Honors and awards: 1x All-FVA Second Team, 2x All-State
Mahra Wieman Mahra Wieman 5'10" | CG Reedburg | 2022 State WI
Reedsburg | 5’10″ Forward
Senior Season: 23.2 ppg
Junior Season: 21.2 ppg / 7 rbg
Sophomore Season: 20 ppg
Freshman Season: 12 ppg
Wieman’s Reedsburg Beavers are #1 in D2, she became the all-time leading scorer in her high school’s history, and she’s recently become the headliner for Brad Fischer’s 2022 UW-Oshkosh recruiting class. Basketball wise, life is good for Wieman, but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t get better.
Wieman’s candidacy for the award is well outlined, with a combination of honors and statistical achievements carving her path toward Miss Basketball 2022. Working within the Reedsburg system, Wieman is an extremely unselfish player who can play in a multitude of styles. Against smaller, quicker players, her post touch and footwork on the low block complement her strength and lead to easy baskets. Against defenders her size, she’s demonstrated great patience moving around the perimeter until she finds an open pocket and launches from downtown.
She’s a savvy and agile forward presence whose versatility lets Reedsburg play in a variety of ways. And in turn, that versatility leads to winning basketball for the Beavers. Her contributions and unselfishness have established RHS as the frontrunner in D2 for a state championships and add on another bullet point on to her candidacy.
I mentioned earlier how basketballl ife is pretty good right now for Wieman. The only ways it could get better is with a state championship and a Miss basketball award. Though if you asked her which she’d rather have, I think we all know what the well-coached senior would say.
Honors and awards: 2x All-Badger West First-Team, 1x All-Badger West Honorable Mention, 1x All-State, 1x All-State Honorable Mention
Honorable Mentions:
Nakiyah Hurst Nakiyah Hurst 6'0" | PF Milwaukee Academy of Science | 2022 State WI
Milwaukee Academy of Science | 6’0″ Point Forward
After a career that’s seen Hurst grow as a player each year, her senior campaign has been an incredible swan song. Hurtst’s effortless dominance has reaped results for MAS this season, as the 13-3 Novas have found themselves as the #4 team in D4.
And effortless is truly the word to describe her incredible bucket-getting powers. That she’s 60% from the field given her volume speaks to her dominance and skill level. At 6’0″, her handle unlocks the court and makes her a walking mismatch. With her combination of strength and touch around the basket, she gets to her spots smoothly and has demonstrated consistency finishing near and at the rim, a tremendous mark of growth and dedication.
Her offensive versatility is made all the more valuable because of this efficiency. She can operate as a primary ball handler or as a post presence and has shown the ability to win matchup in either capacity. Her footwork and body control allows her to adjust to contact on the low blocks, a skill that differentiates herself from some of the other candidates on this list.
Hurst’s candidacy as a Miss Basketball award recipient is slightly hurt by her playing in Division 4, and weaker overall competition, but her elite efficiency and scoring marks may have her in the conversation.
Aaliyah Smith Aaliyah Smith 5'5" | PG La Follette | 2022 State #19 Nation WI
Madison La Follette | 5’6″ Combo Guard
Smith is one of if not the best senior in the state. Her talent, skill, explosiveness and leadership would make her a prime candidate for Miss Basketball. But she’s only played three games so far her this season and other have simply played too well for her to be one of the front-runners for the award.
If the honor was based purely on who puts the most terror into the heart of their defenders when they have the ball in their hands, Smith would be among the top three candidates if not the favorite. While she would need an unprecedented run to truly enter the conversation, it’d be tough to have an argument for best senior in the state without mentioning the dynamic Aaliya Smith.
(Note: All statistics used courtesy of Wissports.net)