Miss Basketball committee names 29 nominees

Minnesota’s Miss Basketball committee on Friday announced its list of 29 players in the running for the prestigious award which will be presented during the Minnesota Girls Basketball All Star series to be played at Holy Angels on April 9. As usual, the majority of the list is neither surprising nor controversial but... We’ll get back to that in a minute. Here are the 29 players officially in the hunt:

Amaya Battle Amaya Battle 5'10" | PG Hopkins | 2022 State #29 Nation MN – guard, Hopkins (Minnesota)
Nicole Bowlin Nicole Bowlin 5'6" | PG Holy Family | 2022 State MN – guard, Holy Family (Colorado Christian)
Mara Braun Mara Braun 5'11" | CG Wayzata | 2022 State #21 Nation MN – guard, Wayzata (Minnesota)
Kassie Caron Kassie Caron 6'0" | SF Holy Angels | 2022 State MN – wing, Holy Angels (Missouri Western)
Ellie Colbeck Ellie Colbeck 5'9" | PG Fergus Falls | 2022 State MN – guard, Fergus Falls (South Dakota State)
Maria Counts Maria Counts 5'11" | PF Providence | 2022 State MN – forward, Providence Academy
Champ Danso Champ Danso 6'0" | PF Simley | 2022 State MN – forward, Simley (Quincy)
Lily Fandre Lily Fandre 6'2" | SF Eagan | 2022 State MN – forward, Eagan (Lehigh)
Taryn Frazer Taryn Frazer 5'4" | PG Cass Lake-Bena | 2022 State MN – guard, Cass Lake-Bena
Callin Hake Callin Hake 5'8" | PG Chanhassen | 2022 State #64 Nation MN – guard, Chanhassen (Nebraska)
Hannah Herzig Hannah Herzig 6'0" | CG Totino Grace | 2022 State MN – wing, Totino-Grace (MSU-Mankato)
Mallory Heyer Mallory Heyer 6'1" | PF Chaska | 2022 State #36 Nation MN – forward, Chaska (Minnesota)
Lizzie Holder Lizzie Holder 6'1" | PF Stillwater | 2022 State MN – forward, Stillwater (Colorado)
Nia Holloway Nia Holloway 6'0" | PF Eden Prairie | 2022 State #45 Nation MN – forward, Eden Prairie (Minnesota)
Lexi Karge Lexi Karge 6'2" | PF Mankato East | 2022 State MN – forward, Mankato East (UM-Duluth)
Adeline Kent Adeline Kent 5'8" | CG Becker | 2022 State MN – guard, Becker (Tampa)
Charita Lewis Charita Lewis 5'4" | CG Minnehaha Academy | 2022 State MN – guard, Minnehaha Academy
Kiani Lockett Kiani Lockett 5'9" | PG Minnetonka | 2022 State MN – guard, Minnetonka (Creighton)
Madison Mathiowetz Madison Mathiowetz 5'10" | CG Sleepy Eye St. Mary's | 2022 State MN – guard, Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s (South Dakota State)
Lilly Meister Lilly Meister 6'2" | PF Rochester John Marshall | 2022 State #55 Nation MN – forward, Rochester John Marshall (Indiana)
Emma Miller Emma Miller 5'1" | PG STMA | 2022 State MN – guard, St. Michael-Albertville (UM-Crookston)
Maya Nnaji Maya Nnaji 6'4" | PF Hopkins | 2022 State #7 Nation MN – forward, Hopkins (Arizona)
Ronnie Porter Ronnie Porter 5'2" | CG Como Park | 2022 State MN – guard, St. Paul Como Park
Natalie Rolbiecki Natalie Rolbiecki 5'10" | CG Minneota | 2022 State MN – guard, Minneota
Ella Runyon Ella Runyon 5'11" | CG Hill-Murray | 2022 State MN – forward, Hill-Murray
Amber Scalia Amber Scalia 5'9" | CG Stillwater | 2022 State MN – guard, Stillwater (St. Thomas)
Mackenzie Schweim Mackenzie Schweim 5'10" | PG Mankato East | 2022 State MN – guard, Mankato East (MSU-Mankato)
Desiree Ware Desiree Ware 5'8" | CG Minnetonka | 2022 State MN – guard, Minnetonka (Alabama-Birmingham)
Savannah White Savannah White 6'1" | SG DeLaSalle | 2022 State MN – guard, DeLaSalle (Wisconsin)

MISSING IN ACTION When we wrote our preview of the race for Miss Basketball two weeks ago we chose 30 players we thought the committee might nominate. Turns out we were right on 22 of them. The committee added some quality players we had considered, too – kids like , , and . Kudos to them. It’s the kids that were left out of the 29 that are the real issue here, five of them in particular.

Mikayla Aumer Mikayla Aumer 5'9" | CG Cambridge-Isanti | 2022 State MN – guard, Cambridge-Isanti (North Dakota)
Natalie Bremer Natalie Bremer 5'11" | CG Lake City | 2022 State MN – guard, Lake City (MSU-Mankato)
Ellie Buzzelle Ellie Buzzelle 5'9" | SG Rogers | 2022 State #60 Nation MN – guard, Rogers (Grand Canyon)
Audrey Swanson Audrey Swanson 5'11" | SF Waconia | 2022 State MN – forward, Waconia (Southwest Minnesota State)
Ava Stier Ava Stier 5'10" | PF Waconia | 2022 State MN – forward, Waconia (MSU-Mankato)

To be clear, we aren’t saying that any of these five should win Miss Basketball. In a senior class loaded with top-shelf Division 1 talent, including a remarkable nine high-major signees, it’s highly unlikely that any of them would have won. When the award is handed out in April it’s probably going to go to someone named Heyer or Battle or Braun with a couple of others making it deep into the conversation. But to suggest that at least two or three of these five aren’t in the Top 29? No. Not possible. Aumer has been a transformational player for the Bluejackets program. Not only has she helped raise the level of play on the court with her elite performance on a nightly basis, she changed the culture of the program in so many positive ways. Ditto for Bremer. She recently passed 2,000 career points and next week will likely become the all-time leading scorer, male or female, in school history. Bremer, too, has made everyone around her better, leading the program from oh-so-average to a state-tournament team last season. So how does this happen? How do two generational players not make the list? Well there are two possibilities: Either their high school coach failed to nominate them. Or missed the deadline. Or didn’t join the coaches association, which is a requirement. Or, the committee received a nomination and decided these kids weren’t worthy. Either way that's a tough pill to swallow for kids and families who have committed so much for so many years. We all make mistakes. Lord knows we've made our share here! And coaches are busy. I get that. It’s a tough job with a lot of demands. I’m sure they get a ton of email, as we all do, and some of it ends up in the spam folder. Maybe they saw the email and planned to take care of the process later. Maybe the deadline came and went and they forgot. It has certainly happened before in the process of nominating players for Miss Basketball or All-State honors. McKenna Hofschild had a 63-point game for Prior Lake and wasn’t All-State. Last year represented her country internationally but didn’t earn All-State. It happens. And it’s a shame. Every single time. has been a varsity standout at Rogers since the 8th grade. She has survived numerous coaching changes and challenges while doing everything asked of her and more over the course of a stellar career. Transferring would have been easy, but she stuck it out and the team is having an outstanding year. I’m sure Ellie would shrug it off if we asked. But she shouldn’t have to. Ditto for and , who have been the quintessential program performers for Waconia. Night after night, year after year, practice after practice, Audrey and Ava have done it all. Regardless of what happened this time around – and we’ll likely never know for sure – one thing is clear: There has to be a better way to do this.