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It’s summer, it’s hoops and it’s girls. Strike 3, yer out. Well, sorry, this story is really quite extraordinary. So here goes.
The North Tartan 15 year old team, consisting mostly of girls who are 15 years old or under and will be juniors next year (just completed their sophomore years in high school), lost in the semi-finals of the Summer Jam tournament. But first they beat the Metro Stars 19s in the quarter-finals 51-49. The Metro Stars 19s, as the name implies, is made up of girls as old as 19, who have completed high school and will be starting college in the fall. One of their number is Courtney Boylan, Ms. Basketball 2008 and Michigan-bound. Boylan and Carolyn Dienhart of Cretin led the 19s in scoring with 9 points each. Sari Noga of Parkers Prairie led the 15s with 16 points. Noga and Boylan led their respective teams with 4 assists, and Laura Melquist of Rochester Lourdes and the 15s led all players on either team with 9.5 defensive stops. No one for the 19s had more than 5.
In the first round, the NT 15s beat an Iowa team 77-42. I don’t know what age the Iowa team was. Melquist scored 19, Noga 10 and Kayla Hirt, a “big” from Bemidji, scored 12. Melquist again led in defensive stops with 5, while Rachel Banham of Lakeville North (actually a rising sophomore) and Ameshia Kearney of Mpls. South had 5 assists each.
In the semi’s the NT 15s lost to Minnesota Stars Borowicz 59-58 when Kearney missed 2 FT inside of 2 seconds. Listen to the MN Stars Borowicz roster. Gopher recruit Amber Dvorak (6-7) in the middle, backed up by 6-5 Cassie Rochel of Lakeville North. Theairra Taylor of St. Paul Central, Hannah Linz of Eden-Valley Watkins. Before beating the 15s by 1 point, they beat Metro Stars Black in their quarter-final 58-35.
My point is that next year’s junior class is really a great class. G-Prep rates them this way.
1. Cassie Rochel 6'4" C/F Lakeville North
2. Shakila Boler 5'9" PG Kennedy
3.Tyisha Smith 5'5" G Minneapolis South
4. Megan Waytashek 6'2" F Centennial
5. Sari Noga 5'11" F Parkers Prairie
6. Suiriya McGuire 6'0" CG Mpls. Roosevelt
7. Molly Duehn 6'1" WF Burnsville
8. Brianna Tisch 6'2" C/F Chaska
9. Angela Christianson 5'9" G Alexandria
10. Bree Holleman 5'9" CG Hancock
The Gophers have opted for #2 Boler. NT 15 features the #1, 4, 5, 9 and 17 (Gabby Boever of Worthington, her sister Maria scored the winning basket for South Dakota State over the Gophers at Williams Arena 2 years ago). This summer, however, Noga has been a dominant player on the AAU circuit, and not just among the 15s. And Christianson has also been superb. Rochel has been OK, but of course that’s in comparison to older girls like Dvorak and Katie Loberg (6-4) of Princeton, like Dvorak a Gopher recruit. Melquist should move up the list after this summer, but she probably will never rate as highly as Rochel and Tisch among the “bigs.”
Among next year’s seniors, G-Prep has it:
1. Tayler Hill 5'11" CG Minneapolis South
2. Theairra Taylor 5'10" CG St. Paul Central
3. Megan Nipe 6'0" F/G Centennial
4. Katie Loberg 6'4" C Princeton
5. Brittany Chambers 5'9" PG Jordan
6. Hannah Linz 5'11" G/WF Eden Valley Watkins
7. Leah Dietel 6'1" F Jordan
8. Katya Leick 6'1" G Park-Cottage Grove
9. Amber Dvorak 6'7" C Hinckley-Finlayson
10. Nicole Smart 5'9" PG Ada-Borup
Hill is not gonna be a Gopher, while the #4 and #9 players are. The Gophers are said to have offered #2 and #5 as well. The Concordia (St. Paul) coach told me that Leick (#8) will be better than Gopher recruit Jackie Voigt, also from Park. Among this group Tayler Hill has really dominated the summer leagues. She plays better ball for her dad, Paul, who coaches NC Heat, than she does for Ahmad Jihad at South, but then Paul Hill can actually coach. After that T. Taylor and Dvorak have had their moments, but nobody else has been as impressive as Noga. After the summer that Noga has had, watch for Pam Borton to offer her. Rochel and Christianson are the other girls (along with Boler) from the class of ‘10 that she really ought to go get.
Among the class of 2011 G-Prep has them rated as follows. But after the class of ‘10, this one doesn’t look that great. But they’re only freshman. Banham has looked over-matched on the NT 15s. Noga and Christianson and Gabby Boever are way ahead of her. Lutes might be the best of the bunch.
1. Rachel Banham 5'8" CG Lakeville North
2. Sattoria Rule 5'7" CG DeLaSalle
3. Katelyn Adams 6'4" C Minnehaha Academy
4. Brianna Williams 5'8" CG Hopkins
5. Cara Lutes 6'1" F New Life Academy
Then among the ‘12s, Marissa Janning of Watertown-Mayer looks like the best, and Becca Dahlman of Braham looks best among the ‘13s. Both of those names are probably familiar to you.
I thnk all of this is Lindsay Whalen’s legacy. Girls are playing more ball at an earlier age. The past few years we’ve seen younger girls—freshmen, sophomores—come up every year who are already as good as the better seniors. We may be getting to diminishing returns by the ‘11s, but I don’t know. The ‘12s and ‘13s look pretty good. But I think you’re going to see more and more MN girls going to Iowa and Wisconsin and Michigan and Ohio State and Michigan State and wherever in future years. That means that Pam Borton is going to have to pick the right kids when they’re sophomores and hope that they’re, well, the right kids.
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Thu Jun 19, 2008 12:55 am
marc hugunin <marc@...>
marchugunin
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