AAU Week #8: Going live at the Lake Slam

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Week #8 was the second NCAA live period of the spring and summer season. That meant that many of Minnesota's best squads were earning frequent flyer points and racking up hotel nights in search of victories on the road and valuable recognition from Division 1 coaches coast to coast. As usual they had a ton of success – the North Tartan 2025 and 2026 EYBL squads took home some hardware at the Nike event; the Minnesota Stars 2026 3SSB squad and Metro Stars 2024 Szabla did the same at Adidas tournaments; and Minnesota Fury's UAA teams showed out in Atlantic City. There are far too many to mention, of course, but we offer a tip of the cap to everyone who represented our fair state at a high level.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Meanwhile back on the home front, the best of the rest were duking it out at the Lake Slam in Bloomington which is where we spent the weekend. After consecutive events watching the elite D1 prospects, we focused at the Lake Slam on fresh faces and stock risers who were putting in good work. Here is a look at the Week That Was #8.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>TEAM OF THE WEEK</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Crossfire Schuck 2004</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In AAU it obviously helps to have the best talent. The teams that win state championships at every level tend to be those loaded with Division 1 prospects. But once you get beyond the best three or four squads in each grade, it seems to be more about the three Cs: Coaching, Continuity and Care. No team epitomizes that more than Linda Schuck's U17 Crossfire group. The former University of Northwestern (St. Paul) coach certainly knows her X's and O's. More importantly, though, the coach has created a quality environment that has produced continuity as a solid core group has largely stuck together. That's a real asset. And then there's the third C – this is a team that appears to really care about each other and it shows. They play the right way, sharing the basketball, sacrificing for the good of the group, focusing on the fundamentals and excelling at the little things that win basketball games. I'd be willing to bet that all of the girls have enjoyed their experience.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Crossfire Schuck went 4-0 this weekend scoring wins over Minnesota Stars Zabel, TAP Manitoba, Rise Schultz and Southern Minnesota Fury. For the second week in a row, Delano junior [player_tooltip player_id='178273' first='Taylor' last='Tool'] was outstanding. The 6'1 post, ranked in the Top 40 among 2024 prospects, put up almost 12 points per game and hauled down a ton of rebounds. The evolution of 6-foot forward [player_tooltip player_id='520282' first='Olivia' last='Kesti'] of Spring Lake Park continues trending in a positive direction, as well. And Crossfire's collection of quality guards keeps on delivering. #64 [player_tooltip player_id='304927' first='Ella' last='Kletti'], #98 [player_tooltip player_id='339146' first='Nora' last='Pederson'], #110 [player_tooltip player_id='304935' first='Berkley' last='Neubauer'], #123 [player_tooltip player_id='350440' first='Sarah' last='Best'], #137 [player_tooltip player_id='350107' first='Britta' last='DeMar'] and 2025 #125 [player_tooltip player_id='453782' first='Alyssa' last='Baranick'] are all solid performers. The addition of 6-foot wing [player_tooltip player_id='350111' first='Azeri' last='Thiemann'] of Rochester as an injury replacement for big [player_tooltip player_id='461341' first='Maggie' last='Westling'] has worked well. So kudos to Crossfire Schuck. They've earned our respect.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Let's also give a shout out to <strong>Minnesota Rise 2026 Wright</strong> which went undefeated to capture the top 9th grade division. They scored an impressive win over Legacy Elite 2027 along with victories against North Tartan Elite, Minnesota Stars Joerger, and Minnesota Fury 2027 Blue. Last week the Rise recorded a top 5 finish at the State Tournament playing the key Saturday games without their standout point guard [player_tooltip player_id='339175' first='Brooklyn' last='Lewis'] of New Ulm, who was compelled to show up for her high school softball squad. This week the Top 15 freshman was back and she dominated, leading the division in scoring with 68 points. 23rd-ranked [player_tooltip player_id='498663' first='Madison' last='Ohm'] of Rochester Century was a huge factor once again, contributing 10 points per game and a ton of defensive energy. High-level college coaches have been asking about those two along with 11th-ranked [player_tooltip player_id='280354' first='Tucker' last='Downs'] and Top 25 talent [player_tooltip player_id='339179' first='Brylee' last='Miller']. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>LAKE SLAM STOCK RISERS</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='304924' first='Ellie' last='Edberg'] – 2024 guard, MN Rise Purfeerst</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Ellie always seems to be in the shadows – until she isn't. The sweet-shooting guard from Mankato East is having an outstanding year for the Rise where her contributions have been incredibly important. We recall her coming out party at the state high school tournament in 2022 when the then-sophomore scored some huge buckets in the Cougars win over Benilde-St. Margaret's. What we see now, however, is the maturation of Edberg's game to the point where she will be a reliable, committed and skilled producer at the next level.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Last week at the AAU State Tournament, Ellie (banner photo above) went head-to-head with the elite players of the 2024 Class. She faced the standouts of North Tartan EYBL as the Rise played the eventual state champions close. She guarded the best of Fury 2024 UAA, which sneaked out a two-point win over the Purfeerst team. In doing so Ellie proved to everyone in attendance – perhaps more importantly proved to herself – that she can employ her length and mobility to defend the best of the best and use her elite three-point shooting ability to score at that level, too. Edberg has more than earned a bump in our June rankings update.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='660615' first='Cora' last='Grismer'] <strong>– 2025 guard, North Tartan 1th Smart</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The ultra-quick guard from Perham was here, there and everywhere on Saturday when we watched the 2024 Smart crew from Central Minnesota against the Eagan-based Minnesota Bobcats. That's not surprising given how well Cora played down the home stretch of the high school season as the Yellowjackets earned a section championship and a berth in the State Tournament. Grismer has super-fast feet and moves really well laterally, two valuable assets that make her a great on-ball defender. At Perham she generally draws the toughest defensive assignments for coach T.J. Super, who can't say enough good things about his sophomore. Everyone at Perham seems to be able to shoot the three and Grismer is no exception. She also handles it well and can put the ball in the basket off the bounce. Cora was the Yellowjackets' fourth-leading scorer behind [player_tooltip player_id='220846' first='Mya' last='Morris'] (Valley City State), [player_tooltip player_id='178271' first='Willow' last='Thiel'] and [player_tooltip player_id='502604' first='Kaia' last='Anderson'] and will be called upon to do more now that Morris has graduated. Based on what we saw Saturday Grismer will likely deliver.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>5 MORE WHO GOT NOTICED</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>At every tournament we see fresh faces who capture our attention and make it on our list of prospects to watch more closely. This week those players included:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list --> <ul><!-- wp:list-item --> <li><strong>Kate Lee</strong> – Fury 2026 Premier (Centennial)</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>[player_tooltip player_id='502592' first='Molly' last='Monson'] – Fury 2026 Premier (Centennial)</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li><strong>Aaliyah Williams</strong> – MN Rise 2027 Busse (Rochester Lourdes)</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1263074' first='Rainey' last='Dobbs']</strong> – MN Rise 2026 Heiderscheidt (Triton)</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li><strong>Ava Osterman</strong> – Comets 2027 Hoelscher (Elk River)</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ul> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>COMING UP</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Coming up on Tuesday we'll have more Lake Slam coverage with a look at some newcomers who impressed. Later in the week we'll tell you about some duos that caught our attention over the weekend, as well. We'll be taking Friday through Monday off for a much-needed break after covering tournaments for the past seven weekends in a row and writing 30 stories about those events. When we get back at it next week, we'll unveil our 2027 Watch List, a compilation of the top incoming freshmen we're tracking en route to the release of the Freshmen 50 in the fall. As always we thank you for reading!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->