Notable Opening Night Performances

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>I went back and watched a few games from last night that I was interested in, and with plenty of teams tipping their seasons off, there are plenty of kids to talk about. Let's talk about some kids who had solid opening nights.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='209590' first='Claire' last='Meudt']</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>On a night where nobody on Waunakee could make a shot for the first 25 minutes of the game, Meudt went on an all-time heater in Westfield. She caught fire with under ten minutes to go and seemed to make everything that she shot. Meudt took a heat-check three off her own missed three two seconds prior, and at that point, all I could do was smile. Meudt is the reigning player of the year in the former Badger-East, and it's because she can score it from the wing position as well as anyone when she gets into that kind of rhythm. The senior was difference as the Warriors earned a narrow road win against a talented Westfield Pioneer group.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='533073' first='Izabel' last='Durst']</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Although Barneveld didn't get a statement win on the road against New Glarus, I thought they made themselves known. Having someone on the floor like Durst who can maximize possession at a small school like Barneveld is indispensable. They got a Regional Title last season but ended up losing to eventual Sectional Champion Albany, but now they're in another sectional and are among the favorites in that sectional. I expect that this is a group we'll be talking about late in the season, mainly because of what Durst does at the point of attack.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='914978' first='Alexis' last='Accuardi']</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The 6-1 newcomer from DeForest had an excellent debut. Accuardi did a little of everything to help the Norskies sneak out of Lake [player_tooltip player_id='884522' first='Mills' last=''] with a one-point win. I was impressed by how comfortable she was on the perimeter and battling under the basket for rebounds. As she gets acclimated to high school basketball, she has a chance to be one of the premier kids in the Madison because of her ability to punish any mismatch and because she finds ways to win games by scoring, rebounding, passing, defending on the perimeter, or using her size to protect the rim.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='448289' first='Haddie' last='Showen']</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The development of [player_tooltip player_id='448289' first='Haddie' last='Showen'] has been something to behold. She went from being relatively unknown as a freshman to someone with multiple scholarship offers waiting for her. Last night, Showen showed us plenty of positive developments in her game from where she started. For one, Waunakee presses constantly, and they're good at it. Once upon a time, Mineral Point got after the Pioneers, and nobody seemed to know how to handle it, and to be fair, that Mineral Point team was excellent. However, the Warriors are also a good full-court pressing unit, and Showen made their press look ineffective. Showen created so many quick-shot opportunities by beating the initial pressure, and if it weren't for [player_tooltip player_id='209590' first='Claire' last='Meudt'] finding an all-time heater, the main story out of Westfield would've been [player_tooltip player_id='448289' first='Haddie' last='Showen']. The Westfield junior will have something to say about how D4 plays out in February and March, and last night should serve as a warning to D4 teams. The Pioneers looked good.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->