The Summer That Was: 2007 Awards

#6 posting 8.19.2007
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

THE SUMMER OF 2007
This spring & summer I saw 144 games, two more than I saw in the winter. The difference is they are compressed into one day many times, not spread out over the week.

The season started off on a cold, rainy Saturday in March at Robbinsdale Middle School and ended at the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph with the Sweet 16. In between I have been in all the surrounding states (twice in Menomonie, WI, Des Moines and Ames, IA; Sioux Falls, SD, and Medora, ND…OK there was no basketball in Medora). I have seen teams from 12 states and one Canadian province.

TRENDS
Verbals are getting earlier every year. At this point there have been 16 verbals from Minnesota to D1 & D2 schools. Last year at this time Minnesota had five players verbal to D1 schools. This year it is eight. Schools are already on the hunt for 09s. Even some of these players have verballed with South Dakota leading the pack with three. There has been talk of an earlier signing period. This is driven by men’s sports like football and basketball.
Does one need to play AAU? Stanley County's Samantha Ostrello went to Purdue for a camp and was offered a scholarship. Ostrello bypassed the whole summer event calendar. It didn't hurt that she was 6-2. But the myth that you need to play on a summer team and spend gobs of money burst in West Lafayette. If you are good enough, they will find you.

AAU vs. MYAS
More teams have drifted over to the MYAS side of the action, but they have tended to be more school oriented and were not the power multi-school teams (I refuse to call them all star teams since I don’t believe the roster is all stars). There was great acrimony in the Forest Lake scheduling fiasco in which heavyweight teams were not seeded. It didn’t look like the tournament was on the level.
The upshot is AAU will host a qualifier, a State tournament next spring and a regional event, but not the garden variety tournaments sprinkled throughout the early weeks of the spring season.

On to the awards
GYMS
Best site: Hopkins has it all.
Hottest gym: for the second year in a row the dubious distinction goes to Bloomington Kennedy. BYOF: bring your own fan. Williams Arena is also a steam bath.
Coldest gym: bring long pants and a jacket to Cooper’s Ice Box
Crackerbox palace: the side gyms at Richfield. Inhale or you may be part of the action.
Lights out (literally): Skyview Middle school and Robbinsdale Middle School.

TOURNAMENTS & EVENTS
Best run tournament: Again, hands down, the folks that put on the Dakota Showcase. Things move along nicely. They have refs being evaluated for the North Central conference. And their updated stat package is up on the internet with game by game information. Some tournaments have game results now, but not individual scoring. More information is always welcomed.
Worst case of scheduling: the Forest Lake qualifier that wasn’t a qualifier. Jamming MN Stars Hested, and NC Heat in the early Saturday bracket was plain wrong.
Crashing the MN State Tournament: the ‘Stangs from Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Banished to the small table: IBCA Select I in the Summer Jam forced to play with the 16s when they should have been playing in the 19 tournament with the other power 16 teams.
Best Summer League: Lakeville North had more teams that will be in the top 10 than any I attended. Hopkins won that league.
Best Team camp: Since I only went to one of these it has to be Minnesota.
Best All Star camp: More players---MN Elite Camp at Concordia St. Paul.

GAMES
Best Championship: Metro Stars Black topping ECI Gold West in the finals at the Dakota Showcase in Sioux Falls 59-55 in overtime.
Did not live up to the hype: The second NC Heat vs. North Tartan Larson in the MN State championships won by the Heat 77-61. Also NTL was on the winning side in a 75-53 thumping of MN Stars Hested in the finals of the summer jam. Perhaps you could also throw in the Centennial vs. St. Paul Central championship in the Sweet 16 won by Centennial 79-55. Maybe all these championship games had fatigue factor in.
Best Shocker: MN Stars Borowicz trumping North Tartan Larson in the finals of the Forest Lake Tournament. NTL just came off an emotionally draining win over NC Heat in the semis.
Atmosphere: North Tartan Larson vs. NC Heat at Forest Lake. NTL vs IBCA Select I in the Meltdown showcase game.
Comeback: Metro Stars Black when trailing late against ECI West Gold.
Dramatic: Hannah Linz, North Tartan Larson hitting the game tying shot at the buzzer vs. NC Heat in the Forest Lake Semifinals. NTL won 65-64.
Best revenge match: Metro Stars Black beating MN Stars Hested in the Adidas Mid American tournament at Hopkins
Games I wished I could see, but they never played: IBCA Select I vs. All Iowa Attack
Games that were played, but I picked the wrong court: ECI Gold West vs. IBCA Select down to the wire quarterfinal in Sioux Falls
Battle of the heavyweights: North Tartan Larson vs. IBCA Select I
Best Transfusion of talent: North Tartan Larson with Katie Loberg being pulled up from the 15s vs. IBCA Select I.
Best day of games: Saturday, June 30 at the Dakota Showcase capped off with a classic final won by Metro Stars Black 59-55 in overtime.

Best Uniforms: IBCA Select I--they have clear numbers, front & back (some teams today in 2007 still haven’t figured out to put numbers in the front) plus they have their names on the back. If you want to promote add names to the back.
Most Colorful uniforms: Sultan Prospects of Canada with a set of Pinks, and one of Rusts. They never have to worry about switching uniforms.
Best T shirt slogans: hand made Frye Squad for Metro Stars Black

TEAMS:
Best Chemistry: Metro Stars Black
Most improved: Metro Stars Black, anytime a team can rise up after getting thumped by 43 and then beat that very team has greatly improved.
Grittiest performance: Osseo’s JV team playing in the Champlin Park championship when their varsity went to the Minnesota Gopher team camp. Maple Grove beat Osseo JV 37-33.

PLAYERS
Best shooting exhibition: seven 3s by Taylor Voss of Albany on the way to 32 points in a 67-61 loss to Centennial.
Best Playmaker/Passer: Hannah Quilling of Team WI Select 17.
Best at pushing the ball up court: Ashley Privratsky of ECI West Gold.
Most Versatile: Hannah Draxten of North Tartan Larson.
Player under 5-5: Tyisha Smith, Mpls Lady Cats, Bobcats, Total Package
Player over 6-5: Amber Dvorak, Northern Lights (Hinckley-Finlayson)
Grunt Player: Megan Howard, MN Stars Antl, St. Paul Central. Plays with a hard hat and a lunch pail.
Get the Ball to: Tayler Hill, NC Heat
Shot blocker: Nicole Griffin, Team WI Select 15
Hustler: you could give this to the entire Mpls Lady Cat team, but when Sarina Baker gets horizontal through the air late in the game to save a ball when they are drilling a team by 40+, it has to be her.
Overlooked: Kayla Blom, Metro Stars White, and Centennial
Breakthrough: Amber Dvorak, Northern Lights---from a faint blip on the radar screen to the bright lights.
Toughest Break: ACL injury to Alexis Yackley, Dakota Hardwood Threat (Sully Buttes)
5 Minutes from now: Kayla Hirt, Gym Rats 14s
Best cost effective recruiting plan: Sam Ostrello, Stanley County SD going to the Purdue camp.
No, I am not stalking (most times I saw a player): Emily Becken with 16 games including MN Stars Hested, Centennial, and various All Star camps.
Stock is Rising: Courtney Boylan, Metro Stars Black.

And now for the Golden Four Awards: Program, Coach, Team and Player.
Before I get to these awards. I would like to thanks the die hard fans of this site that have continually sent in their nominations and suggestions. They are appreciated and cause me to recheck some items. Some of your ideas have been incorporated here.

PROGRAM
The Program of the year (family of teams) goes to the Metro Stars. Here is what their teams accomplished--
19s: State champs
16s: Metro Stars Black won the Dakota Showcase in Sioux Falls and then the next week won the 17u Adidas Mid American Tournament in Hopkins.
Also winning that tournament was their sister team Metro Stars White at the 16u level.
15s: State champs for the fourth straight year.
14s: second place and gave North Tartan 14s their only loss in MN at the Summer Jam. They finished second in the Big Show tournament for younger teams in Kearney.
Director of the Metro Stars is Andy Meinhardt.

COACH
Brian Frye of Metro Stars Black turned the fortunes of his team around after a thumping by MN Stars Hested in the State 3rd place game followed by a narrow loss to their younger sister team in the Summer Jam in mid June. The focus was on defense and the players responded. They wrapped up the year with championships in the Dakota Showcase and Adidas Mid American Tournaments. They also had a strong showing in the Summer Showcase in Chicago.
When games were tight or looked like might spin out of control Coach Frye responded with calm, steady, confidence and direction. That approach permeated the MSB and they pulled out the victories. They never panicked.
There was a genuine bond on that team. How often do you see t-shirts with the coach’s name emblazoned on them?
Frye is the coach at DeLaSalle.

TEAM
This team may look familiar because they were the team of the week last week: Centennial. Why a high school team? They simply were never beat over the summer.
Centennial didn't end the high school season the way they wanted and have been on a mission. They won the team camp at MN State Mankato with wins over Champlin Park, Albany, St. Paul Johnson and Worthington in the finals. They won the Forest Lake Summer League and did it with a split team. They played themselves in the final. At the two All Star Camps their players dominated with Emily Becken, Kayla Blom and Bridget Schuneman winning the team title and making the All Camp team. Those three plus Megan Waytashek made the top 40 all star team at the MN Elite camp the next week. Centennial won the Rogers tournament with wins over host Rogers and Albany. They then came back a couple weeks later in the sweet 16 and won with exclamation points. Their pp100 was humming at 111.5 and their defense was tight at 72.6 pp100. Centennial was doing this against the finest high school teams around, not the Little Sisters of the Poor. Albany (2nd AA and winners of an Australian tournament) Becker (1st AAA) and St. Paul Central (1st AAAA) all fell victim to the Centennial juggernaut.
Their players did play on summer teams
Kiara Allums and Emily Becken played with MN Stars Hested
Megan Nipe with NC Heat
Kayla Blom and Bridget Schuneman with Metro Stars White
Megan Waytashek and Haley Hoffland with MN Stars 15s
Centennial won the team of the week award week 16 and 19.
Their players were trench players of the game a total of 7 times.
Their players were on the first team of the week six times and made one of the teams 15 times.
Centennial has put the state on notice that they won't accept anything less than the best come March.

Here is how I selected the players below--
#1 I only measured these players in the games I saw.
#2 the player had to play in at least five games. That would mean the player would have to be seen at least over two weekends, some times more. That fact would establish a consistency of a high level of performance.
#3 the golden rule applies over 100 pp100 and over .500 floor %. Plus a 10 point per game average is required. In other words a player could be over 100 but only have about three possessions.
#4 the list will be top heavy with 16s. I haven’t spent much time watching the younger teams.
The higher numbers indicate to me that these players know how to take care of the ball; know the difference between a good and a poor shot; and squeeze the most out of ever possession.

PLAYER
Katelin Oney, IBCA Select I only knows one way to play and that is all out. Driven, focused, and cut throat, she was a catalyst for her team as the summer wore on. Her moves are sharp, clean and crisp and all designed to beat you. The Tasmanian Devil cartoon character would have a hard time keeping up. Oney enjoys the contact that comes with the physical game and can dish out some herself. Oney has the ability to put her will on the game. She is an impact player on both ends of the court. IBCA Select I had a strong summer also with a 32-4 record winning the Iowa State AAU tournament, the Summer Jam at Bloomington Kennedy, North Tartan Meltdown, and the Miss Basketball Showcase at Kearney. IBCA also had a strong showing at the End of the Trail tournament. Oney was All tournament at the End of the Trail and MVP of the Miss Basketball Showcase. Oney was Player of the week for week #18 and was a first team player two weeks and on one of the teams three weeks.
Oney topped the list with a pp100 for the year (7 games total) with a 137.3 and .627 floor %.

The Rest of the FIRST TEAM



Courtney Boylan, Metro Stars Black (Chaska) had a strong finish to the summer. A strong leader. Aware, competitive.
Hannah Draxten, North Tartan Larson (Fergus Falls) steady, reliable, consistent, effective
Tayler Hill, NC Heat (Mpls South) explosive scorer. Had 38 points in the State semis; and 34 points in the finals.
Katelin Oney, IBCA Select I (Cedar Rapids Washington) see above
Amber Wollschlager: Dakota Hardwood Threat (Milbank) physical, good touch, good concentration.

SECOND TEAM
Kelly Krei, IBCA Select I (Iowa City) long wing span on the perimeter.
Brianna Mastey, MN Stars Hested/Becker. A workhorse.
Megan Nipe: NC Heat/Centennial. Quick release fatal for other teams.
Chelsea Poppens: All Iowa Attack (Aplington-Parkersburg) physical, creates space, get rebounds.
Val Schuster: Team WI Select 17 (Wausau Newman). Physical inside presence.

THIRD TEAM
Aaryn Booker: MN Summit Blue (DeLaSalle) pit bull attitude inside.
Leah Dietel, MN Stars Borowicz (Jordan) rangy perimeter, good hands
Tia Mays, All Iowa Attack (Des Moines East) can run, jump and is physical
Kamille Wahlin, North Tartan Larson/Crookston slow start, strong finish as she became more used to the NTL system.
Amanda Zimmerman, All Iowa Attack (Ballard) lefty inside threat.

Tayler Hill and Megan Nipe made 2nd team in the Winter '07 season. Brianna Mastey was 1st team in the winter.


HIGH HONORABLE MENTION
Emily Becken, MN Stars Hested/Centennial
Kiara Buford, North Tartan Larson/St. Paul Central
Maggie Malloy, Dakota Hardwood Threat (Parkston)
Hannah Quilling, Team WI Select 17 (Eau Claire North)
Tyisha Smith, Mpls Lady Cats, Bobcats, Total Package (Mpls South)
Shelly Stemper, MN Stars Hested, Becker
Theairra Taylor, MN Stars Hested/St. Paul Central
Indy Uhlenhopp, IBCA Select I (North Butler)
Jackie Voigt, North Tartan Larson (Park-Cottage Grove)

HONORABLE MENTION
Kiara Allums, MN Stars Hested/Centennial
Maggie Bryant, North Tartan Crosby, Sartell
Kaylee Cardinal, Team WI Select 17 (Arrowhead)
Brittany Chambers, MN Stars Borowicz (Jordan)
Molly Geske, North Tartan Crosby (Cretin-Derham Hall)
Megan Howard, MN Stars Antl/St. Paul Central
Hannah Linz, North Tartan Larson (Eden Valley-Watkins)
Alex Montgomery, MN Stars Hested (Cannon Falls)
Mara Paulson, ECI Gold West (Fargo Shanley)
Cassie Rochel, Lakeville North
Stephanie Sension, Metro Stars Black/Hopkins
Brittany Thiesfeld, MN Stars 15s/Glencoe-Silver Lake

TOO FEW GAMES TO MAKE THE LIST
But still they pack a punch
Amber Dvorak, Northern Lights (Hinckley-Finlayson)
Nicole Griffin, Team WI Select 15 (Milwaukee Vincent)
Katie Loberg, North Tartan 15s & Larson (Princeton)
Ashley Privratsky, ECI Gold West (Devils Lake)
Jadee Rooney, Randolph (Markesan)

DEFENSIVE TEAM
First Team
Courtney Boylan, Metro Stars Black and Chaska
Katie Bushman, Team WI Select 17 (Phillips)
Nicole Griffin, Team WI Select 15 (Milwaukee Vincent)
Katya Leick, NC Heat (Park-Cottage Grove)
Laura Weber, Metro Stars Black and Eden Prairie
Second team
Beth Christiansen, North Tartan Crosby (Owatonna)
Megan Howard, MN Stars Antl and St. Paul Central
Katelin Oney, IBCA Select I (Cedar Rapids Washington)
Chelsea Poppens, All Iowa Attack (Aplington-Parkersburg)
Tyisha Smith, Mpls Lady Cats, Bobcats, Total Package (Mpls South)
Third Team
Indy Uhlenhopp, IBCA Select I (North Butler)
Leah Dietel, MN Stars Borowicz (Jordan)
Brooke Dunsmoore, Swish (St. Cloud Apollo)
Megan Nipe, NC Heat and Centennial
Stephanie Sension, Metro Stars Black and Hopkins

MULTIPLE TRENCH WINNERS
This is a list of players that had more than one game as a trench player. Some players played with different teams
Player, team they were trench player (high school {if different from trench team})
4:
Courtney Boylan, Metro Stars Black (Chaska)
3:
Tayler Hill, NC Heat (Mpls South);
Tyisha Smith, Mpls Lady Cats, Bobcats (Mpls South);
2:
Kiara Allums, Centennial
Emily Becken, MN Stars Hested & Centennial
Amber Dvorak, MN Northern Lights (Hinckley-Finlayson)
Kelly Krei, IBCA Select I (Iowa City)
Katie Loberg, North Tartan 15 & Larson (Princeton)
Brianna Mastey, MN Stars Hested (Becker)
Hanna Muegge, Metro Stars Black & Hopkins
Megan Nipe, NC Heat & Centennial
Hannah Quilling, Team WI Select 17 (Eau Claire North)
Jordyn Sears, Swish & at 100 Expo Camp (St. Cloud Tech)
Theairra Taylor, MN Stars Hested (St. Paul Central)
Jackie Voigt, North Tartan Larson (Park-Cottage Grove)
Brianna Williams, Mpls Lady Cats (Hopkins)
Amber Wollschlager, Dakota Hardwood Threat (Milbank)

PAST WEEKLY WINNERS
Team...Player of the Week/D player
19: Centennial….Emily Becken, Centennial/Laura Weber, Eden Prairie
18: IBCA Select I….Katelin Oney (Cedar Rapids Washington) IBCA Select I/
17: Centennial….Shelly Stemper (Becker) Fire & Gold All Star MN Elite Camp/Megan Howard (St. Paul Central) MN Elite Camp
16: U Conn (Top 100 Expo)…Kiara Strickland (Minneapolis Roosevelt) LSU/Jennifer Noordmans (Hancock) North Carolina Top 100 Expo
15: Metro Stars Black…Courtney Boylan (Chaska) Metro Stars Black/Brianna Williams (Hopkins) Mpls Lady Cats
14: Metro Stars Black....Courtney Boylan (Chaska) Metro Stars Black/same
13: Team WI Select 17.…Hannah Quilling (Eau Claire North) Team WI Select 17/Katie Bushman (Phillips) Team WI Select 17
12: North Tartan.....Jackie Voigt (Park-Cottage Grove) North Tartan/Cody Vandenheuvel (Cadott) Team WI Select 16
11: Totino-Grace....Amber Dvorak (Hinckley-Finlayson) MN Northern Lights/same
10: NC Heat.....Tayler Hill (Mpls South) NC Heat/same
9: Team WI Select 17.…Val Schuster (Wausau Newman) Team WI Select 17/Nicole Griffin (Milwaukee Vincent) Team WI Select 15
8: MN Stars Borowicz.....Kiara Buford (St. Paul Central) North Tartan/Katya Leick (Park-Cottage Grove) NC Heat7: 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 Hosted/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 Select I.....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. NC Heat
2. North Tartan Larson
3. MN Metro Stars Black
4. IBCA Select I
5. Nebraska Bison Judds I
6. MN Stars Hested
7. ECI Gold West
8. Dakota Hardwood Threat
9. Team WI Select 17
10. All Iowa Attack
11. MN Stars Borowicz
12. Pinnacle Bank Nebraska
13. Metro Stars White
14. Iowa Elite I
15. Quest

15
1. MN Metro Stars
2 NE Judds
3. All Iowa Attack
4. Team WI Select 15
5. North Tartan 15
6. MN Stars
7. Lakeville North
8. WI Heat
9. Southern Stars
10. MN Fury
11. MSB

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

13
1. Midtown Lady Monarchs
2. Mpls Lady Cats
3. MN Suns
4. Team WI Select 13
5. St. Paul Central
6. Farview
7. North Tartan
8. Rochester Shock
9. Olympic Ice
10. Metro Stars

LAST YEAR’S WINNERS
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Jill Young, South Dakota Elite (Mitchell Christian)
TEAM OF THE YEAR
North Tartan Larson
Brianna Bauer, Sioux Falls Lincoln
Hannah Draxten, Fergus Falls (2008 grad)
Jenny Gilbertson, Winona Cotter (2008 grad)
Alyssa Karel, Cretin-Derham Hall (Wisconsin)
Macie Michelson, Marshall (South Dakota State)
Caitlin Rowland, Hopkins (2008 grad)
Tara Steinbauer, Bloomington Kennedy (Wisconsin)
Janessa Wolff, Park Rapids (Penn State)
Bri Zabel, Northfield (Florida Gulf Coast)

Interesting fact: Young and every player from NTL did not reach their state tournaments in the winter in 2007.

thanks fans for your patience.
Next up: tomorrow morning.