Wednesday’s top performers at Mounds Park and Irondale

<p>C—Olivia Witt, St. Croix Prep, 6-0, senior. Witt is extremely active, she is long and lean and mobile and athletic, both physically and mentally. She is a finisher. She knows how to play basketball. She scored 22 points on 8-of-16 shooting with 5 boards, 5 steals, an assist and a block. My image of her is mostly beating everybody downcourt, catching the long bomb and converting the layup at high speed and even when contested and with contact. Very impressive, and one of Minnesota&#39;s best-kept secrets.</p> <p>F—Zareia Chevre, Tartan, 5-11, soph. Strong but quick and aggressive. Chevre finished with 20 points on 8-of-13 with 5 boards—you should look up Grant’s recent feature on her. She is a top 10 player among the 2020s. In high school she is plenty big and strong to play inside, but at 5-11 her future may be working her way from the perimeter in. Today, for the 1st time that I’ve seen, she showed that her perimeter skills and quickness are not going to be an obstacle to success. The top player on the day.</p> <p>CG—Sophie Findell, Irondale, 5-8, senior. She’s a smooth combo guard hand mostly runs the point, who doesn’t force it and shares the ball. She’s also an effective catch-and-shooter from mid to long range, but she is not known for her defensive intensity.</p> <p>CG—Caroline Anderson, Jefferson, 5-9, junior. Jefferson’s best player, scoring a team-high of 14 points, and she also turned it over just once despite probably more touches than any of her teammates. She is long and lean, can really run, and has a great shooting stroke, but Tartan at least was able to knock her off her feet (and likewise, her teammates) way too frequently but that might just be to Tartan’s credit rather than Anderson’s fault.</p> <p>SG—Ashley Cheeseboro, St. Croix Prep, 5-10, senior. Was almost as impressive as teammate Witt except for some careless passes and 6 turnovers, total. But she scored 15 on 5-of-12 shooting (with 3 3s) with 6 boards, 3 assists, 3 steals and a block. She is big and strong for her skill set, and really gets out into the passing lanes to create turnovers on D.</p> <p><strong>2nd Team</strong></p> <p>C—Dora Okpara, Irondale, 6-1, freshman. Nice post offense, otherwise learning the game.</p> <p>F—Logan Mahoney, Jefferson, 6-0, junior. Jefferson’s only real size, showed the ability to score but got overpowered by Tartan’s tough, tough defense as did all of her teammates.</p> <p>CG—Jade Fisher, St. Croix Prep, 5-8, junior. Fisher is strong and athletic and has a nice mid-range jumper with plenty of vertical.</p> <p>CG—Piper Flemming, St. Paul Humboldt, 5-8, junior. She is a smooth combo guard with decent handles and a natural ability to score from almost anywhere. For some reason, however, she did not start and her minutes were pretty limited, though she is their top scorer both for the year. Today she led the way with 13, 5 boards, 4 steals and 2 blocks.</p> <p>SG—Aurora Roberts, Tartan, 5-10, soph. Also came off the bench, nice defender and scored 10 points.</p> <p> </p>