Summer Awards

#2 posting 8.13.2006
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

This is the first Girls Basketball Recruit Awards. I can only give out awards for things I saw during the Spring/Summer. Both team and players had to be seen a minimum of four times to make this list. The pp100s, floor %, and how well their teams played all factored into the decisions. I am sure some will be surprised at the selections, but the numbers are screaming at me.
We will look at tournaments, teams and Players

TOURNAMENTS
Best Tournament: Dakota Showcase--one game to focus on, air conditioning, strong field, plus they treated the media well.
Biggest Disappointments: No championship games in the Bloomington 16 AAU tournament in June, or the North Tartan Meltdown.

TEAMS
Top Offensive Team: South Dakota Elite. There average pp100 was 108.01 and a floor % of .471. They did all this scoring without the use of a post. Their prime weapon was the 3 as they made five straight 3s against Iowa Select I in the Dakota Showcase.
Top Defensive Team: North Tartan. They held opponents to 64.24 pp100 and their floor % was .310. Their top defensive gem came at the expense of the New Mexico Heat Elite. They held them to 26 straight non scoring possessions.
Top Team Offensive Game pp100: (open to all) Daubert Pinnacle Nebraska 133.85 pp100 vs South Dakota Riders in the Dakota Showcase.
Top Team Offensive Game floor %: Team WI 17 .615 vs TriState Storm in the Memorial Day Shoot out at Menomonie WI.
Lowest Team Defensive game pp100: 43 Hoops Elite held the Bluejackets to 29.78 pp100 in the MidTown Minneapolis tournament
Lowest Team Defensive Floor %: Triple Threat held Minneapolis Lady Lakers to .154 in the Great Lakes Shootout in Menomonie WI.
Best Comeback: North Tartan down 17 to NMHE when they put the clamps down for 26 long possessions in the North Tartan Meltdown.
Best HS Team: Champlin Park. They won the MN Sweet 16.
Most Players committed (so far): IBCA Iowa Select I with five: Kelsey Cermak, Iowa; Kelsey Bolte, Iowa State; and Erin Brocka, Rachel Madrigal, and Jacqui Kalin to Northern Iowa.
TEAM OF THE YEAR:
North Tartan 6-0, strong defense, good depth. big bodies. It was too bad NT never matched up with South Dakota Elite or Iowa Select I. Those would have been interesting games.

PLAYERS
Best one-two combination: Rebecca Friestleben and Melissa Fitz for MN Quest combined for 72.4% of the points in a win over Kansas Team Excel in the Adidas MidAmerican Shootout.
Best Clutch Buzzer Beater: Kesley Bolte, Iowa Select I vs Indiana Elite Open in the Adidas Mid America Shoot out.

GIRLS BASKETBALL RECRUIT ALL SUMMER TEAM
FIRST TEAM
Tayler Hill, NC Heat Heart and Soul of NC Heat. Scorer par excellance. Key moment: Dropping 3s vs Metro Stars Black in 66-53 win.
Alyssa Karel, North Tartan cool point guard for NT. Off to Wisconsin
Rachel Madrigal, IBCA Iowa Select I big guard that runs the floor and finishes. Also has 3 game. Off to Northern Iowa
Kristin Rotert, SD Elite another of the big perimeter players. tough enough to play inside. Off to South Dakota State
Jill Young, SD Elite snappy passer, great instincts, smooth shooter, does small things like getting in the way of cuts. Lifts everyone around to another level

SECOND TEAM
Kachine Alexander, Triple Threat quick, defensive minded, not afraid to mix it up
Talisha Barlow, Minneapolis Lady Lakers missed the early part of the year, but made up with a strong finish
Kelsey Bolte, IBCA Iowa Select I clutch shooter, the big perimeter trend holds true here too. Off to Iowa State
Val Schuster, Team WI 17 a rough and ready post player that has speed
Jenny Theisen, MN Metro Stars Black, Champlin Park 3 points from the corner signature shot. Off to MSU Moorhead.

HONORABLE MENTION
Kelsey Cermak, IBCA Iowa Select I
Hayley Darrington, Southern Minne Magic
Deena Ewert, North Tartan Blue
Jackie Kelley, North Tartan Blue
Brianna Mastey, Minnesota Stars Schmitz, Becker
Abby Plucker, SD Elite
Caitlin Rowland, North Tartan
Tera Steinbauer, North Tartan
Patrice Thomas, Triple Threat
Janessa Wolff, North Tartan

SPECIAL MENTIONS
Both Daubert Pinnacle Nebraska the team, and Kelsey Woodard the player should receive recognition for their good play. They won the Dakota Showcase giving SD Elite their only loss this summer.

PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Jill Young For the summer had a 135.9 pp100 the highest. Floor % wasn't bad either at .538.

Here are some of the shots of the players from earlier this summer.
#1 Tayler Hill hitting a 3 vs Metro Stars Black. #2 Alyssa Karel passing to a oncoming Tera Steinbauer as Karel is falling out of bounds in a win over Metro Stars 19.

#3 Rachel Madrigal scoring on a back cut against North Tartan Blue. #4 Kristen Rotert going in for the layup. #5 Jill Young on a drive to the basket.



#6 Kachine Alexander scoring in transition. #7 Kelsey Bolte scoring on an out of bounds play. #8 Val Schuster scoring on a drive. #9 Jenny Theisen eyeing a 3. I didn't have a Barlow photo.



Next up: Tomorrow will be coming in the afternoon. In fact all the next few weeks will have afternoon postings.