Kimberly’s Massive Home Win, and Path to Long Term Success
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I’ve talked about them at length, but I want to take some time today and talk about the Kimberly program from the outside looking in because it’s set up from top to bottom to be successful for a long time.…
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Continue ReadingI’ve talked about them at length, but I want to take some time today and talk about the Kimberly program from the outside looking in because it’s set up from top to bottom to be successful for a long time.
Let’s start with talking about last night’s game against Neenah.
Anytime you have a Uconn commit and Neenah on the schedule, the main goal is to attempt to stop her from beating you on her own. No matter how hard you try or how well someone defends her, she may get to 40. That’s how good she is.
The Papermakers’ face guarded Ziebell all night like most teams will, and the combination of Kennedy Ebben Kennedy Ebben 5'7" | PG Kimberly | 2027 WI and Jaydn Dietrich gave up some size defending her, but they did as well of a job as I’d seen.
Specifically, Dietrich is a player everyone should adore. Not many kids get asked to guard the best player in the state and are content without taking a shot. I wanted to highlight her role in the Papermakers’ win last night because it was critical, and what she did will not show up in a box score.
The other kid with that daunting task was Kennedy Ebben Kennedy Ebben 5'7" | PG Kimberly | 2027 WI . She’s always seemed like a selfless kid, but I never fully grasped how well she could get after it on the defensive end. I thought she was locked in defensively with and without the ball, and for a 2027 lead guard to do what she did on the defensive end last night was unique and something I don’t believe most kids in her class could replicate.
The two kids guarding Ziebell all night recorded one total shot attempt.
One of my favorite kids to watch last night was Emily Urban Emily Urban 5'5" | CG Kimberly | 2026 State WI . She’s the key to getting the motor of the Kimberly offense running, and she doesn’t have to score to do it. The sophomore plays with pace and wants to put defenses on the backfoot whenever possible, which works. She’s as fast as anyone on the floor, and she wants to attack the basket to get layups or punish help defense by rifling passes out to her shooters. As good as the Papermakers are on paper, Urban is as integral to their success as anyone.
One other story that I feel gets lost in the shuffle of all this talent is Bentley Drout Bentley Drout 5'4" | PG Kimberly | 2025 State WI .
People will see her and notice she’s smaller than everyone on the floor. However, I don’t know many kids as quick and able to create space quite like Drout. Pulling a kid off the bench that forces defenses to bend adds to what Urban does for the Papermakers. However, she brings more of a scoring punch to the floor. The confidence that Drout walks onto the floor with is palpable. She’ll never shy away from the moment and made some big shots down the stretch.
Let’s move over to the two highly touted newcomers at Kimberly and start with Haylie Dulas Haylie Dulas 5'11" | SF Kimberly | 2027 State WI .
Dulas earned the start last night and seemed to do everything right. I remember thinking, with about five minutes left in the first half, that Dulas was playing well, and then I looked up and saw she had two or three points. When I updated the rankings and talked about Dulas, I talked about how well she contributes to winning, and last night was a perfect example. Although she didn’t score 30 or anything, she was a rugged defender and didn’t allow her assignment to get into any rhythm. Dulas rebounded the ball well and defended well around the rim without fouling, and when Kimberly needed to get a run going, Dulas hit a few three-pointers in the second half. There’s not much to critique about her game.
In Ava Van Vonderen Ava Van Vonderen 6'0" | SG Kimberly | 2027 State WI ‘s case, coming off the bench is the best thing for this iteration of the Papermakers, and she seems to embrace that role. I’d venture to guess less than ten public schools have a player as talented as her coming off the bench, and even though she may not have had her best night, it’s clear that on days that she’s rolling, there’s not a team that can slow Kimberly down. Her footwork attacking the basket is elite. She’s creating as a 6-0 wing off the dribble with multiple directional changes, but those shots didn’t fall last night. When they start dropping, she’s got a chance to be dominant. Late in the game, Kimberly trusted her to attack one-on-one at the free-throw line, and Neenah didn’t have the personnel for it like every other team doesn’t, which showed the trust her coaches and her teammates have in her to make a play.
Now, let’s get to the two stars of the night.
Raegan Krueger Raegan Krueger 6'1" | PF Kimberly | 2025 State WI was dominant in the first half. She forced Neenah’s post into foul trouble early and often, and nobody else could match her physically in the paint. She got into foul trouble in the second half but did what she needed to do in the first half. When Neenah made threes from everywhere in the first half, Krueger was the presence that Kimberly had to have to stay connected and not allow the Rockets to run away before the break. Krueger knew where she could take control of the game in that first half, and she never settled for anything less.
Since I started watching high school basketball in November of 2021, I don’t think I’ve seen anyone improve like Katelyn McGinnis Katelyn McGinnis 5'10" | CG Kimberly | 2025 State WI has these last nine months. I knew she was talented and thought her shooting would come around because it always looked picturesque, but now she’s legitimately a top-ten player in the state, at worst. I don’t know if there’s any more I could’ve hoped to see from her last night. She scored 23 last night, but most of it wasn’t even her making perimeter shots. It was everything else. Her ball handling is at such a high level. At any point she went to her left-to-right cross, she created space to attack the rim because of how much ground her crossover covers and how fast it is. Her ability in ball-screen actions is excellent as a screener or ball handler because she’s so dynamic. Defensively, she’s got enough length to get into passing lanes, which she did on a few occasions, leading to one-on-zero layups. Even her rebounding was on another level last night, and she probably led Kimberly in assists by a wide margin. The amount of work that kid has put in these past three years to get better is paying off, and I couldn’t be happier for her.
To close things out, I want to speak on the state of this program. They’ve had plenty of talent come through, leading to them having one of the most successful programs in the state. I don’t get to see any youth programs because I don’t have the time for them, but checking in on Badgerland every year gave me a glimpse as to how much talent they have coming through. Kimberly seems to win every age level at Badgerland except for one or two, and Kimberly usually gets second in those. There is a chance that this group we’re looking at today is the start of something pretty special.