The Week That Was #3: Records were made to be broken

A trip to Lake City had been on my radar for a couple of weeks, but I had no idea that my journey down Highway 61 on Thursday would coincide with two major individual achievements. Besides their 82-34 win over Triton, there was plenty to celebrate for the Tigers as big post [player_tooltip player_id="109783" first="Grace" last="Bany"] set the school record for most career rebounds (798) while guard [player_tooltip player_id="57939" first="Natalie" last="Bremer"] became Lake City’s all-time leading scorer (1,401+). Those achievements and many more milestones lead the way as we recap the Week That Was #3. The senior Bany and juniors Bremer, [player_tooltip player_id="109153" first="Mya" last="Shones"] and [player_tooltip player_id="109142" first="Lilly" last="Meincke"] have formed the backbone of the Lake City squad for the past four seasons, so it isn’t surprising that their individual numbers would add up. They certainly did on this night. Bany was a rebound machine as per usual while Bremer had 25 points, Meincke had 17 and Shones contributed 16. While they were certainly the center of attention on the banks of the Mississippi, there was an even bigger milestone happening 125 miles to the north in Pine City. That’s where Duluth Marshall senior [player_tooltip player_id="2126" first="Gianna" last="Kneepkens"] continued to rewrite the record books. Kneepkens, a University of Utah commit, had her second 51-point game of the season in a 86-68 win over the Dragons. That was more than enough to help Gianna break the 3,000-career-points barrier. Appropriately enough for one of the state’s premier shooters, Kneepkens’ milestone shot was launched from a different zip code. Some 24 hours later, and 90 miles to the west, senior [player_tooltip player_id="109739" first="Paige" last="Meyer"] of Albany was making history of her own in a 76-30 win over Milaca. The South Dakota State commit scored 25 points to reach the 2,000 mark for her career, two years after she had scored her 1,000th point as a sophomore. Speaking of 1,000, there were several players who reached that milestone marker this week, as well, including: <ul> <li>New Life Academy senior <strong>Bethany Brocker</strong> (Northwestern-St. Paul)</li> <li>Roseau senior <strong>Julia Braaten</strong></li> <li>Michael-Albertville senior [player_tooltip player_id="109742" first="Kendal" last="Cox"] (Winona State)</li> <li>Big Lake senior [player_tooltip player_id="57096" first="Mia" last="Huberty"] (Upper Iowa)</li> <li>Minnetonka junior [player_tooltip player_id="57907" first="Desiree" last="Ware"] (Alabama-Birmingham)</li> <li>Rogers junior [player_tooltip player_id="12718" first="Ellie" last="Buzzelle"] (Grand Canyon)</li> <li>Fergus Falls junior [player_tooltip player_id="109137" first="Tori" last="Ratz"]</li> </ul> <strong>What I watched this week</strong> <ul> <li>Monday – Park Center at Maple Grove, Andover at Champlin Park, Fairmont at Jackson County Central (all online)</li> <li>Tuesday – Big Lake at Becker, Minnetonka vs Hopkins (online)</li> <li>Wednesday – Mahtomedi at Minneapolis Southwest (online)</li> <li>Thursday – Triton at Lake City</li> <li>Friday – Farmington at Rosemount, Roseville at Stillwater (online)</li> <li>Saturday – Mankato West at Rochester John Marshall</li> </ul> <strong>Team of the Week</strong> We told you prior to the season that Becker is the team to beat this year in Class AAA and we have seen nothing over the first three weeks of the season to change our minds. I went to Becker on Tuesday to see the meeting with their rivals from Big Lake. It looked like the Hornets might make a game of it this time as they were up 10-8 after nearly six minutes of play. That’s when Becker’s [player_tooltip player_id="109774" first="Courtney" last="Nuest"] scored the next 10 points in under two minutes to blow the game wide open. By halftime the Bulldogs were ahead by 24 and they went on to win it running away by a score of 93-39. That’s kind of how things have gone for Becker through five games. The Bulldogs are averaging 91 points per game while holding opponents to an average of 33. They have an eight-player rotation and lose precisely nothing whenever coach Dan Baird makes a substitution. Five of the eight are averaging in double figures. Seven of the eight are shooting 54% or better. They move the ball, defend with passion and speed, and possess all of the intangibles you want in a great squad. The team is comprised of four seniors – [player_tooltip player_id="2122" first="Julia" last="Bengtson"] (Eastern Illinois), [player_tooltip player_id="109797" first="Alayna" last="Lindquist"] (Northwestern St. Paul), [player_tooltip player_id="109774" first="Courtney" last="Nuest"] (Bethel) and [player_tooltip player_id="29532" first="Megan" last="Gamble"] (Concordia-St. Paul) – along with junior [player_tooltip player_id="30163" first="Adeline" last="Kent"] (Tampa) and sophomores [player_tooltip player_id="108304" first="Maren" last="Westin"], [player_tooltip player_id="108338" first="Dani" last="Nuest"] and [player_tooltip player_id="186119" first="Ayla" last="Brown"]. The only thing the Bulldogs lack is a big post. Our runner-up for Team of the Week goes to Minnetonka. While I was watching Becker and Big Lake my phone was lighting up with updates from the Skippers encounter with mighty Hopkins, a game they led by 13 at halftime. That result sent shockwaves through the Minnesota girls basketball community, but you figured Hopkins would come back, wouldn’t they? And they did, eventually escaping with a 63-62 victory. Minnetonka rebounded with an impressive win Friday over Eden Prairie. One week ago they beat Wayzata by nine. The Skippers, it would appear, are for real. <strong>Bombs Away</strong> The Minneapolis Public Schools is apparently not allowing media access this season so I watched Southwest’s encounter with Mahtomedi online Wednesday. The two teams put on an all-out aerial assault as the long bombs were coming fast and furious. The Lakers made 13 threes with five apiece by [player_tooltip player_id="108329" first="Jhanae" last="Green"] and [player_tooltip player_id="108332" first="Virginia" last="Johnson"] and three from freshman <strong>Rebekah Gendler</strong>. The Zephyrs tallied 11 triples led by <strong>Greta Schimnowski</strong> with four, [player_tooltip player_id="29489" first="Ella" last="Hronski"] and [player_tooltip player_id="220833" first="Sonya" last="Potthoff"] with three apiece, and one more from [player_tooltip player_id="109171" first="Zoie" last="Centers"]. Mahtomedi earned an 81-67 win and is now 4-1 on the season. <strong>10 notable performances</strong> <ul> <li>[player_tooltip player_id="109156" first="Natalie" last="Mikrot"] – The Moose Lake-Willow River junior scored 33 points Thursday against South Ridge after a 38-point performance against Barnum, a game in which she made 10 threes. Mikrot is shooting 48% from the field, 39% from three, and 90% at the free throw line.</li> <li>[player_tooltip player_id="57959" first="Hope" last="Dudycha"] – The Austin junior, who is one of the top point guards in Southern Minnesota, scored 32 points on Thursday in a win over Northfield. She is an excellent distributor, too, and is currently ranked #71 in the class of 2022.</li> <li>[player_tooltip player_id="109735" first="Jade" last="Hill"] – The Top-10 senior from Minneapolis South is off to a blistering start. Hill tallied 37 points on Tuesday against Minneapolis North and followed that with a 35-point performance Friday against Robbinsdale Cooper. Hill, a St. Thomas commit, is averaging 32 ppg.</li> <li>[player_tooltip player_id="109164" first="Sadie" last="Voss"] – The uber-athletic junior from Jackson County Central had a 41-point night Friday in a win over Pipestone. That was three short of the school record that’s held by her cousin Alaina Wolf, who now plays volleyball at Wayne State. Voss is ranked #72 in the class of 2022.</li> <li>[player_tooltip player_id="109775" first="Cate" last="Moe"] – The Blake senior scored 30 points for the Bears on Friday in a win over Mounds Park Academy. That’s not surprising given that Moe has been an outstanding performer at the school since junior high. The lanky guard is averaging 19 ppg.</li> <li>[player_tooltip player_id="215986" first="Tresa" last="Baumgard"] – The 6’0 freshman from Chisholm earned a top-50 ranking in the class of 2024 and she continues to illustrate why. Tresa scored 36 points and had 18 rebounds Friday in a 99-61 win over Littlefork-Big Falls. The Bluestreaks went 4-1 in January.</li> <li>[player_tooltip player_id="146169" first="Logan" last="Anderson"] – The Forest Lake senior will play softball in college, but Logan continues to demonstrate that she could compete in basketball at the next level, as well. Anderson scored 29 points Friday as the Rangers stretched their record to 5-0 with a win over Cretin-Derham Hall.</li> <li>[player_tooltip player_id="177728" first="Olivia" last="Olson"] – The #1 prospect in Minnesota’s class of 2024 appears to be rounding back into form now that we are three weeks into the season. Olson had an excellent outing last week against Robbinsdale Cooper, tallying 28 points (20 in the second half), 9 rebounds, 4 assists and 5 steals.</li> <li><strong>Addison Mack</strong> – The talented 8th grader appears to have made a seamless transition to Minnehaha Academy where she is averaging nearly 25 ppg and has helped teammates [player_tooltip player_id="109128" first="Telia" last="Graham"] (17 ppg) and [player_tooltip player_id="108319" first="Aniyah" last="Reuben"] (17 ppg) get off to a hot start. Mack had 32 against St. Agnes last week.</li> <li>[player_tooltip player_id="215981" first="Kylie" last="Waytashek"] – The, long lanky forward from Royalton had 21 points, 14 rebounds, 5 blocks and 3 steals in a 51-45 win over Maple Lake on Thursday. She’s averaging nearly 15 and 12 on the season making it obvious that her top-40 ranking in the class of 2024 is well-deserved.</li> </ul> <strong>Defensive Player of the Week</strong> If you like defense then Farmington at Rosemount on Friday night was your type of game. It’s not surprising that these two teams would be locked in a chess game between two excellent coaches who know how to game plan. There were just 28 points scored in the opening half (Farmington led 18-10) before Farmington managed to break it open in the second half and ran away with a 52-29 victory. [player_tooltip player_id="147445" first="Rose" last="Wille"] has already earned our Defensive Player of the Week honors once and she is deserving of that accolade again this week. Of special note, though, is the defense played by senior [player_tooltip player_id="2109" first="Paige" last="Kindseth"] (Presbyterian) of Farmington. Paige has built a reputation on her offensive prowess but on this night she proved she could also excel on the other side of the ball. Other strong defensive performances we saw this week included [player_tooltip player_id="13055" first="Sophie" last="Haydon"] (George Washington) and [player_tooltip player_id="178260" first="Emma" last="Dasovich"] of Minnetonka in their near-upset of Hopkins, and Mankato West senior [player_tooltip player_id="109802" first="Briana" last="Stoltzman"] (Southwest Minnesota State) in the Scarlets’ 52-32 win Saturday at Rochester John Marshall. <strong>A walk in the (Como) park</strong> One final note: A couple of weeks ago we brought you the sad story of Como Park’s situation, which has seen the Cougars’ attempts at a trip to the state tournament scuttled by the St. Paul Public Schools. (You can <strong><a href="https://prepgirlshoops.com/2021/01/sidelined-in-st-paul-and-theyre-not-happy-about-it/">read the story here</a></strong>.) Como Park opened its conference-only schedule this week and the results were predictable as the Cougars scored a 108-6 win over St. Paul Washington before beating Harding by a score of 93-27. Through two games juniors [player_tooltip player_id="57914" first="Ronnie" last="Porter"] and [player_tooltip player_id="30186" first="Cloey" last="Dmytruk"] have led the way with over 25 points per game each. <span style="font-size: 10pt;"><em>Top photo: [player_tooltip player_id="57939" first="Natalie" last="Bremer"] (left) and [player_tooltip player_id="109783" first="Grace" last="Bany"] (right) were rewriting the record books Thursday in Lake City. (Photo courtesy of Michelle Bremer)</em></span> &nbsp; &nbsp;