your daily dose of girls basketball news & information
This was a short week due to New Year’s Day. I was able to see seven new teams this week with one coming from California. I now have 7 AAAA teams that have a .500 record or better yet to see.
STATE OF THE STATE
Which state is better? With St. Paul Central facing Long Beach Poly, a power packed California team, it gave fans a chance to see the best travel against state lines. One wishes this match up took place last year when St. Paul Central had Angel Robinson (now running the show at Marquette) and Ebony Black. What was evident was the speed of the game and that only three Central players rose to the occasion.
Looking at the region I have been running the High Five daily to check on which state, if you add the top five scorers from the previous day, would come out on top. It is a kind of a fantasy look a la the Olympics to see how the states would stack up. Earlier today I ran the standings and Michigan has the lead right now.
Of course Michigan has a larger population to begin with. North Dakota and South Dakota just don’t have the population base to keep up with the rest.
It is also important to take a look at what type of high schools these players are from.
From today’s High Five the breakdown looks like this:
Iowa: 5 4A; 0 3A; 0 2A; 0 1A
Michigan: 3 A, 1 B, 1 C, 0 D
Minnesota: 3 AAAA; 2 AAA; 1 AA; 1 A
North Dakota: 0 A, 3 B
South Dakota: 1 AA, 2 A, 1 B
Wisconsin: 4 D1, 2 D2, 2 D3, 1 D4
With the big four states neatly having four classes here is the overall breakdown (I will use Minnesota classifications)
AAAA 15
AAA 5
AA 4
A 2
Obviously the large schools have a large advantage when it comes to post high school success.
In looking at the pp100 in Minnesota it again favors AAAA
AAAA 86.43, .421
AAA 78.29, .374
AA 77.56, .375
With only five games for A there isn’t enough to gage. So the speed of the game, the size of the players, the competition night in and night out and the pure execution makes AAAA the best girls basketball available. What is surprising is that AAA and AA are almost indistinguishable.
The good news is all classes are up from last year’s numbers
AAAA is +3, AAA +5, AA +2
OF NOTE
On Friday at St. Louis Park the whole Totino-Grace team came out in force for advance scouting.
TEAM OF THE WEEK
Long Beach Poly they came, they saw , they conquered. Every opportunity that they had they pushed the ball down court—missed shot, made shot, and for sure on turnovers. Their bodies were stronger and quicker than SPC. On every team there are the top players and they lived up to their billing, but what set LBP a part was their depth. Players 4-5-6-7-8 were much more effective than SPC’s edition. If you look at the big 3 for each team SPC actually was ahead:LBP 37, 39, 94.9, .487
SPC 47, 46, 102.2, .478
With players 4 and under
LBP 29, 33, 87.8, .484
SPC 4, 28, 14.3, .071
The best team usually wins, and the team with the best 5th player usually comes out on top.
photo: LBP players Jazzmine Shirely, Ashley Wilson, Monique Oliver, and Jasmine Dixon. photo by Teas.
PLAYER OF THE WEEKAlison Johnson, St. Louis Park returned for her first game since Dec. 7. She has a fluid 3 point shot and, as a 5-10 guard, has a long wing span on defense. Her ankle was still tender on Friday and she had to come out of the contest. But Johnson has grit and is a competitor as she came back and continued to soldier on. If given and opening (and the ball) it tickled the twine. She had a crossover, step back the cleared space for a three in the first half that was impressive. She is averaging 23.5 for the year.
TEAM OF THE WEEK
First Team
Kiara Buford, St. Paul Central
Kelsey Nelson, Bemidji
Alison Johnson, St. Louis Park
Ali Schwartzwald, St. Francis
Hope Sevlie, Red Wing
Second Team
Melissa Borstner, St. Francis
April Cook, Long Beach Poly
Haley Loesch, Northfield*
Monique Oliver, Long Beach Poly
Sarah Schellinger, Sartell*
*under .500 floor %
DEFENDERJasmine Dixon of Long Beach Poly. One of the big, strong, physical posts that put the hurt on Saturday. Perhaps she had an off day on offense, but her defense was not off at all. Once
she got the d board she fired it to one of the streaking Jackrabbits racing down court.Jasmine Dixon, Long Beach Poly
Kayla Hirt, Bemidji
Georgie Jones, St. Paul Central
Haley Loesch, Northfield
Ali Schwartzwald, St. Francis
NEWCOMER
Hope Sevlie of Red Wing. Another player coming back from an injury (shoulder). She is a senior that moves well, and came up with big baskets when needed.
Again the rules on newcomer---I can not have seen the player until this week.
PAST WINNERS
Week, Team
7 Hopkins
6 Forest Lake
5 Richfield
4 St. Paul Central
3 Mpls South
2 Hopkins
1 NDSCS CC
Player of the week
7 Stephanie Sension, Hopkins
6 Hannah Linz, Eden Valley-Watkins
5 Brittnye McSparron, Eastview
4 Rachel Banham, Lakeville North
3 Courtney Boylan, Chaska
2 Megan Nipe, Centennial
1 Tanika Massey, NDSCS CC
Defender
7 Meme Hudnell, DeLaSalle
6 Anne Berner, Forest Lake
5 DaNae Moore, Eastview
4 Brianna Mastey, Becker
3 Sarah Hintz, Woodbury
2 Madelyn Houser, North Iowa Area CC
1 Whitney Glazier, Central Lakes CC
Newcomer
7 Ruby Harvey, St. Paul Arlington
6 Erin Schmeling of St. Croix Lutheran
5 Yaasmiyn Salahu-Din, St. Paul Como Park
4 Hannah Frost, Mahtomedi
WEEK AHEAD
Tuesday has many juicy games this week
MONDAY, Jan. 7
GHEC at Maple River. A Valley match up with combined records of 16-1.
Yellow Medicine East at Renville County West . Two former 212 conference members get reacquainted.
New Life at West Lutheran. MCAA conference game.
TUESDAY, Jan 8
Norman County West at Ada-Borup. An important contest in the Pine to Prairie conference and in 6A North seeding. SW Star at Adrian. Red Rock conference and 3A South battle.
Mankato West at Austin. An important Big 9 game.
Minnehaha at DeLaSalle. TriMetro West battle, but more importantly #1 and #2 in AAA.
Mound-Westonka at Delano. Wright County and 6AAA implications.
St. Cloud Tech at Fergus Falls. Central Lakes lead at stake.
Holy Family at LeSueur-Henderson. If LSH is going to get back into the MN River race, now is the time.
Rochester JM at Owatonna. Another Big 9 clash.
Crosby-Ironton at Pequot Lakes. Will PL be undefeated after this night?
Worthington at Pipestone. Southwest conference lead in the balance.
Hill-Murray at Simley. Classic Suburban battle.
THURSDAY, Jan 10
Lake of the Woods at BGMR. Last years 8A champ hosting this years?
Duluth East at Bemidji. Northern teams look to get momentum.
Lakeville North at Eastview. Not only Lake title at stake, but 3AAAA seeding.
Murray County Central at RTR. 3A South vs 3A North with two 6-1 posts battling it out.
FRIDAY, Jan 11
St. Cloud Tech at Brainerd. Not only Central Lakes importance, but 8AAAA seeding.
Minneapolis South at Eden Prairie. South takes their show on the road.
Edina at Hopkins. Two Classic Lake rivals renew their war.
Owatonna at Mankato West. The second rough Big 9 battle for each this week.
Renville County West at Minneota. Camden Conference and 3A North battle.
Princeton at Rogers. Mississippi 8 and 5AAA implications.
Fridley at Totino-Grace. Battle of Fridley.
Spirit Lake, IA at Worthington. Spirit Lake was 2nd in class 3A last year.
SATURDAY, Jan 12
Becker at Bloomington Kennedy. Cross class clash with three future Gophers facing each other.
Hopkins at Holy Family. Does HF have more weapons than Becca Friestleben?
Blue Earth at MN Valley Lutheran. Blue Earth has been improving.
SEEDING THE STATE
Seed, team, (section)
AAAA
1. Centennial (5)
2. Hopkins (6)
3. Eastview (3)
4. St. Paul Central (4)
5. Bloomington Kennedy (2)
6. St. Francis (7)
7. Elk River (8)
8. Rochester JM (1)
AAA
1 DeLaSalle (6)
2 Minnehaha (4)
3 Becker (5)
4 Totino-Grace (3)
5 Fergus Falls (8)
6 Worthington (2)
7 Red Wing (1)
8 Grand Rapids (7)
Next up: tomorrow morning. Also tomorrow another guest writer spot from Seashells and Balloons