HVL-TRC Showdown report: Top 5 guards
In our recap of the top 5 forwards at the HVL-TRC Showdown in Rochester yesterday we said that there were a couple of legitimate Division 1 prospects at the Mayo Civic Center event. The most obvious is 6’4 forward Sacia…
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Continue ReadingIn our recap of the top 5 forwards at the HVL-TRC Showdown in Rochester yesterday we said that there were a couple of legitimate Division 1 prospects at the Mayo Civic Center event. The most obvious is 6’4 forward Sacia Vanderpool of Bryon, who we profiled in detail. The other is 5’8 freshman Aby Shubert of Kasson-Mantorville. Shubert was the top performer among the guards in Rochester which should not come as a surprise. As a resident of the top half of the Prep Girls Hoops Freshman 50, Shubert has shown us over the past two years that she has the potential to excel at the next level.
On Saturday Shubert’s bag of tricks was on full display as her Komets defeated Plainview-Elgin-Millville 58-44. Although there was plenty of talent in the game – PEM’s Macy Holtz and Alyx Doughty, for example, are excellent college prospects – it wasn’t difficult to see who had the most to offer. Shubert was seemingly everywhere.
She is an outstanding athlete, with very quick feet and a burst of flat-out speed. Everything Aby does on the floor happens so naturally, from her end-to-end forays through traffic to the mechanics of her outstanding shot. Shubert is one of the best three-point bombers in the state regardless of class, with a smooth motion that launches the ball quickly and high. Really high. As in moon-ball high. If you’ve studied the physics of shooting a basketball, it’s pretty obvious that a high arc increases the odds that the ball goes through the cylinder. Aby finished with 20 points in the game, continuing a trend that has seen her output rise dramatically over the past couple of weeks.
Shubert’s escalated production ties directly to the absence of Kasson-Mantorville junior Mya Seuss. Mya only played the first couple of games of the season before coming down with mononucleosis. Her absence appears to have shifted more of the scoring burden to Shubert. It has also opened up the lane, creating the space that allows Aby to get to the basket with greater frequency. In the games Suess played, Shubert averaged 9 points. Since then, in the five games through Saturday, Aby’s production has doubled with games of 29, 18, 20, 12 and 20 for an average of 19.8.
There was one particular play that illustrated this trend, as well as Shubert’s ability to pick apart a defense. Shubert sprinted up the floor with her head up. It’s always up. Upon reaching the arc on the left side of the court, she stutter-stepped the defender with a quick pause and equally quick burst of speed. After blowing by that girl she cut across the lane from left to right at full tilt, shooting a narrow gap between two more players before elevating over the final opponent to lay the ball into the basket with a deft touch. Beautiful.
Of course, scoring is not all she does. Shubert has extraordinarily quick feet which enables her to be an excellent perimeter defender. She is vocal, and sees everything that is happening on the floor. Although Kasson has plenty of talented players – Avery Irish, Ashlyn Bigelow, Olivia Matuska and the aforementioned Suess come to mind – Aby has become the Komets’ alpha dog. And she is only a freshman.
Shubert is ranked 25th among Minnesota 9th graders, and is one of the top handful of guards in the class. She made our 8th grade all-star team following the high school campaign last spring, joining Shania Van Nett (Como Park), Taylor Woodson (Hopkins), Tessa Johnson (St. Michael-Albertville) and Kennedy Sanders (Chaska). That’s some elite company right there.
Like the other members of that group, Shubert has swagger. We saw it as an 8th grader when she looked the part of varsity veteran. We saw it over the past couple of summers with Minnesota Stars Hersch playing against elite opponents. We saw it again on Saturday. As per usual, it was fun to watch.
Here are the other top guards who did their thing exceptionally well at the HVL-TRC Showdown.
Macy Holtz – junior guard, Plainview-Elgin-Millville
What’s not to like about Macy Holtz? The 5’8 junior is a high-skill threat who knows how to manage the game effectively and is prone to moments of offensive brilliance that cause you to shift in your seat and say, ‘Wow!’ Macy runs the floor well, operates at a high tempo, and can score the basketball both inside and out. On Saturday against Kasson-Mantorville we saw Holtz playing more off the ball than in previous viewings, which enabled her to demonstrate a versatile skill set on offense. Defensively Macy puts a ton of pressure on ball handlers, forcing frequent turnovers and creating opportunities for her team to regain possession. Last year Holtz averaged 14.6 points, 5 rebounds and 3 steals per game, earning all-conference honors in the process. She has also passed the 1,000 career points mark with almost two full seasons of high school basketball remaining. Macy, who plays for Southern Minnesota Fury in the summer, is currently ranked #84 among Minnesota juniors.
Rylie Schnell – sophomore guard, Byron
Point guards have a long list of duties on their job description, and Byron sophomore Rylie Schnell is no different. Her primary task, however, is to get the ball into the hands of gigantic post Sacia Vanderpool. Schnell did that very well on Saturday, enabling her highly-touted teammate to score 25 and lead the Bears to a 54-40 win over Southland. Schnell is a 5’9 guard with length and quickness who has emerged this year as a rising prospect. Schnell’s shooting is much-improved, but it is the noticeable rise in her confidence level that stands out the most. She made the Prep Girls Hoops class of 2022 list at #107 this fall following a strong performance at the Top 250 Expo. She more than backed that assessment up on Saturday, controlling the tempo of the game, distributing the ball well and making good decisions. With the graduation of Lexi Glynn the Byron offense is now entrusted to Rylie, who has proved worthy of the task so far.
Tori Rehder – junior guard, Goodhue
Goodhue did pretty much everything right on Saturday. After falling behind in the first couple of minutes to Caledonia, the Wildcats went on a 15-0 run that eventually led to a 66-19 shellacking. Tori Rehder was a big part of that. She’s a crafty player whose ability to operate on the fly with ball in hand fits right in with Goodhue’s breakneck pace of play. The 7-1 Wildcats mount incredible front-court defensive pressure, which requires quick feet, quick hands and a high level of intensity. It’s kind of like Hopkins for regular folks, and Rehder is a perfect match for that approach. At the other end she executed well, and showed the ability to read and react as appropriate. Now that the gigantic presence of Lexie Lodermeier (Upper Iowa) and her sister Sydney Lodermeier (Winona State) before her is gone, Goodhue is relying on a cadre of quality guards to make things happen. They were all good Saturday, but Rehder shone a little brighter than the rest.
Malia Nelson – sophomore guard, Dover-Eyota
Malia Nelson has long resided in the shadow of her older sister Madison Nelson, who made a big splash with Dover-Eyota at the state tournament a few years back and has gone on to have a standout D1 career at Denver University. In fact, Nelson, who was a top-20 player in the class of 2016, passed the 1,000 career points mark last week. Malia is a quality player in her own right, although her assets are completely different. Madison was long and lean; Malia is stocky and strong, with a big frame, a big motor and a big impact on the Eagles’ chances of winning. D-E didn’t win on Saturday – the Eagles suffered their first loss of the season by a score of 55-50 to Stewartville – but Nelson turned in a quality performance at both ends of the floor. The 5’9 guard is athletic, defends with passion and talks consistently. Malia can also put the ball in the basket. The Southern Minnesota Fury guard averaged 9 points per game as an 8th grader and 12 as a freshman. She is ranked 78th in the class of 2022.
Top photo: Freshman Aby Shubert (wearing long sleeves in the middle) is the key to the Kasson-Mantorville attack. (Photo courtesy of Komets Twitter)