Class of 2023 rankings: These are the Top 10 prospects
Some choices are obvious. Others are much more debatable. In choosing the top 10 prospects in the Prep Girls Hoops Class of 2023 we have had a little of both. There’s no question that Taylor Woodson Taylor Woodson 6'0" | PF Hopkins | 2023 State #28 Nation MN and Nunu Agara Nunu Agara 6'1" | PF Hopkins | 2023 State #32 Nation MN belong in the Top 10. That’s why we selected them as co-#1s. Nobody would debate Tessa Johnson Tessa Johnson 5'11" | SG St. Michael-Albertville | 2023 State #36 Nation MN , either. The silky smooth guard from St. Michael-Albertville is just oozing with talent. From there everything was up for discussion.
What we ended up with was four highly-skilled guards – Kennedy Sanders Kennedy Sanders 5'8" | CG Chaska | 2023 State MN , Molly Lenz Molly Lenz 5'8" | CG Eden Prairie | 2023 State MN , Shania Van Nett Shania Van Nett 5'7" | CG Como Park | 2023 State MN and Maren Westin Maren Westin 5'8" | CG Becker | 2023 State MN – each with a little different set of assets. We’ve got a pair of lengthy 2/3/4s – Clara Glad Clara Glad 6'0" | SF Rogers | 2023 State MN and Kennedy Klick Kennedy Klick 6'0" | CG Maple Grove | 2023 State MN – who are now revealing their full potential. Finally we have one somewhat raw but highly intriguing player – Teresa Kiewiet Teresa Kiewiet 5'10" | SF Mankato West | 2023 State MN – who could end up playing at the highest levels of the game. If you’d like to know more about the co-#1s Woodson and Agara, read yesterday’s story here. To learn more about the rest of the top 10, just keep on scrolling because we have the goods on all eight of them right here.
[player_tooltip player_id="108299" first="Tessa" last="Johnson"] (Hometown Source)#3 – Tessa Johnson Tessa Johnson 5'11" | SG St. Michael-Albertville | 2023 State #36 Nation MN , 5’10 guard, St. Michael-Albertville
We didn’t get to watch Tessa play an entire AAU season, and that’s unfortunate. It’s not that we needed further evaluation of Johnson to figure out where she fits in the big picture among the 2023s. Her past summers and outstanding high school debut made that obvious already. She’s clearly a top three talent. No, it’s unfortunate that Johnson played a part-time schedule simply because we love, love, love watching this superior athlete play the game of basketball. She’s smooth, she’s gifted and she has the on-court presence of a cool, calm veteran who has been there and done that.
[player_tooltip player_id="108300" first="Clara" last="Glad"] (Hudl)#4 – Clara Glad Clara Glad 6'0" | SF Rogers | 2023 State MN , 6’0 guard, Rogers
Clara is sneaky good. Upon first viewing she sometimes doesn’t garner as much attention from observers as she should. There are few mistakes, plenty of good decisions, a lot of low-key/high-impact plays. At game’s end Glad’s numbers are spread across the scoresheet and she has her fingerprints all over the outcome. Even on her own high school team she is overshadowed by 2022 Top 10 Ellie Buzzelle Ellie Buzzelle 5'9" | SG Rogers | 2022 State #60 Nation MN , whose flash-and-dash style turns heads. Still Glad was a starter for the second half of the season, averaging 4 and 4 and posting a solid assists-to-turnover ratio that few 8th graders do. It is Glad’s length that separates her.
[player_tooltip player_id="108301" first="Kennedy" last="Sanders"] (Southwest News Media)#5 – Kennedy Sanders Kennedy Sanders 5'8" | CG Chaska | 2023 State MN , 5’8 guard, Chaska
The debate about who belongs in spots 5, 6, 7 is an interesting one, and our evaluators came up with every possible permutation of that conversation. The simple fact is this: Sanders, Lenz and Van-Nett are all outstanding prospects. They’re just different, with one or two things that set each player apart from the other two. For Sanders it is brainpower. This kid is one of the smartest, most court savvy freshmen we have seen, a pure point guard in every sense of the term. Kennedy just makes plays, over and over, game after game. She is highly skilled, with a motor and mental toughness to match, and can also score as much as she needs to.
[player_tooltip player_id="108302" first="Molly" last="Lenz"] (Hometown Source)#6 – Molly Lenz Molly Lenz 5'8" | CG Eden Prairie | 2023 State MN , 5’8 guard, Eden Prairie
Lenz is a stud, pure and simple. The Prior Lake product, who plays high school basketball for Eden Prairie, is super skilled and can shoot it from distance as well as anyone. That’s the separator for her. Molly’s one-on-one skills are also outstanding as many a bewildered defender can well attest. She’s got superior handles, high IQ and the ability to turn a game on its ear with big plays at big moments. Eden Prairie is loaded with great young guards – 2022 Myra Moorjani Myra Moorjani 5'8" | CG Eden Prairie | 2022 State MN and 2023s Ashley Fritz Ashley Fritz 5'10" | CG Eden Prairie | 2023 State MN and Priyanka Satish Priyanka Satish 5'4" | PG Eden Prairie | 2023 MN , for instance – but Lenz is the one with the highest ceiling.
[player_tooltip player_id="108303" first="Shania" last="VanNett"]#7 – Shania Van Nett Shania Van Nett 5'7" | CG Como Park | 2023 State MN , 5’7 guard, Como Park
Van Nett’s edge is her edge. This kid is tough. She is also just as skilled and shoots it just as well as her peers in the top 10. Van Nett is a streaky shooter, but when Shania gets on a roll from beyond the arc she becomes unstoppable. The Como Park guard can handle it and will juke you one-on-one all day long. The separator for Shania is her physicality, and that serves her well at all levels of competition. Unfortunately Van Nett, who averaged 14 ppg at Como Park last year, went down with a torn ACL at summer’s end that will keep her off the court until spring. We suspect, however, that her sheer will to win will have Shania back in top form in due course.
[player_tooltip player_id="108304" first="Maren" last="Westin"]#8 – Maren Westin Maren Westin 5'8" | CG Becker | 2023 State MN , 5’7 guard, Becker
Westin is the wildcard of the top 10, and frankly I wasn’t certain she would end up here. It’s not that the talent isn’t there. For sure it is. She’s as athletic as the day is long, perhaps as athletic as any player in this class. But she’s not very big, she plays on a lower profile club and prior to this summer’s AAU season was pretty much an unknown commodity in the bigger picture. That has all changed, and once it became clear that there is some height in the family the world became Maren’s oyster. In the end Westin (pronounced West-teen) was a near unanimous selection for the top 10. We believe this kid is the real deal.
[player_tooltip player_id="108305" first="Teresa" last="Kiewiet"]#9 – Teresa Kiewiet Teresa Kiewiet 5'10" | SF Mankato West | 2023 State MN , 5’10 forward, Mankato West
Kiewiet may be the most intriguing player in the top 10. What we see now is only a fraction of what we will likely see later because Teresa an unpolished gem with a very high ceiling. We believe it is at least mid-major high, maybe higher. Teresa has a big frame and plays bigger. She’s strong, physical and super athletic. She has terrific instincts on the court, nice length and is not done growing by the looks of it. Kiewiet can knock down the mid-range pull-up jumper probably better than anyone else in the class, but can also power past defenders one-on-one. We love Teresa’s potential and believe she could crack the top 5 before she’s done.
[player_tooltip player_id="108306" first="Kennedy" last="Klick"] (Kris Horan Photography)#10 – Kennedy Klick Kennedy Klick 6'0" | CG Maple Grove | 2023 State MN , 5’11 wing, DeLaSalle
Klick is the classic match-up nightmare, a super-long, very versatile player with the quickness to stand out on the perimeter and the length and athleticism to match up inside. She is also very, very crafty. Kennedy plays the game with a natural flair and elegance that cannot be taught. We love how much she enjoys the game, how she bursts into the occasional big smile on the court. Kennedy has moved to DeLaSalle where the stage is a little bigger, the lights a little brighter and the expectations are very real, and she’ll have to find her way on a very talented state AAA championship squad. We suspect Klick is going to take it all up another notch.
Coming up next we’ll have players to watch from the rest of the Freshmen 50 and we’ll release the entire list.