The Best Backcourt Duos in the Northern Metro
Continuing on with our series profiling the best backcourt duos from around the Twin Cities, today is all about the northern metro. There are some fantastic guards who play north of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Today’s list includes guard tandems…
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Continue ReadingContinuing on with our series profiling the best backcourt duos from around the Twin Cities, today is all about the northern metro. There are some fantastic guards who play north of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Today’s list includes guard tandems from the Northwest Suburban, Mississippi 8, and Suburban East Conferences. We focused the selection of these Top-5 backcourt duos on their two best guards/wings, but we’ve also listed the teams’ other perimeter players. The teams who made the cut are arranged alphabetically.
ANOKA
Anoka will be tasked with replacing the production of their top three scorers from last year’s team. But the Tornadoes have a crop of talented guards who appear to be ready to make the most of their opportunity.
Elizabeth Torgerson (8.2 PPG) is the lone senior in the Anoka backcourt. Torgerson plays mainly at the point, and is aggressive attacking the basket. Her leadership and experience will be called upon to steady the younger Anoka players if they are to make a run in the Northwest Suburban conference.
Jersi McAlpine (4.0 PPG) looks to be much improved after her summer with the Minnesota Stars. While small in stature, McAlpine possesses great quickness which allows her to be effective around the basket. Anoka recently participated in the Minnesota Stars Fall Shootout, and Jersi stood out as one of the best guards at the event.
Sophomore Olivia Anderson (3.6 PPG) also impressed at the Stars Shootout. We would expect her to have a much more significant role for the Tornadoes this season. Junior Emily Josephson (3.0 PPG) will round out Anoka’s backcourt in 2018-2019.
BIG LAKE
The Hornets will have an up-hill battle this winter after University of North Dakota commit Emma Anderson tore her ACL during the AAU season. But First year had coach Scott Antl inherits a roster with young, talented guards that could make Big Lake a dark horse team in the Mississippi 8.
Sophomore guards Caela Tighe (9.7 PPG) and Mia Huberty (6.2 PPG) will be expected to shoulder the majority of Anderson’s lost production.
Tighe has been rocketing up the PGH Class of 2021 rankings over the past year. After being moved up each time the rankings have been updated, she currently sits at #21. Caela is long, versatile, and has a motor that seemingly never stops. Grant McGinnis wrote a really good, in-depth piece about Tighe earlier this year which outlined her process from being relatively unknown to starting for Big Lake as a freshman.
Huberty originally made a name for herself through her abilities on defense, often drawing the responsibility of guarding the opposing team’s best player. But Mia seemed to really find her offensive game throughout this past summer. She has become a more well-rounded player, and will play a major role for Big Lake come this winter.
FOREST LAKE
Forest Lake’s Class of 2019 has a fantastic story. The Rangers’ seven seniors have all been playing together since 4th or 5th grade, accumulating hundreds of games as teammates. And not only have they played together, they’ve won together. State tournament participants a year ago, Forest Lake will be looking to continue even later into March for their seniors’ final season.
Almost all of the Rangers stand somewhere between 5’9″ and 6’1″, and could all be classified as guards or forwards, but Lexie Hultman (8.1 PPG) and Maddy Rice (11.9 PPG) are the most guard-like players on the team.
Hultman runs the show as Forest Lake’s point guard. She’s super quick, and as is the case with the entire Ranger line-up, is a great defender. While FL likes to push the pace, head coach Jen Wagner has entrusted Hultman with making the right reads in transition and getting the Rangers into their half-court sets when needed.
Rice is an excellent communicator, which is an under-appreciated skill that she both values and practices. Maddy often times feels like an extension of Wagner on the court, bringing positivity and instruction to her teammates. Rice is also one of the best outside shooters in the Suburban East Conference, and stepped up in a big way last year when Mackenzie Stumne was out with a knee injury.
Fellow seniors Abby Leach (6.4 PPG) and Lindsey Johnson (8.0 PPG) also fit the Forest Lake mold of players who can play multiple positions in a way that causes match-up problems for their opponents.
PARK CENTER
Park Center’s has to reload this year after graduating talented guards Meghan DuBois (Concordia-St. Paul) and Sommer Blakemore (Iowa Western C.C.). But the Pirates’ backcourt is in good hands with the tandem of Lauren Frost (9.0 PPG) and Adalia McKenzie (13.9 PPG), who are sure to give opposing teams fits all winter.
Frost is a junior, and is currently ranked as the #15 player in the class of 2020. Everything that Frost does seems effortless. Whether it be sinking a 25-foot 3-pointer, or directing a no-look, behind-the-back pass to a teammate with pin-point accuracy, something about Lauren makes these remarkable moments seem routine. And that’s probably because for her, they are.
Joining Frost in the Pirate backcourt, McKenzie is the #1 rated player in Minnesota’s Class of 2021. Adalia first came onto the radars of the folks at PGH because of her quickness and athleticism. But something seemed to click for McKenzie before her freshman season that made her a can’t-miss Power-5 prospect, seemingly over night. After averaging just over 2 points per game as an 8th grader, she led the Pirates in scoring and rebounding a year ago. With another summer of improvement under her belt, we are looking forward to seeing what’s in store for McKenzie’s sophomore campaign.
ST. MICHAEL-ALBERTVILLE
STMA has an elite backcourt that is made up of 2019 Concordia-St.Paul commit Jadyn Hanson (13.8 PPG) and 2020 Mackenzie Kramer (14.8 PPG) who is one of the best guards in her class. What the Knights may lack in size, they make up for in a big way with their talented guards.
Hanson burst on the scene back in 2017. A PGH article written that year noted that, “Jadyn is a fun player to watch, full of energy, and always working.” Jadyn is a tenacious defender, and she’s great at attacking the basket and finishing through contact.
Kramer is a top prospect in Minnesota, regardless of class. She has one of the smoothest strokes you will ever see, and her handles are among the best in the state. Kramer strikes a highly entertaining balance of being fundamentally sound, and incredibly creative.
It goes without saying that this is not an all-inclusive list of the outstanding backcourts throughout the northern metro area. Feel free to post in the comments about which backcourt duos you’re looking forward to following this winter.
If your’re interested in reading about the top backcourt duos from other areas of the Twin Cities, you can find them here:
Cover photos courtesy of The Press & News and MN Girls Basketball Hub
McAlpine photo courtesy of ABC Newspapers
Rice Photo Courtesy of Hudl.com
Frost photo courtesy of The Sun Post
Hanson photo courtesy of The Press & News