The Week That Was #7: Mother Nature was in charge

Apparently Mother Nature is now in charge of scheduling. That's certainly how it seemed last week when dozens of girls basketball games were postponed or cancelled once again due to the weather. I often get frustrated with the number of weather-related schedule snafus but last week it was totally justified. Through Wednesday there was more snow shoveling than shot shooting. By the latter half of the week things were rolling once again and we saw some of the best basketball of the season to date. Here's a little of this and some of that from the Week That Was #7.   A SIX PACK OF LIVE ACTION   Early in the week the only place games were being played was up north where the weather was much better and the souls are a whole lot hardier. We started the week online with Chisholm at Cherry. Our goal was to check up on 2024 prospect [player_tooltip player_id='215986' first='Tresa' last='Baumgard'] of Chisholm but we ended up intrigued by Cherry senior Jillian Sajdak. In a day or two we'll have a piece on last week's top newcomers and Jillian made the cut for that. Stay tuned.   We ended up seeing six games live later in the week: Becker at Providence Academy on Thursday, Lakeville South at Lakeville North on Friday plus four excellent encounters at the Breakdown Southern Minnesota Hoops Fest on Saturday – Jordan vs Mahtomedi, Minnehaha Academy vs Goodhue, Stewartville vs Marshall and St. Peter at Kasson-Mantorville. Tomorrow we'll bring you the best of the best from those contests.   PLAYER OF THE WEEK   [player_tooltip player_id='186114' first='Keeley' last='Steele'] – 2023 guard, Stewartville   Strum and Steele and Stewartville. Those three things have been synonymous with Tigers basketball for the past several seasons. Over that time standout senior point guard [player_tooltip player_id='148327' first='Haylie' last='Strum'] has drawn the lion's share of the headlines but her classmate [player_tooltip player_id='186114' first='Keeley' last='Steele'] (pictured above) deserves just as much credit for Stewartville's run of success. And they've had a lot of it. On Saturday afternoon at the Breakdown event, Steele had her share of the spotlight, not only doing all of the usual stuff she does to help her team win but Keeley also put some points on the board in an impressive 60-42 win over a rugged unit from Marshall. Stewartville's superior speed and skill proved to be the difference.   Steele made a pair of triples and five two-point field goals while going 4-for-5 at the free throw line. That totals 20 points and a solid all-around performance. That's always been her calling card. Steele is consistently good at both ends of the floor, plays with poise and confidence, understands the game at a high level, and contributes in countless ways that don't show up on the scoreboard. And the all-Hiawatha Valley League performer can defend. As Stewartville broadcaster Adam Peterson pointed out in a post-game Tweet, in the Tigers' previous game “she did what her team needed away from scoring to win a tough game vs Rochester Lourdes: defense, moving the ball, playing high post, etc. She deserves a game like this!”   <figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img src="https://prepgirlshoops.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2023/01/Kendyl-Lodermeier_Goodhue-crop-4021x2640-1673308319.jpg?w=800" alt="" class="wp-image-580351" width="600" height="394" /></figure>   BREAKOUT PLAYER OF THE WEEK   [player_tooltip player_id='550025' first='Kendyl' last='Lodermeier'] – 2025 forward, Goodhue   The new and improved version of Kendyl. That's what we saw Saturday in the Wildcats' hard-fought win over Minnehaha Academy at Kasson-Mantorville. We've been watching her for a couple of seasons now, and in the most recent update of our Prep Girls Hoops Class of 2025 rankings Kendyl made the list at #125. Based on what we saw Saturday, the latest Lodermeier to wear the purple jersey in Goodhue (and there have been a lot of them) is about to take a jump up in status. First of all she's bigger – about 5'11 now with broad shoulders, a solid build and lots of length. She looked a lot more mobile, too, and showed a skillset that has grown a ton over the past few months. Kendyl's compete factor was off the charts in a game that wasn't well-suited for the meek. Lodermeier contributed plenty as a freshman but her role has expanded greatly now. If she hadn't come through for Goodhue on Saturday by rebounding, defending, scoring and going hard every single shift, there's no way the Wildcats pull off a win over a strong Redhawks squad.   INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES   The best Minnesota prospects seem to do something special pretty much every week, including 2024 #1 [player_tooltip player_id='177728' first='Olivia' last='Olson'] of Benilde- St. Margaret's. This past week the University of Michigan commit posted a triple-double in the Red Knights' 83-66 win over St. Paul Como Park. Olson had 39 points, 10 rebounds, 12 steals, 4 assists and 3 blocks. That's how you fill up the scoresheet! Como Park senior [player_tooltip player_id='108303' first='Shania' last='Van Nett'] had a nice outing of her own in the game, scoring 33 for the Cougars.   Olson wasn't the only elite prospect to record a triple-double last week. Crosby-Ironton freshman [player_tooltip player_id='205310' first='Tori' last='Oehrlein'], who has made a habit of rewriting the record books in her young career, recorded 33 points, 17 rebounds and 13 assists in a win over Pillager on Thursday.   As we wrote a couple of weeks back, veteran guard [player_tooltip player_id='350109' first='Bria' last='Stenstrom'] of Mounds View is having an excellent season to date for the Mustangs, averaging over 22 points per game and leading her squad to new heights. On Friday the junior scored an impressive 42 points in a 73-63 loss to powerhouse Stillwater, a team that beat them twice last year by an average margin of 33 per game. After winning just nine games last year, Mounds View enters the week with a record of 7-3. Next up they've got Roseville and East Ridge on the schedule.   Other top individual performances in Week #7:   <ul> <li>Sophomore [player_tooltip player_id='396431' first='Gabby' last='Fineday'] of Cass Lake-Bena lit it up again, scoring 37 in a 60-54 win over Walker-Hackensack-Akeley</li>   <li>Freshman [player_tooltip player_id='478362' first='Morgan' last='Korf'] of Pelican Rapids, a top 20 prospect in the Class of 2026, scored 34 points in a 55-51 win over Hawley.</li>   <li>Sophomore [player_tooltip player_id='252387' first='Aaliyah' last='Crump'] of Minnetonka continued to show why she is the #1 prospect in the Class of 2025. She had 30 points in a win over Eden Prairie on Friday, the fifth time in 10 games Aaliyah has topped the 30-point mark. The Skippers enter the week with a record of 8-2.</li>   <li>Junior Megan Welch of United Christian Academy in Bloomington set a single-game school record with her 31-point performance on Friday in a win over North Lakes. It was just her third double-digit scoring game this year for the Thunder, who made it to the Class A State Tournament last year.</li>   <li>Freshman [player_tooltip player_id='478363' first='Maddy' last='Blaylark'] of DeLaSalle, the #22-ranked prospect in the Class of 2026, had a career-high 29 points in a huge 75-63 win for the Islanders over their archrivals from Holy Angels on Friday. DeLaSalle went on a 13-1 run to end the game. Junior [player_tooltip player_id='304932' first='Jenna' last='Buer'] had 24 to lead the Stars.</li>   <li>8th grader [player_tooltip player_id='377583' first='Mya' last='Wilson'] of Mahtomedi is arguably the premier prospect in Minnesota's Class of 2027. After missing the early part of the season with a foot injury, Wilson is quickly rounding into form. On Friday night the 6-footer scored a career-high 27 points in a win over Two Rivers, the former Henry Sibley High School in Mendota Heights. Wilson leads the Zephyrs in scoring at 16.5 ppg.</li> </ul>   <figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img src="https://prepgirlshoops.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2023/01/Addison-Hoof-1000.jpg?w=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-580379" width="768" height="343" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Photo: Twitter/AddisonHoof</figcaption></figure>   MILESTONES   <ul> <li>2025 guard [player_tooltip player_id='396435' first='Addison' last='Hoof'] of Lester Prairie reached the 1,000 career points mark recently. The super speedy guard and longtime Minnesota Fury standout has been a regular for the Bulldogs since 7th grade.</li>   <li>2023 guard [player_tooltip player_id='361969' first='Molly' last='Bills'] of LaCrescent had 23 points Friday in a win over St. Charles to surpass the 1,000 mark, as well. The Wisconsin-Stout commit is the sixth player in Lancers history to reach the milestone.</li>   <li>2023 guard [player_tooltip player_id='186112' first='Ashlynne' last='Guenther'], a Bemidji State commit from Duluth East, had already reached 1,000 career points. Last week against Hermantown she became the first player in Greyhounds history to record 1,000 rebounds.</li> </ul>   These are the only three career milestones that we saw posted. If you are aware of others please let us know and we'll include them in next week's wrap-up. You can email them to me at <a href="mailto:gmachoops@gmail.com">gmachoops@gmail.com</a> or send a DM on Twitter at @gmachoops. Thanks in advance for your contributions.   COMING UP   We've got a full slate of games on the schedule this week beginning with a Monday night match-up with Minnetonka travelling to Maple Grove for an encounter between two elite metro programs. Among the other games on the docket this week are Chaska at Benilde-St. Margaret's, Mayo against Century in Rochester, East Ridge at Stillwater, St. Michael-Albertville against Wayzata and three games on Saturday at the Hall of Fame tournament at Anoka-Ramsey. See you in the gym!

Apparently Mother Nature is now in charge of scheduling. That's certainly how it seemed last week when dozens of girls basketball games were postponed or cancelled once again due to the weather. I often get frustrated with the number of weather-related schedule snafus but last week it was totally justified. Through Wednesday there was more snow shoveling than shot shooting. By the latter half of the week things were rolling once again and we saw some of the best basketball of the season to date. Here's a little of this and some of that from the Week That Was #7.