Its the Family Feud as Hill meets Hersch in prime time

Welcome to the Family Feud, AAU Style, at the Minnesota Stars Summer Kickoff. Meet the Hill family, longtime stalwarts of Minneapolis basketball with an impressive list of accomplishments. Their opponent is Minnesota Stars Hersch, featuring not one but two outstanding teams under the direction of Josh Hersch. All that was missing Sunday at Bloomington Kennedy was host Richard Dawson making unwanted advances on the contestants while asking dumb survey questions. Thank goodness. Instead, there were two great championship basketball games, one for the top juniors in the event and the other for the best in the 8th grade. It’s an odd relationship between the Hills and the Herschs. They go to war on the court in both age groups with neither side giving an inch. When it’s over, everybody seems cool and is looking forward to the next encounter. The rivalry received an added twist this summer, however, when the Tayler Hill squad began being listed in tournament information as the ‘Minnesota Stars Tayler Hill Elite.’ More recently, they switched to slightly modified Stars uniforms. I have no idea what this is all about – or what the Hill crew has to gain from the relationship – but it certainly gives the Stars organization another elite team to call their own, even if it really isn’t. On this day it didn’t matter who was wearing what. The Family Feud was on. Stars Hersch 11 wins Platinum title over Tayler Hill Elite Tayler Hill jumped out to an early 8-0 lead before the Stars found their legs and went on an impressive 23-9 run to lead by three at the half. The teams traded baskets in the second as the clock wound down, and with less than five minutes to go, the Hills were ahead by one. That’s when the Stars went on a 9-0 run to take a lead they would never relinquish. The Hills closed the gap to as little as four points, but Heaven Hamling of Grand Rapids (#21 In the Northstar class of 2018 rankings) and #18 Jaclyn Jarnot of Maranatha each made both ends of a one-and-one in the final 30 seconds to secure a 60-54 victory. Hamling had 28 points in the game while Jarnot added 12. The game featured some interesting battles inside as Tayler Hill found a way to manage 6-4 post Kristi Fett of Lyle Austin-Pacelli. Despite giving away several inches, Elaina Jones of Como Park (#7 in class of 2019) and Ariyon Kelly of Minneapolis South did an admirable job. Meanwhile, 8th-rated Morgan Hill (Mpls. South) was pouring home 22 points for THE which received 15 more from Park Center's Jada Buford, while the Hersch girls, led by the likes of Krystal Carlson of Hastings (#7 in class of 2018), Autam Mendez of Cretin-Derham Hall and Kiarra James of Lakeville North, kept up the pressure. Perhaps the best player for Tayler Hill all weekend was point guard Ja’Hyia Gaston, the 5-6 waterbug from Robbinsdale Cooper, who averaged 10 ppg. Gaston is tiny, but her speed and quickness are mesmerizing. The girl they call ‘Ju’ seems to be everywhere at once, driving to the hoop with reckless abandon and demonstrating show-stopping ballhandling skills. Gaston is currently ranked 96th by Northstar in the class of 2018. She has outperformed that assessment by a significant margin during the AAU season, particularly since THE lost Armstrong point guard Masengo Mutanda (#3 in 2019) with a serious knee injury. Who knows what will happen the next time these two teams meet up, but round 1 of this day’s Family Feud belonged to Stars Hersch 11 which took home the Platinum Division title. 8th grade state champs make a statement with convincing win First some background. These two teams developed a terrific rivalry last summer, but it was always the Hills who had the upper hand. Then Coach Hersch got busy over the winter remaking his roster to complement point guard Katie Borowicz (Roseau) and 6-3 post Tamia Ugass (St. Paul). The squad showed up this spring with a lot more height, an upgrade in skill, and enough additional weapons to make things more interesting. The result? A pair of 15-point wins for Stars Hersch 8 over Tayler Hill in their first two games of the season. The two clubs were destined to meet in the state championship game two weeks ago until the Stars stubbed their toe in the semifinals and lost to Minnesota Fury 2021 Blue. The Hills had little trouble dispatching the Fury en route to the title. Sunday’s game seemed like an appropriate opportunity to revisit what might have been. Unfortunately, that type of battle never materialized. On this day, nothing went well for Stars Hersch. Playing with just two subs and seemingly out of rhythm from the get-go, the Stars were forced into costly turnovers and questionable decisions at inopportune times. Tayler Hill Elite was happy to take advantage while going about their business at 100 MPH. The junior high Hills are like pesky mosquitos buzzing around your bedroom in the dark. You can swat and swing and swipe all you want but the chase is often futile. If you are lucky enough to score a direct hit, another couple of irritating pests appear to take up the fight. On this day it was speedy guard Andrea Tribble of Robbinsdale Cooper who was the peskiest pest of all. Tribble was here, there and everywhere as she and Jade Hill (Mpls. South) had center stage. Tribble had 19 points for THE which had nice contributions from speedy wing Adalia McKenzie (Park Center) who added 15 more. Add it all up and Tayler Hill Elite were winners of the Bronze Division by a score of 63-50. Join us for the next episode of Family Feud coming soon to a gym near you.