Breakdown Tipoff report: Top 10 performers, part 2

It’s time to invoke the *asterisk* clause. That, you’ll recall, is my personal methodology for having to avoid repeating ad infinitum what anyone who follows girls basketball in America already knows: <strong>Paige Bueckers</strong> is freaking amazing. Reporter Jace Frederick has a great piece running in the Twin Cities <em>Pioneer Press</em> about Ms. Bueckers and all of her awesomeness, which you can find at <a href="https://www.twincities.com/">twincities.com</a>. Although the accomplishments of the world’s best high school senior may be new information to mainstream newspaper readers, they most certainly aren’t breaking news to loyal readers of Prep Girls Hoops. To save time and space – and more importantly to shine a brighter spotlight on other players, too – I’ll invoke the *asterisk* clause here as a way of saying in the briefest possible manner that Becker – the school team – couldn’t handle Bueckers – the all-everything point guard – at the Breakdown. Kudos to <strong>Julia Bengtson</strong>, <strong>Megan Gamble</strong>, <strong>Courtney Nuest</strong> and company for giving it their best shot but Paige, <strong>Maya Nnaji</strong>, <strong>Nunu Agara</strong> and the rest of the star-studded Hopkins lineup were just too much as the Royals knocked off the Bulldogs by a score of 77-39. Now on to the rest of the Tipoff Classic Top 10 performers, part 2. <strong>Takara Mason – junior guard, Cretin-Derham Hall</strong> <strong>Takara Mason</strong> is a fighter, from her ultra-competitive spirit on the court to the inner fortitude it took to come back from a devastating knee injury. This year the 5’6 point guard opted to change schools, moving from Tartan in Oakdale to Cretin-Derham Hall in St. Paul. Saturday was her first game for the Raiders and it will be a contest she’ll never forget. The young CDH squad trailed the entire game against St. Louis Park and Takara's long-time AAU teammate <strong>Kendall Coley</strong>. CDH fell behind by double digits on at least two occasions. In the latter stages, however, the Raiders turned up their defensive intensity and fought their way back to within a point. Then, with only seconds left on the clock, the Orioles committed an ill-timed foul that put the top-60 prospect on the line. ‘TK’ calmly knocked down the free throws for her 18th and 19th points of the game, sending CDH home with a 60-59 victory. <strong>Hope Dudycha – sophomore guard, Austin</strong> Talking about getting off to a good start. The Austin Packers showed up at the Breakdown on Saturday with two victories already in their back pocket after knocking off Rochester Century and Kasson-Mantorville on Thursday and Friday night respectively. At the Lindbergh Center is was obvious that sophomore point guard <strong>Hope Dudycha</strong> deserves a ton of credit for the Packers hot start. Hope scored 20 points to lead Austin to 59-37 win over Big Lake, giving her 60 points in three games. The top-70 prospect has nice handles, a calm demeanor and very good court vision. She has blossomed into a terrific floor leader, as well. It is always difficult to accurately judge where players from the Big 9 conference fit into the bigger picture because they play so few games outside of their league. Every time we see Hope play now we get more excited about her potential. <strong>Luci Hauge – junior forward, St. Croix Lutheran</strong> There are two girls named Hauge on the roster at St. Croix Lutheran, and the younger of the two – uber-talented 8th grade guard <strong>Laura Hauge</strong> – has been drawing plenty of attention in recent months. On Friday night at the Tipoff, however, it was the junior forward <strong>Luci Hauge</strong> who was in the spotlight and deservedly so. The 6’0 forward scored 23 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and added 6 assists to lead the Crusaders to a 75-29 win over Bloomington Kennedy. Luci is a top 100 prospect with great hands, excellent timing on rebounds, good size and physical strength. She’s also a three-sport athlete. Little sister Laura, by the way, had 20 points in the win while junior <strong>Juel Skrein</strong> added 19. <strong>Larisa O’Neil – senior guard, Rosemount </strong> The Irish of Rosemount have some shooters, from senior <strong>Taylor Janssen</strong>, juniors <strong>Ivory Finley</strong> and <strong>Helen Staley</strong>, to sophomore <strong>Alexa Ratzlaff</strong> there are plenty of players who can knock ‘em down. This much we knew prior to Saturday’s game against Waconia. On this occasion the entire team seemed to be on target as Rosemount fired at a clip of nearly 50 percent from beyond the arc. Sharpest of all was 5’8 senior guard <strong>Larisa O’Neil</strong> who made 9 threes for 27 points in Rosemount’s 83-57 win over the highly-regarded Wildcats. O’Neil missed more than half of last season recovering from a torn meniscus suffered playing lacrosse but she is obviously back in form now. As a sophomore Larisa was a regular starter for the Irish who made more than 60 threes. <strong>Ella Runyon – sophomore guard, Hill-Murray</strong> We’ve been keeping our eye more closely on <strong>Ella Runyon</strong> since she started to make her presence felt with the Pioneers last winter. At the Hall of Fame tournament in late July the athletic 5’11 guard did enough to earn her way into the Prep Girls Hoops class of 2022 rankings. On Friday night, Runyon had a coming out party that made it obvious she is going to be a force to reckon with this winter. Ella scored 26 points to lead Hill-Murray to a 67-64 overtime victory against St. Louis Park. 22 of those points came in the second half, a sum that included 7 straight made free throws in the late stages of the game. Clutch! Runyon is a multi-sport athlete with limited AAU exposure. Let’s hope basketball becomes a priority because her ceiling is really, really high. <span style="font-size: 10pt;"><em>Top photo: Junior forward Luci Hauge led St. Croix Lutheran to a win over Bloomington Kennedy at the Tipoff Classic. (Photo courtesy of the StarTribune)</em></span>