The Week That Was #9, part 2: Halfway home

As usual in Minnesota, the annual January deep freeze means a couple of things: First, climate change is having an impact but it's not preventing the risk of frost bite on my morning walk. Two, the 18-week girls basketball season has reached its halfway point. I think we say this every year, but what a half-season it has been. One of the highlights to date is the most recent encounter between Class 2A #1 Providence Academy and #2 Minnehaha Academy. That took place on Friday night and it kicks off part 2 of our recap of the Week That Was #9. (In case you missed it, you can <a href="https://prepgirlshoops.com/2024/01/the-week-that-was-9-theres-only-one-chloe-johnson/">click here</a> to read part 1.)   IT'S NOT ABOUT THE POINTS   There's so nuch more to individual basketball success than scoring points. We talk about that all the time, about how it is the well-rounded athletes who contribute in multiple facets of the game – the team-oriented players who share the basketball – who are most likely to find success in the college game. Never was that more evident than in Friday night's epic struggle between Providence Academy and Minnehaha Academy. Unfortunately, that's not how everyone watching the game saw it.   Instead of highlighting an outstanding team performance, some media coverage made it seem as though Providence point guard [player_tooltip player_id='252381' first='Maddyn' last='Greenway'] had an off night. They said she "wasn't quite herself" and that the Lions' star attraction had been "slowed." While it's true that Greenway didn't put up 35 points, what she did was even more impressive to college scouts watching the contest: She figured out a way to win. Isn't that what it's all about? It left me wondering if they had seen the same game we watched. What the headlines should have said was something like this:   “Greenway's triple-double powers Providence Academy to win.”   Isn't a 21-point, 17-rebound, 13-assists performance in a 98-90 Victory the real story? “But wait,” you might say, “don't you highlight high-scoring players in your recaps every single week?” Didn't part 1 of your week #9 recap just chronicle all of the 1,000-point scorers? Yep. Guilty as charged. One of the primary reasons we do that is the fact that points are often the only thing we have to go by on games we haven't been able to see. There are dozens of games every week and we can only catch a few of them. We can't call every coach for complete stats.   It would be great, though, if the Minnesota State High School League required all schools to submit complete box scores within 12 hours of the completion of every game. If the MSHSL was the actual keeper of the information, not random media outlets and individual coaches, the numbers would be official. That's what happens in many other states. It would definitely make it much easier to track individual performances in a variety of ways, to paint a clearer picture of which players are contributing all over the floor. To those coaches who do take the time to enter complete game stats on a regular basis we say ‘Thank you!” You are much appreciated.   Incidentally, among those individual programs with coaches who are doing that, these are the Top 10 leaders in assists with a minimum of 10 games submitted:   <ul> <li>[player_tooltip player_id='433933' first='Chloe' last='Johnson'], Duluth Marshall (8.5 assists per game)</li>   <li>[player_tooltip player_id='205310' first='Tori' last='Oehrlein'], Crosby-Ironton (7.0)</li>   <li>[player_tooltip player_id='252381' first='Maddyn' last='Greenway'], Providence Academy (6.7)</li>   <li>[player_tooltip player_id='252379' first='Addison' last='Mack'], Minnehaha Academy (6.2)</li>   <li>[player_tooltip player_id='304916' first='Kristi' last='Kottke'], Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart (6.1)</li>   <li>[player_tooltip player_id='461340' first='Hali' last='Savela'], Mountain Iron-Buhl (6.1)</li>   <li>[player_tooltip player_id='178277' first='Jordan' last='Zubich'], Mountain Iron-Buhl (5.8)</li>   <li>[player_tooltip player_id='458302' first='Abbie' last='Pietila'], Delano (5.4)</li>   <li>Brylee Anderson, Jackson County Central (5.4)</li>   <li>[player_tooltip player_id='304920' first='Ava' last='Thompson'], Rosemount (5.4)</li> </ul>   What's interesting about the list is that the same players leading the state in assists are pretty much the same kids whose scoring feats make headlines. Yes, they are all well-rounded performers who lead their team in many different ways. Just like Greenway did.   Minnehaha 98 Providence 90   As for the game itself, well it was a show-stopper. Providence got the early jump, streaking out to a 14-2 margin in the first few minutes. Then Minnehaha went on a 15-0 run to take over the lead. That topsy turvy start was indicative of how the night would go. Providence was down 5 at halftime. In the second period [player_tooltip player_id='252379' first='Addison' last='Mack'] scored the first 7 points, sparking the Redhawks to a cushion that stretched into double digits at one point. Then it was the Lions' turn to roar once again. By the time the game was over, Providence had scored 60 points in the second half, thanks largely to the facilitation of Greenway who was ultimately responsible for more than 50 points in the game.   This matchup was everything high school basketball should be. We saw skill, physicality and emotion. We witnessed great offensive displays and individual defensive excellence. The gym was packed, it was loud and the outcome wasn't in doubt until the last couple of minutes. Mack turned in an outstanding performance with 33 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds. [player_tooltip player_id='478390' first='Sinae' last='Hill'] of the Redhawks scored 23 and was largely responsible for forcing Greenway to do much more than score. Freshman [player_tooltip player_id='529334' first='Isa' last='Griefenhagen'] was also very good defensively and scored a couple of key buckets. [player_tooltip player_id='425385' first='Amina' last='Allen'] fought through an ankle injury to nail four triples.     On the other side of the ball [player_tooltip player_id='529357' first='Emma' last='Millerbernd'] and [player_tooltip player_id='296515' first='Hope' last='Counts'] had 15 apiece, [player_tooltip player_id='392477' first='Brooke' last='Hohenecker'] nailed some crucial threes, and 8th grader [player_tooltip player_id='565312' first='Ari' last='Peterson'] had 26 points in her best varsity performance to date. In short, we were thoroughly entertained. On a frigid night in January that's all you can ask for.   MORE MILESTONES OF NOTE   In part 1 of our Week That Was #9 recap, we brought you a plethora of 1,000-point scorers. In the spirit of all that we just discussed above, there were plenty of other milestones reached over the past few days, many of which did not involve scoring.   [player_tooltip player_id='178271' first='Willow' last='Thiel'] of Perham (pictured at the top) received national recognition from Max Preps which selects nine top performers to honor each week. [player_tooltip player_id='252381' first='Maddyn' last='Greenway'] of Providence Academy is the only other Minnesotan to be selected during the 2023-24 campaign. Over three games, Willow had 92 points and 46 rebounds including her 1,000th career rebound. The UM-Crookston commit is averaging 28 points and 14 rebounds per game.   Thiel wasn't the only 1,000-rebound achiever. Idaho commit [player_tooltip player_id='302309' first='Karly' last='Jusczak'] had 29 points and 24 boards on Friday to go over the 1,000 mark. Briar Cliff signee [player_tooltip player_id='304937' first='Brea' last='Mertz'] of Sleepy Eye also reached 1,000 boards.   <figure class="wp-block-image size-medium"><img src="https://prepgirlshoops.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2024/01/Natalie-Beaver-rebound-record.jpg?w=300" alt="" class="wp-image-843313" /></figure>   [player_tooltip player_id='392476' first='Natalie' last='Beaver'] of Hayfield established a new high for career rebounds for the Vikings. She broke Shanna Behrens' 1991 standard of 813 in a career and Shanna was there to help Beaver celebrate. [player_tooltip player_id='396438' first='Addison' last='Pilarski'] of Holdingford also established a new school career record with 682. She has one more year with the Huskers to build on that.   Senior [player_tooltip player_id='350108' first='Anna' last='Goodman'] of Lakeville South set a new career assists record for the Cougars last week. The crafty point guard reached 376, breaking a record held by 2019 graduate Anna Harvey who went on to play at D1 Lehigh. Goodman is committed to Gustavus Adolphus.   Senior [player_tooltip player_id='178263' first='Laura' last='Hauge'] of St. Croix Lutheran broke the state record for most career three-pointers in December. Last week she passed 500 triples as she continues to set new highs in every contest.   [player_tooltip player_id='205310' first='Tori' last='Oehrlein'] of Crosby-Ironton had 47 points and 17 rebounds in an 85-51 win over Grand Rapids. It was her fourth game over the 40-point mark in her last six contests. Oehrlein has had 14 double-doubles this season.   Junior [player_tooltip player_id='550024' first='Chloe' last='Nuss'] of Totino-Grace continues to set new highs for herself as she buried six 3-pointers last week against Robbinsdale Armstrong to score 44 points. She's now carrying even more of the Burden for the 12-4 Eagles since point guard [player_tooltip player_id='502586' first='Maria' last='Radabaugh'] went down with a torn ACL.   Junior [player_tooltip player_id='296747' first='Anna' last='Greene'] of Mahtomedi tied a school scoring record last week for most points in a single game when she put up 39 against Hill-Murray. Greene, who is a top 30 prospect in the Prep Girls Hoops Class of 2025, had 26 of those points in the second half.   Senior [player_tooltip player_id='215981' first='Kylie' last='Waytashek'] of Royalton scored a school-record 39 points in a 64-62 win over Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa. Kylie also broke her own record for most three-point baskets in a single game going 10-for-16 from beyond the arc. Waytashek is a top 35 prospect bound for D1 Valparaiso.   WHAT WE WATCHED   After multi-team events the past two Saturdays in Southern Minnesota and on Monday in St. Paul, this Saturday was relatively open. We attended the University of Minnesota game with Michigan State in the afternoon followed by the [player_tooltip player_id='433933' first='Chloe' last='Johnson'] (Duluth Marshall) versus [player_tooltip player_id='252379' first='Addison' last='Mack'] (Minnehaha Academy) showdown in Minneapolis. Other games we saw live or online included:   <ul> <li>Five games on Monday at the St. Kate's MLK Day Classic.</li>   <li>Eden Prairie at Wayzata on Tuesday</li>   <li>Minnesota at Indiana on Wednesday</li>   <li>South Dakota at St. Thomas on Thursday</li>   <li>Providence vs Minnehaha and St. Micheal-Albertville at Eden Prairie on Friday plus a half each of Hancock at Hillcrest Lutheran Academy and Orono at New Prague.</li> </ul>   COMING UP   On Monday, we are planning to watch Mountain Iron-Buhl at Cass Lake and Southland at Grand Meadow online. On Tuesday, there are a pair of outstanding Lake Conference showdowns as Minnetonka travels to Eden Prairie and Hopkins visits Wayzata. On Wednesday, we're slated to visit St. Paul for the meeting of St. Agnes and United Christian Academy. Thursday is still up in the air but Hopkins versus STMA sounds intriguing. On Friday, we're thinking 11-4 Rosemount vs 11-4 Eastview might be a good one to see live.   Coming up on Saturday, it's the Breakdown Community Clash. This annual event features six girls games at STMA plus two each at Becker and Chanhassen. Among the elite contests in St. Michael are Hopkins vs Maple Grove, Minnetonka against Providence Academy, and STMA vs Benilde-St. Margaret's.   There's one more thing on our list this week: The final ranking of the Prep Girls Hoops Class of 2024. We expect to publish that in the latter part of the week. Updates on the 2025s, 2026s and 2027s will take place in February. Have a great week!

As usual in Minnesota, the annual January deep freeze means a couple of things: First, climate change is having an impact but it's not preventing the risk of frost bite on my morning walk. Two, the 18-week girls basketball season has reached its halfway point. I think we say this every year, but what a half-season it has been. One of the highlights to date is the most recent encounter between Class 2A #1 Providence Academy and #2 Minnehaha Academy. That took place on Friday night and it kicks off part 2 of our recap of the Week That Was #9. (In case you missed it, you can click here to read part 1.)