The AAU Week That Was #9: Menomonie II

#4 posting 5.31.2007
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

THE AAU WEEK THAT WAS #9: Menomonie Part II
This week has a Wisconsin flavor as the main action took place in Menomonie. MN was quiet between the Forest Lake tournament and the State tournament this week at Cooper. MN teams were absent from the older level, but P.R.I.D.E. Youth did compete in the 15 division against the twin towers of Team WI Select 15. The only non Wisconsin team in the Platinum/Gold division was the Chicago Jaguars.

Scores were low, but primarily because the clock was running. Possessions were also down compared to the MN tournaments.

An interesting note: the only single school team in the tournament, Chippewa Falls, won the gold (7th place) championship with a white knuckle ride. All three of their games had thrills and spills. They survived a 14 possession second half drought to beat Dykstra 35-31.

In Minnesota there were two four team pool tournaments with the AAU and MYAS. AAU held court at Kennedy and 43 Hoops Olsen won three games to take the title including an upset win over #6 seeded Total Package. In the MYAS event at Osseo the youngsters from the Minneapolis took out the veterans with the Lady Bobcats topping the Lady Lakers.

The new feature of of the week were the photos (not today though). My battery died after three games on Sunday which did not make me very happy. Obviously there will be growing pains. But the trend will be more photos and I hope next week when we name the team and player of the week you will see a player in action. Also if you have a photo, you can email me & I will get it up.

THIS WEEK--MN STATE TOURNAMENT
The Minnesota State AAU tournament takes center stage. The action takes place at Cooper HS in New Hope with 14s, 15s, and 16s all to be decided. There are no pools, just brackets. Action starts tomorrow night (that is why you see this today). You might have to battle track parking. Get there early.
Some interesting revenge games may take place with a possible semifinal match between North Tartan and the team that upset them in Forest Lake MN Stars Borowicz. MSB will have to get past Metro Stars Black in the quarters in another grudge match. The other semis could feature MN Stars Hested and NC Heat. The Heat took MSH in the early bird opening game of the Forest Lake tournament.
Side note: Four of the teams in the 16/junior girls division have been named team of the week. #2 NC Heat won the Cooper tournament earlier in the year; #3 MN Stars Hested won the Skyview tournament; #4 MN Stars Borowicz stunned the basketball community with the Forest Lake title; and #5 Metro Stars Black claimed the Richfield title. The only team in the top five without the title "Team of the Week" is #1 North Tartan. The will be looking to end that streak this weekend.
Of the 19 teams in the 16s I have missed five so far.

TEAM OF THE WEEK
For the second time this year Team WI Select 17 takes the title. They are the first team to do so this year. They took revenge on Randolph in the finals of the Memorial Day Classic. TWS17 lost on Saturday to Randolph by two, but were missing some parts of their puzzle--specifically the point guard Hannah Quilling. With Quilling back and the taller presence inside TWS17 shut down Randolph and high flying Jadee Rooney 42-25. Just compare the pp100 for Randolph. In April they struck for 125.4 pp100; against TWS17 they managed only 58.1 pp100. In the three games I have seen this year (2 in April) TWS17 has a defensive pp100 range of 63.1 to 57.6. Defense is one of their strengths.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK
This race was interesting. But, if you have been following the rules of picking this team, the higher the pp100 and floor %, plus a good dose of winning means this weeks honor goes to Val Schuster of Team WI Select 17. Schuster goes to Wausau Newman, a small (D4) Catholic school. She is a solid 6-0/6-1 and has verballed Cincinnati. She is physical, and delivered the goods on Sunday, a 185.7 pp100 (13 points, 7 possessions) will grab anyone's attention. She also had a .857 floor %, the best of anyone this week. It didn't hurt that her team won the title.

FIRST TEAM
Nicole Griffin (Milwaukee Vincent) Team WI Select 15
Rachel Kerchefske (Manitowoc Lutheran) Lakeshore Breakers
Hannah Quilling (Eau Claire North) Team WI Select 17
Val Schuster (Wausau Newman) Team WI Select 17
Amy Selk (Sheboygan South) Dykstra
SECOND TEAM
Talisha Barlow (Roseville) Minneapolis Lady Lakers
Andrea Larson (Chippewa Falls) Chippewa Falls
Jadee Rooney (Markesan) Randolph
Jalisa Olive (Jacobs) Chicago Jaguars
Anna Weddig (Merrill) Team WI Red
THIRD TEAM
Jessica Anderson (Chippewa Falls) Chippewa Falls
Sam Femling (Bay Port) Team WI Red
Heather Kessler (Antigo) VC Central WI
Kelly Supernaw (Delavan-Darien) HLC
M Thompson (???) Chicago Jaguars

DEFENSIVE TEAM
Jessica Anderson, Chippewa Falls
Kim Grant, Minneapolis Lady Lakers
Nicole Griffin, Team WI Select 15 captain
Shyla Kuehl, HLC
Lea Sevick, Randolph

PAST WEEKLY WINNERS
Team...Player of the Week/D player
8: MN Stars Borowicz.....Kiara Buford (St. Paul Central) North Tartan/Katya Leick (Park-Cottage Grove) NC Heat
7: MN Metro Stars Black....Courtney Boylan (Chaska) MN Metro Stars Black/Kayla Hirt (Bemidji) Gym Rats 14
6: MN Stars Hested.....Theairra Taylor (St. Paul Central) MN Stars Hested/Cassie Rochel (Lakeville North) Lakeville North 15
5: NC Heat....Tayler Hill (Mpls South) NC Heat/Katya Leick (Park-Cottage Grove) NC Heat
4: MN AAAA All Stars....Angel Robinson (St. Paul Central) AAAA/Janessa Wolf (Park Rapids) AAA
3: Team WI Select 17....Katie Bushman (Phillips) Team WI Select 17/same
2: Mpls Lady Cats..... Sarina Baker (DeLaSalle) Mpls Lady Cats/Aubrey Davis (Blm Kennedy) Mpls Lady Cats
1: IBCA SelectI.....Indy Uhlenhopp (North Butler) IBCA Select I/same

POLLS
19
1. Metro Stars
2. Gym Rats
3. Southern Minne Magic

16/17-Junior Girls
1. IBCA Select I
2. North Tartan 17
3. NC Heat
4. All Iowa Attack
5. MN Stars Hested
6. Team WI Select 17
7. MN Stars Borowicz
8. MN Metro Stars Black
9. East Metro Elite
10. Iowa Elite I
11. Quest
12. Randolph
13. MN Stars Antl
14. MN Stars Smith
15. MN Metro Stars White

15
1. MN Metro Stars
2. North Tartan 15
3. MN Stars
4. Lakeville North
5. WI Heat
6. Team WI Select 15
7. Southern Stars
8. 43 Hoops
9. MN Fury
10. MSB

14
1. North Tartan 14
2. MN Metro Stars
3. MN Suns Gold
4. MN Fury
5. MN Suns White
6. 43 Hoops
7. MN Stars Red
8. Gym Rats
9. MN Stars Blue

13
1. Mpls Lady Cats
2. Midtown Lady Monarchs
3. St. Paul Central
4. MN Suns
5. Olympic Ice
6. Metro Stars

Next up: tomorrow morning