The Week That Was #14: Wrapping up the regular season

After 120 days of early morning practices, bumpy bus rides and 5,000 basketball games, it’s over. The regular season portion of Minnesota’s 2021-22 girls high school basketball season has come to a close and sectional play is underway, with the state tournament a mere two weeks away. Congratulations to all of the conference champions – from Hopkins’ latest 11-0 romp through the Lake to Shakopee’s South Suburban crown to Mankato East’s Big 9 title to the Wright County championship shared between Hutchinson and Holy Family, all are great accomplishments. Ditto for Hayfield, Marshall, St. Peter, Brainerd, Pine City, Perham, Mahtomedi, Chaska, Minneapolis Southwest, St. Paul Como Park and all of the other conference winners. Now it’s going to get real.  Let’s recap a few of the highlights of the Week that Was #14. <strong>SHARING IS CARING</strong> From the time kids are playing in a sandbox for the first time we try to teach them the importance of sharing. When they take to the court in elementary school, coaches tell them right away about the importance of sharing the basketball. It’s one of the things I particularly like about the girls’ game – teams that share the ball the best are teams that usually win the most. That certainly applies to Wayzata. Ball movement has been a big theme in coach Julie Stewart’s first season in charge of the Trojans. On Friday night, in their final game of the regular season, Wayzata dented the record books with one of the best single-game assist totals of all time: 32. Not surprisingly, the passing parade was led by Minnesota commit [player_tooltip player_id="12715" first="Mara" last="Braun"], who happens to be one of the best passers in the state. The #2-rated senior recorded 9 assists, one more than junior point guard [player_tooltip player_id="108345" first="Brynn" last="Senden"]. The total of 32 was the third-highest in big school history and the most assists in a single game in the past 15 years. Centennial set the record of 38 in 2006, the same year St. Paul Central had 33 in a game. The third-highest Class 4A number had belonged to Hopkins, which recorded 30 against Buffalo two years ago. Every week we post scoring accomplishments – the 1,000 and 2,000-career point milestones and 50-point games and the like. It’s more difficult to quantify the other aspects of the game which are just as (if not more) important, so hats off to the Trojans. But speaking of scoring... [caption id="attachment_338448" align="alignnone" width="300"]<img class="wp-image-338448 size-medium" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2021/10/48-Taylor-Clarey.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" /> Clarey[/caption] <strong>MILESTONES</strong> We are a couple weeks late on this one but we wanted to point out a nice career accomplishment by senior <strong>Anika Schafer</strong> of Goodhue, who broke the Wildcats’ school record for three-pointers in a career. Schafer bested 2017 graduate <strong>Megan Ryan</strong> with 146. If the Wildcats make a deep run in the playoffs, something they have been rather adept at in recent years, Schafer has a shot at the single-season record, as well. That mark of 70 was set by <strong>McKenzie Ryan</strong>, also in 2017. Speaking of three-point records... Sophomore guard [player_tooltip player_id="302314" first="Taylor" last="Clarey"] has had an outstanding season for Rochester Century. She also rewrote the record books this weekend by scoring more three-point baskets in a single season than anyone in school history. Taylor topped the standard set by former Panther <strong>Elizabeth Bruss</strong> in 2014 (61) and by week’s end she had 67. She’ll have an opportunity to add to that total on Tuesday when 5th-seeded Century opens section 1AAAA play against Lakeville South. Here are this week’s 1,000-point scorers. Let us know if we missed anyone: <ul> <li>[player_tooltip player_id="109150" first="Kylie" last="Crabtree"] – 2022 guard, Hawley (Montana State-Billings)</li> <li>[player_tooltip player_id="108315" first="Sophi" last="Hall"] – 2022 wing, Holy Family (Providence)</li> <li>[player_tooltip player_id="223912" first="Jenny" last="Ntambwe"] – 2022 forward, Coon Rapids</li> <li>[player_tooltip player_id="57917" first="Ally" last="Schultz"] – 2022 guard, Lakeville South (Concordia-St. Paul)</li> <li>[player_tooltip player_id="302269" first="Jada" last="Bierschbach"] – 2023 guard, Rocori</li> <li>[player_tooltip player_id="148338" first="Grace" last="Counts"] – 2023 forward, Providence Academy</li> </ul> <strong>GAMES OF THE WEEK</strong> My viewing schedule was pretty light in week #14, probably the lightest of the season. On Monday night my daughter and I celebrated our birthdays with an old-school steak dinner at Mancini’s in St. Paul. On Friday and Saturday I was on a brief getaway with my significant other. The junket included a little college action in Des Moines with Minnesotans <strong>Maddie Petersen</strong> (nee: Monahan) <strong>Anna Miller</strong>, <strong>Taylor McAulay</strong> and Drake University hosting Minnesotans <strong>Gabi Haack</strong>, <strong>Tete Danso</strong>, <strong>Sierra Morrow</strong> and the Bradley Braves. On Tuesday about 30 games were cancelled or postponed by yet another snow event, but we watched two great contests that proceeded as planned: Rogers versus Champlin Park and Wayzata against Minnetonka. They did not disappoint. Rogers has had an incredible season, led by senior guard and Grand Canyon commit [player_tooltip player_id="12718" first="Ellie" last="Buzzelle"] and her junior teammate [player_tooltip player_id="108300" first="Clara" last="Glad"], who has said ‘yes’ to UC-Davis. Their talents were on full display Tuesday against Champlin Park. The Rebels got off to a great start, putting the Royals on their heals for most of the first half. After the break, Buzzelle and Glad went to work and with 14 seconds left on the clock Clara made both ends of a one-and-one free throw opportunity to tie the contest at 65 and force overtime. The Royals were dominant in the extra period, building a 13-point margin and finishing with an 83-75 victory. Buzzelle finished with 27 points while Glad had 26, 8 rebounds and 4 assists. Top-20 sophomore [player_tooltip player_id="215959" first="Ava" last="Holman"] scored 26 for CP. Rogers enters section play on a 21-game winning streak. The Minnetonka-Wayzata game was no less dramatic. The Skippers fell way behind early but gradually chipped away at the lead, putting together a 12-3 run to end the opening half still down by 11. Minnetonka kept grinding, though, and by the time senior [player_tooltip player_id="57907" first="Desiree" last="Ware"] (Alabama-Birmingham) cashed in on an and-1 with two and a half minutes left on the clock they led 49-58. A huge three by 8th grader [player_tooltip player_id="252383" first="Lanelle" last="Wright"] stretched the margin to four and Tonka went on to win it 54-50. It has been a tumultuous few weeks for the Skippers but after resuming play Minnetonka won three of its last four games to finish the regular season with a record of 20-4. <strong>FRESH FACES</strong> On Wednesday I streamed a contest from Northern Minnesota between the South Ridge Panthers and Cherry Tigers. Led by junior <strong>Adella Olesiak</strong> and sophomore <strong>Svea Snickers</strong>, the Panthers have had an outstanding small-school season. Having been tipped off by my northern observers I wanted to see for myself with the twosome was all about. The South Ridge School, enrollment 132, is located in Alborn Township, about 30  miles northwest of Duluth and 35 miles south of Cherry, which is 45 miles north east of Grand Rapids which.. well it’s all “Up North” to those of us in the Twin Cities. As for the two prospects... Snickers is a 5’7 sophomore with plenty of length. She has quality skills and little difficulty getting past most defenders at that level. Defensively her lateral movement is very good, and she causes all manner of problems for perimeter ball-handlers. Olesiak is a junior who has eclipsed 1,000 points in her high school career. She’s not real big, and won’t wow you with her athleticism, but Adella is a crafty guard who sees the floor, passes the ball well, and gets to the rim. South Ridge was impressive, slowly picking the Tigers apart to build a 15-point lead at the half and cruising to a 56-34 victory. Snickers will spend the summer with Playmakers North while Olesiak will compete with Northern Lights. [caption id="attachment_338639" align="alignnone" width="300"]<img class="wp-image-338639 size-medium" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2021/10/266-Taylor-Johnson.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" /> Johnson[/caption] <strong>BACK IN ACTION</strong> On Thursday we watched our first section game of the season as Lake City hosted Cannon Falls. Like most first-round playoff games it wasn’t expected to be close, and the final score of 66-33 in Lake City’s favor lived up to expectations. Our purpose in watching, however, was fulfilled as we saw 6’3 junior [player_tooltip player_id="302257" first="Taylor" last="Johnson"] of Cannon Falls play for the first time since the fall. Johnson, who shot up the rankings last summer, has been hampered by a fracture in her foot that limited her to just 15 games. Johnson looked really good on Thursday. The match-up between Taylor and UW-Eau Claire commit [player_tooltip player_id="109153" first="Mya" last="Shones"] of Lake City was fun to watch. Johnson is huge, and she knows how to use her big frame to maximum advantage now. The improvement in her game since this time last year is truly remarkable. When she backs her defender into the paint and executes a classic drop step to score off the glass it’s a thing of beauty. So simple but so effective. Of course, the #32-rated prospect in the junior class still has a lot to learn. She’ll get that opportunity this summer with North Tartan EYBL where the realities of facing high-D1 post players will no doubt hit home. <strong>INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES</strong> The top individual performance of the week belongs – again – to Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s senior [player_tooltip player_id="109131" first="Madison" last="Mathiowetz"]. The South Dakota State commit scored 55 points in a win over Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial in one of the best offensive outputs in state history. The first time I saw Mathlowetz play she scored 50 and there has been a parade of standout performances ever since. 8th grader [player_tooltip player_id="252381" first="Maddyn" last="Greenway"] of Providence Academy has had an incredible season. The uber-athletic point guard scored a season-high 38 points Wednesday in an impressive 88-81 win for the Lions over Holy Angels, PA’s 11th victory in a row. It was Greenway’s 6th 30-point game of the year.