2025 AAU Breakout Player of the Year: Haven Fisher

If there's one surefire sign for us that a player is having a breakthrough season, it's this: The volume of questions we get from college coaches takes a big spike. Over the past couple of months, I can't tell you how many recruiters have asked for an opinion on Haven Fisher Haven Fisher 5'11" | SG Prior Lake | 2025 State MN . Our reply was always the same: “Yes!”

Let's just say the incoming senior from Prior Lake has had one heck of an AAU summer. From start to finish, Fisher has demonstrated improved skill development, an unrelenting motor and an enhanced level of confidence. The results have been there week after week. That's why Haven is now collecting Division 1 scholarship offers and why we are pleased to select her as our Prep Girls Hoops Class of 2025 AAU Breakout Player of the Year.

I remember first watching Haven play during 8th grade when she was a skinny wisp of a thing. Her athleticism jumped out immediately, as did her high motor. Certainly, there was some skill work required but you could see back then what was possible. However, it was hard to get past the sleight frame and how that might impact her opportunities at the next level. I met Haven's dad around that time and I recall very clearly him telling me that he and other Fisher family members were late to grow, late to fill out, late to blossom. He figured Haven would be the same. His crystal ball proved accurate.

The photo above, taken some time ago at the PGH Top 250 Expo, doesn't do justice to Fisher's current physique. Over the past couple of years, Haven sprouted up to about 6 feet and filled out to the point where she is a physical force on the basketball court. When college coaches see her now for the first time, the reaction is nearly always the same: That kid is a beast!

Prior Lake coach Maurice Hodges has had a front row seat to the metamorphosis and he is impressed. “The strength and size is very noticeable now,” he said. “Even two years ago when I arrived at Prior Lake you could tell that it was coming, but when you see it now you just go, ‘Wow!”

While the physical changes haves been crucial, so has the development of Haven's mind. The maturity. The poise. The decision making. The leadership. When asked where Fisher's game has improved the most, Hodges says emphatically that it is in the mental part of it. “I know a lot of coaches wouldn't bring that up first but I will and here's why,” he explained. “Just look at how many players were in front of her in the rotation when she arrived and how she handled that. With the type of attitude she has, and the way she has approached things and been positive along the way, with how she has been a great teammate, all of that has helped her the most.”

Fisher certainly had to be patient. Prior Lake's 2024 and 2025 classes have been very deep. Just-graduated 2024s include Cece McNair (UW-Milwaukee), Julia Thoms (Jamestown) and Anna Van Helden. The 2025 group includes Bree Bowman Bree Bowman 6'2" | SF Prior Lake | 2025 State MN (Colorado State), Alaya Carter Alaya Carter 5'9" | CG Prior Lake | 2025 State MN , Brooklynn Holmberg Brooklynn Holmberg 5'11" | SG Prior Lake | 2025 State MN and Anna Trachsel Anna Trachsel 5'7" | CG Prior Lake | 2025 State MN . Fisher waited in the wings, taking advantage of the limited minutes available, and busting her tail week after week. It would have been easy to transfer or give up, but Haven took the exact opposite approach.

“She came in to see me after my first year here,” said Coach Hodges, “and she had a list in her hand. On that list were all of the things that she was going to do over the summer so that she could break into the varsity rotation in the fall.”

Her big break came last Christmas when there were three starters out with injuries. “We were up in St. Cloud for a tournament,” said Hodges. “I told her the morning of the game that she was going to start. She said she was ready to go and she really proved herself that day. We beat Maple Grove and she hasn't looked back since.”

That opportunity and improvement carried over into the spring and summer season. As you know, we try to spread the love around when we're writing about players. Our goal is always to uncover new talent, but every time we watched Minnesota Fury 2025 S40 play we saw Haven rolling sevens and we kept on writing. That resulted in another bump up in the rankings in June and then in July she blew up in the recruiting zone. Our phone was buzzing. Haven has recently had D1 offers from the likes of Eastern Illinois, Siena, Weber State, Southern Illinois Edwardsville and the University of Tulsa. Surely, there will be more to come.

The big guard is one of the more versatile players in the class. She is highly effective at both ends of the court and plays with intensity throughout. Haven is always attacking and knows how to use her size, strength and physical advantages to get to the basket come hell or high water. She also has a strong mid-range game and her shooting continues to improve. Whether she scores or doesn't, Fisher leaves her mark all over the game.

Hodges watched some AAU games earlier in the season but not much recently. Last week he took his Lakers squad to a Breakdown event and he was blown away with what he saw from Haven. “We all know she has a high motor but now I think the skills have caught up to the motor,” he said. “She has really worked on her fundamentals and honed in on that aspect of it. And she has learned the game more and has a good grasp of it on both ends of the floor. Whatever assignment you give her, she can handle it.”

Runner Up: Katie Kelzenberg Katie Kelzenberg 6'2" | PF Wayzata | 2025 State MN  (Real Phenom S40)

After returning to the basketball court last fall at Wayzata, Kelzenberg went on to have an outstanding junior campaign, providing some much needed size and tenacity at the forward position for the Trojans. All of that translated into the AAU season for Katie with Real Phenom S40. College coaches approached us left and right looking for more info on the 6'2 big-body forward. She is a ferocious competitor with a motor that never stops. Back in May at Live at the Lakes, it was a huge weekend for the senior-too-be. Coaches lined the gym to watch her put up four double-figure scoring performances, including a monstrous 15-point game against Fury 2025 UAA. While the Fury came away with the win, it was a big day for Katie. All of her efforts over the past year have earned Kelzenberg a top 25 spot in the 2025 prospect rankings and now runner-up for AAU Breakout Player of the Year. It's rare that a senior of Katie's caliber would be considered a breakout performer, but after two years away from basketball we believe her outstanding comeback deserves the recognition.

Honorable Mention:  Ali Simonson Ali Simonson 5'11" | SF/PF Farmington | 2025 State MN (Crossfire South Hutmacher)

The versatile senior-to-be from Farmington took a big jump this spring during her final go-around with AAU. In addition to development in her skill and strength over the course of several years, Ali's game was injected with a new dose of confidence that we hadn't seen before. She became more assertive, vocal, daring, and played a big role for her team. At Live at the Lakes, she scored 53 points across four  games, leading her team in scoring against Suns Blue Star and Southern Fury. In our most recent rankings update for the incoming seniors, Simonson, a quintessential late bloomer, jumped up 18 places – earning herself a spot in the top 150. 

PGH scout Ally McGinnis contributed to this article.