The Week That Was #15: The best of sections

Week one of section play is in the books and it was interesting as always. We attended two games in person, watched a half dozen more online and perused the box scores religiously as always. There were two contests on Saturday that generated the most buzz during the Week That Was #15, so we should begin our weekly recap there.

UPSET OF THE WEEK

I was at the Benilde-St. Margaret’s vs Orono encounter on Saturday afternoon when the news filtered over from across town before halftime: Upset! The victim in this case was the Chaska Hawks, the defending Class 4A state champions. What a lineup the Hawks have. From Mallory Heyer Mallory Heyer 6'1" | PF Chaska | 2022 State #36 Nation MN and Kennedy Sanders Kennedy Sanders 5'8" | CG Chaska | 2023 State MN to Ashley Schuelke Ashley Schuelke 5'10" | SF Chaska | 2023 State MN and Anna Lenzen Anna Lenzen 5'9" | CG Chaska | 2023 State MN , Chaska is loaded, and it has been fun to watch the program evolve into a powerhouse over the past five years under the leadership of coach Tara Seifert. But Chaska, like Shakopee’s previous 19 opponents, could not overcome the Sabers punishing defense. Coach Juan Mitchell’s Sabers’ lineup – it includes seniors Kate Cordes Kate Cordes 5'7" | CG Shakopee | 2022 State MN , Jasmyn Hale Jasmyn Hale 5'9" | SG Shakopee | 2022 State MN and Maya Mitchell Maya Mitchell 5'9" | CG Shakopee | 2022 State MN , plus standout sophomores Olivia Pawlicki Olivia Pawlicki 6'1" | SF Shakopee | 2024 State MN and Nicole Maenke Nicole Maenke 5'10" | CG Shakopee | 2024 State MN – is on a big-time roll. Final score: Shakopee 59 Chaska 48

PLAY OF THE WEEK

Big-time players make big plays in the biggest moments, and there is nobody in their right mind who would dispute the fact that Olivia Olson Olivia Olson 6'1" | CG Benilde-SM | 2024 State MN of Benilde-St. Margaret’s is a big-time player. The #1 prospect in the Prep Girls Hoops Class of 2024 – some would say #1 in the nation among sophomores – has come up big before so it should not be surprising that she would do the same to keep BSM’s season alive. The Red Knights section 6AAA semifinal vs Orono was a back-and-forth battle. The Spartans had a terrific game. They played really fast and shot lights out, led by junior Kayla Kallenbach Kayla Kallenbach 5'6" | CG Orono | 2023 State MN who was bombing threes from everywhere. Orono survived a 16-0 BSM run midway through the first half and put together a 14-2 streak of their own to close the opening period tied at 33-33.

With Orono leading by four and under four minutes remaining, Olson hit a fadeaway jump shot. Less than a minute later she followed that with an end-to-end dash to score at the rim. One minute later she did the same thing again to tie the game at 66. Then, with under 20 seconds left, Lauren Knudson Lauren Knudson 5'6" | PG Orono | 2023 State MN elevated to the basket in an attempt to put Orono into the lead, only to see the ball bounce off the rim and out. That was the opening Olson needed as the lengthy guard sprinted up the court, drew a horde of defenders as she closed in on the target, and calmly slipped the ball through traffic to teammate Sierre Lumpkin Sierre Lumpkin 5'10" | SF Benilde-SM | 2023 State MN who was waiting at the back door. Sierre made no mistake, the ball rolled through the cylinder with five seconds left, and Benilde won the game 68-66. Yep, Olson is big-time.

RISING STAR OF THE WEEK

Anna Goodman Anna Goodman 5'5" | PG Lakeville South | 2024 State MN – 2024 point guard, Lakeville South

Part pit bull, part pest, all-in all the time. I guess that’s how I would describe Anna (pictured above), a feisty sophomore who has been gradually carving out a quality reputation for herself. Watching on Wednesday in Lakeville it was hard not to be impressed. The stocky little competitor was everywhere in the Cougars’ win over Rochester Century, making big plays, forcing turnovers, diving on the floor for loose balls. Anna is clearly committed to doing whatever is necessary to secure a W. She’s also a heckuva lot of fun to watch. Goodman is a bit of a riverboat gambler. She has terrific court vision and is a great passer, and clearly loves the spectacular play. Although she can score, Goodman is a pass-first floor leader who is committed to putting her comrades in the right position to cash in. Best of all she plays with zero fear. None. We look forward to seeing her this spring once again in the uniform of North Tartan Elite. She may be on the small side but Anna plays big.

INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES

There’s just so many great individual performances to mention, and when it comes to the post-season there is so much more than scoring that determines who moves on and who doesn’t. But it’s still fun to look at the numbers. Here’s a few from this week:

Senior Lilly Meister Lilly Meister 6'2" | PF Rochester John Marshall | 2022 State #55 Nation MN of Rochester John Marshall has been dominant over the past several seasons. The Indiana commit had another big double-double with 30 points and 12 rebounds in a sections win over Northfield.
Junior Teresa Kiewiet Teresa Kiewiet 5'10" | SF Mankato West | 2023 State MN of Mankato West had a 39-point performance against Owatonna. The top-15 prospect in the Class of 2023 will play again this summer for Fury 2023 UAA.
8th grader Tori Oehrlein Tori Oehrlein 5'11" | CG Crosby-Ironton | 2026 State MN had another monster game this week for Crosby-Ironton as she scored 36 in a section win over Moose Lake-Willow River. It was Tori’s 15th game over 30 points this season. In five of those games she topped 40. Oehrlein plays up two years in AAU for Minnesota Suns 2024 Blue Star.
Sophomore Elisabeth Gadient Elisabeth Gadient 5'10" | CG Goodhue | 2024 State MN of Goodhue continued to impress in her breakout campaign as she scored 31 points in a section win over Chatfield. The #54-ranked player in her class, Gadient returns to Fury 2024 Premier this season.
Finally, two more sharpshooters had strong performances from beyond the arc last week as junior Nicole O’Neil Nicole O’Neil 5'10" | SG Rosemount | 2023 State MN of Rosemount and freshman Ella Kuhlman Ella Kuhlman 5'8" | PG North Branch | 2025 State MN of North Branch each had 8 threes in a game.

MILESTONES

Abbie Riederer Abbie Riederer 5'8" | CG Mn Valley Lutheran | 2022 State MN of Minnesota Valley Lutheran finished her high school career last week having set school records for total points (1,747) and 3-pointers (205) as well as 3-pointers in a single season (68). The Upper Iowa commit wasn’t the only senior who exited the proceedings having rewritten the record book at her school. There are far too many to mention, of course, but Ally Schultz Ally Schultz 6'0" | CG Lakeville South | 2022 State MN certainly left her mark on the Lakeville South program. I watched the Concordia-St. Paul commit on Wednesday against Rochester Century prior to the Cougars’ elimination from post-season play by Rochester John Marshall on Saturday. Ally had six threes against the Panthers and three more against the Rockets to finish her career with a school-record 231 triples. She ended the season with 83 threes, bettering her own school record of 77 set in 2020. She also holds the school record for triples in a single game with 8, which she did three times. It has been fun to watch!

Among the other greats who bowed out in section play were Callin Hake Callin Hake 5'8" | PG Chanhassen | 2022 State #64 Nation MN of Chanhassen (Nebraska), Desiree Ware Desiree Ware 5'8" | CG Minnetonka | 2022 State MN (Alabama-Birmingham) and Kiani Lockett Kiani Lockett 5'9" | PG Minnetonka | 2022 State MN (Creighton) of Minnetonka, Mallory Heyer Mallory Heyer 6'1" | PF Chaska | 2022 State #36 Nation MN of Chaska (Minnesota) and Lily Fandre Lily Fandre 6'2" | SF Eagan | 2022 State MN of Eagan (Lehigh). We look forward to watching all of them at the next level.

One senior who is still in the hunt for a state championship is Austin point guard Hope Dudycha Hope Dudycha 5'6" | CG Austin | 2022 State MN , who recently committed to UM-Crookston. On Saturday she became the Packers’ all-time leading scorer with 1,593 points, a record that had stood for 18 years. Fittingly enough, the assist on the historic bucket came from her twin sister Emma Dudycha Emma Dudycha 5'6" | CG Austin | 2022 State MN , who is also headed for Crookston.

Last week’s 1,000-point scorers included senior guard Ella Campbell Ella Campbell 5'10" | CG Edina | 2022 State MN of Edina (Concordia-St. Paul) and junior forward Rayna Klejeski of Barnum. There were a couple of other milestones we should mention:

2023 wing Chloe Brunsberg Chloe Brunsberg 5'11" | SF Southwest Christian | 2023 State MN of Southwest Christian grabbed her 500th career rebound. Chloe is scholarship-level junior with a high ceiling.
2024 guard Daviyana Singleton-Buchanan Daviyana Singleton-Buchanan 5'11" | SG Shakopee | 2024 State MN of Bloomington Kennedy recorded her 60th block of the season. The lengthy guard can really get airborne and she knows how to take advantage of that ability.
Rosemount senior Tayah Leenderts Tayah Leenderts 6'0" | PF Rosemount | 2022 State MN became the 9th player in program history to surpass 500 rebounds. She grabbed the record-breaking offensive board and kicked the ball out to sophomore Nicole O’Neil Nicole O’Neil 5'10" | SG Rosemount | 2023 State MN who nailed a triple to pass her sister Larisa for most made threes in a season with 82. Nicole is now at 90 for the year and counting!

BLOWOUT CITY

As usual the first week of section play produced some of the worst blowouts of the season. That’s inevitable with the current format where first meets worst. In some sections the disparity between the top and the bottom is just so big that it doesn’t make much sense to even play these games. Consider the numbers.

Tresa Baumgard Tresa Baumgard 6'0" | PF Chisholm | 2024 State MN of Chisholm make 18 two-pointers in the Bluestreaks’ 120-16 win over Littlefork/Big Falls. That’s right, the margin of victory was +104. There were three other scores where teams won by 70 or more. Mountain Iron-Buhl led 58-1 at halftime against Northeast Range before winning 88-12. Three days later they beat Northwoods by 51. Chisholm and MIB meet on Wednesday, which should be a better contest.

Providence Academy led Hiawatha Collegiate 67-5 at halftime before coasting home to a 71-point victory. Meanwhile South Ridge beat Carlton 94-16 and Wayzata crushed Minneapolis Washburn 97-21. In fact there were about 20 games where the margin of victory was 50 points or more, including Hopkins over Minneapolis South 79-12, Holy Family defeating Brooklyn Center 91-27, Watertown-Mayer beating Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 73-16 and Austin defeating Faribault 72-17.

The tendency in these situations is to blame the winning team for running up the score, but that is completely misguided. If you look at the box scores you can see that in most cases every player on the winning side scored, meaning they were deep into the roster long before the game went to running time. No, the fault here lies with a system that ensures these types of outcomes and it’s not good for anyone involved. One team gets humiliated, the other feels terrible about it. Fans travel a great distance to support their team and if they arrive a few minutes late the outcome is already decided. It’s just bad.

The answer is simple: Let the lower-level teams play each other in the opening rounds with one or two advancing to face the better squads. That’s what they’ve done in sections 4A and AA where there is a large disparity between schools like St. Croix Lutheran and Minnehaha Academy vs programs like Nova Classical and St. Paul Washington. The top teams get a double bye, enabling more competitive opening round games and more sporting encounters later on. We all love a magical upset winner but the odds of that happening (nearly zero in this case) cannot justify these annual encounters that are, frankly, an embarrassment to high school basketball.

COMING UP

It’s week two of sections play, which is always one of the most exciting stretches of the season as the field for the state tournament is established. For a preview of this week’s action read my “10 must-see section games this” week article. It’s going to be fun!