The Week That Was #11: Another Breakdown winter
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Last year, in the COVID-altered world of high school basketball, the one-day, multi-game events were no more. Man how we missed those. From a scouting point of view, single-day showcases are darn near perfect because you can see a ton…
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Continue ReadingLast year, in the COVID-altered world of high school basketball, the one-day, multi-game events were no more. Man how we missed those. From a scouting point of view, single-day showcases are darn near perfect because you can see a ton of talent at one time in one location. They’re also a whole lot of fun. The Breakdown Tip Off in early December marks the start of the single-day extravaganzas organized by the St. Cloud-based event company; the Winter Lakes Classic held Saturday in Alexandria marked the end.
Thanks to the folks at Breakdown for sticking it out during last year’s drought and coming back stronger than ever. Nobody puts together match-ups like Dean Kesler does, and Saturday’s four girls games at Alexandria High School were no exception as we saw Sauk Centre beat Pine City, Albany take down Menahga, Becker defeat Fergus Falls and Marshall score an improbable come-from-behind win over Alexandria. That’s where we’ll begin our recap of The Week That Was #11.
GAME OF THE WEEK
When Breakdown puts these encounters together it does so nearly a year in advance, so there’s a lot of guesswork involved. It’s not easy to project how good a team will be one year out, but somehow Dean gets it right more often than not. Saturday night’s marquee game between Alex and Marshall, two long-time powers in Class 3A, is a prime example.
With the graduation of all-everything performer Jordyn Hilgemann and all-state honorable mention Emily Meier, this was supposed to be a rebuilding year in Marshall. Or at least that’s what we thought. For the Cardinals, this is definitely a season of change as coach Wendy Kohler is dealing with the headaches involved when your starting five includes four 9th graders. Pass the Tums!
The thing is those Alex youngsters are really talented. Hadley Thul Hadley Thul 6'2" | SG Alexandria | 2025 State MN already holds Division 1 offers. She and Chloe Scholl Chloe Scholl 5'9" | CG Alexandria | 2025 State MN made the cut when we named the Prep Girls Hoops Freshmen 50 last fall. Their teammates Allie Haabala and MaCee Linow aren’t far behind, and 8th graders Lauren Beyer and Kate Hennessy will soon be making waves, as well. In the first half Saturday the Alex youngsters had things going their way, earning a 30-23 lead at the break. Then Thul got into foul trouble early in the second period, Marshall found its footing, and things changed. Actually everything changed.
If there’s one thing we’ve learned about Marshall over the past few years it is this: the Tigers don’t care to play pretty basketball. Never have. Probably never will. At least not as long as Dan Westby is directing traffic from the sidelines. They are physical. They fight for every inch. And they never give up. All they do is win, year after year after year.
With Thul on the bench, Marshall amped up its defense and forced a couple quicks turnovers. Then a couple more. Then a few more after that. Before they knew what was up the young Cardinals were fighting for their lives. Marshall held Alexandria without a score for the game’s final 10 minutes, assembling a stunning 25-0 run and forging one of the biggest short-term turnarounds we’ve seen. Kudos to senior forward Ashleigh Steinbach and junior guard Brianna Simpson Brianna Simpson 5'8" | SG Marshall | 2023 State MN , who sparked the revival while combining for 34 points in a 55-43 victory. For Alex, chalk it up as another lesson learned on the road to greatness.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Aalayah Wilson Aalayah Wilson 5'8" | CG Osseo | 2023 State MN – 2023 guard, Osseo
Over the past 10 weeks I think Aalayah has made our list of top individual performers for the week more often than she hasn’t. Having scored over 30 points in a game more than half a dozen times already, the Osseo junior has been carrying her young team all season. On Saturday, however, Wilson took it to another level by scoring 47 points against DeLaSalle. How many kids can claim a number like that at any point in their career!? She is a talented, aggressive performer who loves to get downhill and isn’t afraid to knock down three-pointers, either. She knows how to use her strength to overpower most defenders and has nice finishing touch. Aalayah is averaging almost 27 points per game for the Orioles. Coach Doug Erlien described Wilson’s play this season as “amazing.”
STOCK RISER OF THE WEEK
Jenna Gapinski-Vogt Jenna Gapinski-Vogt 6'0" | PF Sauk Centre | 2023 State MN – 2023 forward, Sauk Centre
Big, bigger, biggest. That’s what the it looked like Saturday when Sauk Centre met up with Pine City. The PC Dragons feature a pair of quality bigs in Kloey Lind Kloey Lind 6'1" | PF Pine City | 2023 State MN and Karly Jusczak Karly Jusczak 6'1" | PF Pine City | 2024 State MN . The Mainstreeters showed up with the 6-0 Gapinski-Vogt and 6’3 9th grader Tory Jennissen, and physicality ensued. We were super-impressed with the freshman and will tell you more about her later in the week. We were also pleased to see how much Jenna had improved since our previous viewings.
Gapinski-Vogt turned in a strong performance, particularly in the first few minutes of the second half when she scored a couple of huge baskets and pulled down some game-changing rebounds that sparked a 22-7 run and turned the tide heavily in Sauk Centre’s favor. Coach Scott Bergman tells us the Top 125 prospect has been a strong performer all season. Her footwork has improved. She’s got nice touch around the basket, and she’s more mobile than before. What hasn’t changed his her consistent effort and willingness to do battle down low. Gapinski-Vogt finished with 22 points.
We’ll give an honorable mention to Menahga senior Maryn Pinoniemi. She showed us a ton of speed and quickness, excellent ball handling skills, the ability to knock down important shots against a tough opponent, along with some solid leadership skills. The 5’7 guard is averaging over 13 points per game for the Braves while shooting nearly 40% from three and 55% from two. She plays with a ton of energy and finished the game against Albany with 22 points.
SLEEPER OF THE WEEK
Janie Tormanen – 2022 forward, Menahga
Janie is one of those kids who has us reaching for the roster as soon as she walks on the court. That’s because the 6’0 senior just looks like an athlete. With a solid build, a ton of length and a high degree of athleticism, Tormanen is cut from different cloth. For a kid who has flown under the radar for most of her career, Janie is a baller. She runs well, elevates nicely and has a smooth jump shot. She fights for every inch as her battle on Saturday with Albany’s Madi Herkenhoff Madi Herkenhoff 6'0" | PF Albany | 2022 State MN (St. Cloud State) showed. Tormanen is averaging 14 and 7 this season while shooting 55%. Sorry to all of the coaches who are just learning of her for the first time: Tormanen has already committed to Mike Roysland at UM-Crookston.
PLAYER TO WATCH
Mirabelle Jackson – 2026 guard, Roseville
We began our week on Monday at Roseville where we went to check in on 2023 point guard Drew Johnston Drew Johnston 5'9" | PG Roseville | 2023 State MN and her 2024 teammate Kendall Barnes Kendall Barnes 5'7" | CG Roseville | 2024 State MN , among others. With college coaches watching from the sidelines, Johnston and Barnes were solid against Becker, but it was the little 8th grade guard Jackson who caught our attention for the first time. Mira is quick. Really quick. She’s got light feet, highly-developed ball-handling skills, a nice shooting motion and absolutely zero fear. None. Jackson has been full-time varsity for several weeks now and Raiders coach Tanysha Scott is singing her praises. It’s not hard to see why because this kid’s got spunk!
MILESTONES
- Callin Hake Callin Hake 5'8" | PG Chanhassen | 2022 State #64 Nation MN – The 2022 guard from Chanhassen continues to rewrite the record books. She scored 26 points and added 12 rebounds this week against Robbinsdale Cooper to pass the 2,000-point mark for her career. The Top 10 senior will play next season at Nebraska.
- Mallory Heyer Mallory Heyer 6'1" | PF Chaska | 2022 State #36 Nation MN – Callin’s Minnesota Fury teammate also continued her assault on the record books at Chaska. This week Mallory became her school’s all-time leading scorer, bettering the mark of 2,149 set by Courtney Boylan.
- Malia Nelson Malia Nelson 5'9" | CG Dover-Eyota | 2022 State MN – The senior guard from Dover-Eyota scored 22 points on Monday to become the Eagles career scoring leader with 1,718 points. Nelson is one of the best seniors in the state who has yet to make a college commitment.
In addition to these all-time greats we also had a flurry of 1,000-point scorers, including…
- Amaya Battle Amaya Battle 5'10" | PG Hopkins | 2022 State #29 Nation MN – 2022 guard, Hopkins (Minnesota)
- Hannah Herzig Hannah Herzig 6'0" | CG Totino Grace | 2022 State MN – 2022 wing, Totino-Grace (MSU-Mankato)
- Mikaelah Counce Mikaelah Counce 5'8" | CG Champlin Park | 2022 State MN – 2022 guard, Champlin Park (Livingston)
- Alyssa Stamer Alyssa Stamer 5'7" | CG Hutchinson | 2022 State MN – 2022 guard, Hutchinson (St. Cloud State)
- Paige Peaslee Paige Peaslee 6'0" | PF North Branch | 2022 State MN – 2022 forward, North Branch (Winona State)
- Maria Counts Maria Counts 5'11" | PF Providence | 2022 State MN – 2022 forward, Providence Academy
- Payton Rodberg Payton Rodberg 5'9" | CG Proctor | 2022 State MN – 2022 forward, Proctor
- Justine Jameson Justine Jameson 5'10" | PF Park CG | 2022 State MN – 2022 forward, Park Cottage Grove
- Virginia Johnson Virginia Johnson 5'10" | SF Mpls Southwest | 2023 State MN – 2023 forward, Minneapolis Southwest
- Brooke Naas – 2023 guard, Mountain Lake-Comfrey
- Tresa Baumgard Tresa Baumgard 6'0" | PF Chisholm | 2024 State MN – 2024 forward, Chisholm
A couple of players reached rebounding milestones, too:
- Kaila Youngs Kaila Youngs 6'0" | SF Orono | 2022 State MN – The 2022 forward from Orono (MSU-Moorhead) collected her 600th career rebound
- Cloey Dmytruk Cloey Dmytruk 5'10" | PF Como Park | 2022 State MN – The 2022 forward from St. Paul Como Park (Waldorf) grabbed her 500th career board
Finally, a tip of the cap to hall of fame coach Faith Johnson Patterson, who established an enviable track record at Minneapolis North and DeLaSalle. Now in her second year at Visitation, where she has transformed the program in short order, Johnson Patterson recorded her 500th victory.
INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES OF NOTE
- Ava Stier Ava Stier 5'10" | PF Waconia | 2022 State MN – The Waconia senior, who is committed to MSU-Mankato, had 37 points Friday against Bloomington Jefferson. Ava is averaging nearly 18 points per game.
- Ellie Colbeck Ellie Colbeck 5'9" | PG Fergus Falls | 2022 State MN – We saw the Fergus Falls senior score 35 on Saturday in Alexandria against Becker. The South Dakota State commit was deadly from everywhere with 4 triples and 9 traditional field goals.
- Hannah Compton Hannah Compton 5'8" | CG Legacy Christian | 2023 State MN – The junior from Legacy Christian continues her assault on small-school opponents this season. Hannah had 33 points on Thursday against Spectrum, her fourth game over 30 this year.
- Kassie Caron Kassie Caron 6'0" | SF Holy Angels | 2022 State MN – The Holy Angels senior, committed to Missouri State, was out for a month with an ankle injury but she has quickly regained form. She scored 32 points on Monday versus Fridley along with 8 rebounds and 4 steals.
- Ronnie Porter Ronnie Porter 5'2" | CG Como Park | 2022 State MN – The St. Paul Como Park senior, ranked in the top 20 in the Prep Girls Hoops Class of 2022, scored 32 points Friday in a very impressive win over East Ridge.
- Kendall McGee Kendall McGee 5'10" | CG Benilde-St. Margaret's | 2025 State MN – The Benilde-St. Margaret’s freshmen is having an outstanding season, but even more was required of her this week in the absence of Olivia Olson Olivia Olson 6'1" | CG Benilde-SM | 2024 State MN . McGee responded with 32 and 11 rebounds against Chanhassen.
- Morgan Hulke – The New Ulm freshman continues to make her mark this season. She made four triples on Monday night against Hutchinson on her way to a career-high 29 points. She’s part of a strong group of freshmen from the Minnesota Rise.
- Maddie James Maddie James 6'0" | SG Princeton | 2022 State MN – After starting the year off with a record of 2-10 Princeton has recorded 5 wins of late and the senior guard has been doing more than her share. James, who is committed to the University of Mary, scored 28 this week against Zimmerman. She was 7-for-10 from three and had 21 rebounds.
- Shantell Harden Shantell Harden 6'0" | SF St. Louis Park | 2023 State MN – The St. Louis Park junior’s breakout season continued this week as the smooth wing scored 27 points with 11 rebounds and 4 assists in a win over Bloomington Kennedy. Shantell is ranked #19 in 2023.