Komets Showcase: Top 10 performers in Kasson-Mantorville
Six games, 12 teams and a slew of quality individual performances. In an ideal world, that’s what we’d see every time we attend a tournament or showcase throughout the high school season. Fortunately on Saturday in Kasson-Mantorville, that is exactly…
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Continue ReadingSix games, 12 teams and a slew of quality individual performances. In an ideal world, that’s what we’d see every time we attend a tournament or showcase throughout the high school season. Fortunately on Saturday in Kasson-Mantorville, that is exactly what we saw at the Komets Showcase, one of the best such gatherings we have been part of this winter. Here are 10 of the top performers at the event, along with some other notable players who did good work on Saturday.
Riley Queensland– 5’9 senior guard, Grand Meadow
The elusive, aggressive guard is a multi-sport athlete who plays the game with pace and aggression. Her game isn’t particularly smooth but man is it impressive. Queensland leads the Super Larks (best nickname in the state!) with 20 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 2.2 steals per game. In the absence of the great Jordyn Glynn, who is now at St. Thomas, Queensland has been required to do so much more, and she has done it well. Riley had 29 points in Saturday’s first game against New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva. Down the stretch, she was 6-for-6 at the free throw line to keep Grand Meadow in the fight.
Sidney Schultz – 5’4 freshman guard, NRHEG
Schultz earned a Gopher Conference honorable mention last season. As a small 8th grader that’s pretty impressive. Schultz is super athletic, has outstanding skills, and is ultra-aggressive at both ends of the court. Her quickness and superior anticipation makes life difficult for opponents when they have the ball. When it’s NRHEG’s turn, Schultz is clearly the engine that pulls the train. This year Sid is averaging 17 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists. She had a 28-point game against a strong Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton squad earlier in the season. Schultz may not quite be Carly Wagner (who is?!) but she’s doing a fine job of carrying on the Schultz family tradition of excellence at NRHEG.
Sophie Stork – 5’9 sophomore guard, NRHEG
Sophie is NRHEG’s ying to Schultz’s yang. The 5’9 guard is very well put together. She’s strong, physical and aggressive, and would just as soon run you over as slip past you on the way to the basket. Also an all-conference performer, Stork is proving her freshman season was not fluke. She’s averaging 22 and 8 while shooting 55 percent from the field with beautiful mechanics and a well-tuned motion. She produced a 39-point performance against Blue Earth earlier in the year, a feat that included 10 made three-pointers. Yes 10! She scored 16 points on Saturday against Grand Meadow. Stork is ranked top 100 in the Prep Girls Hoops class of 2022 and rising fast.
Rachel Breck – 6’0 senior forward, Waseca (Iowa Lakes)
Breck has put in a tremendous amount of extra work over the past few seasons to transform herself into a college-level basketball player. It has certainly paid off. Rachel has a big body and takes up a tremendous amount of space on the inside. She can also finish at the rim and shoot it, as well. I have yet to see Breck turn in a sub-par effort, and the way she combines with elite point guard Gus Boyer and her lengthy counterpart Hannah Potter is impressive. Breck scored 18 in Saturday’s victory. She averages 13 and 7.
Sydney Stensgard, Simley seniorSydney Stensgard – 5’9 senior guard, Simley (Montana State)
Stensgard can flat out shoot the basketball. We’ve seen it many times before and we saw it again Saturday as the senior canned four 3-point baskets and scored 20 points in all. Stensgard leads the Spartans in scoring thanks to an excellent set of skills and a passionate, hungry approach to the game. She’s also a huge factor in Simley’s status as the stingiest team in the state in Class AAA. Stensgard, who passed the 1,000-career points mark a couple of weeks back, is ranked #23 in the Prep Girls Hoops class of 2020. Montana State is getting a good one.
Lilly Meincke – 5’10 sophomore guard, Lake City
Although her fellow sophomore Natalie Bremer is grabbing most of the headlines this season in Lake City, Meincke’s role is vital to the Tigers’ success. She’s a big guard with a well-rounded game and a certain presence about her that serves as a calming influence on the court. It’s impossible for opponents to guard both Bremer and Meincke, never mind big forwards Grace Bany and Mya Shones. More often than not it is Lilly who makes the key pass or crucial decision. While Bremer tends to be flashy, Meincke is all about being solid. The combination is deadly. Meincke scored 14 on Saturday, above 5 above her season average. She’s ranked #52 in the class of 2022.
Natalie Rolbiecki – 5’10 sophomore guard, Minneota
Rolbiecki made our initial ranking of the class of 2022 despite having limited exposure and almost no profile at the time. We liked her from the first time we saw her, and Natalie’s game has continued to grow. She’s long, wiry and versatile. She can handle the ball, beat you off the bounce, knock down shots and post-up. Rolbiecki has a knack of slipping through narrow openings in tight quarters and somehow elevating up and over her defender to score. Natalie is a strong rebounder, too, and isn’t shy about playing the game in a physical way. The top-60 prospect is averaging nearly 12 points per game. She had 14 on Saturday.
Mya Suess, Kasson-Mantorville juniorMya Suess – 6’2 junior forward, Kasson-Mantorville
Suess missed the early part of the season with a bout of mononucleosis and the Komets certainly missed her presence inside. Mya is big and strong. She’s also quite skilled. The thing that impressed me the most on Saturday was Suess’ patience and economy of movement. In much the same way that Iowa great Megan Gustafson proved that bigs didn’t need to rush things inside, Mya showed us excellent footwork, an array of post moves and the strength to overwhelm defenders in the paint. Suess scored 18 points in the first half Saturday against New Ulm, finishing with 25 and 13 rebounds. Mya is averaging 12 points, 10 rebounds and 4 blocks. That’s good stuff.
Avery Irish – 5’11 junior forward, Kasson-Mantorville
With freshman Aby Shubert doing the razzle-dazzle on a regular basis for the Komets, and big Mya Suess doing good work down low, it can be easy to overlook the rest of the Kasson-Mantorville lineup which is really very good. Irish is the prime example. She’s not flashy, not super-fast, not excessively athletic. Avery is just good. At most things. All the time. Avery is the Komets second-leading number cruncher at 13 and 6. She’s been in double figures in two-thirds of her games. Night after night the top 125-prospect does the little things that enable K-M to have success. On Saturday it was more of the same as Irish made 5 threes and scored 19 points in all.
The perpetual honor roll
There were a number of other strong performances at Kasson from an array of usual suspects. Funny how the top prospects turn in the best performances week after week! We have written about most of them recently so here’s a quick summary.
- Gus Boyer, senior guard Waseca (UM Duluth) – Boyer is one of the state’s premier shooters but she is so much more than that. Gus had 21 points Saturday in Waseca’s 68-52 win over Medford.
- Aby Shubert, freshman guard, Kasson-Mantorville – Shubert is an elite talent with all of the tools needed to reach the highest level. The all-conference performer is the Komets’ leading scorer. She added 18 to her totals against New Ulm.
- Natalie Bremer, sophomore guard, Lake City – Bremer is one of the state’s breakout players of the year to date and is averaging nearly 19 ppg. On Saturday she scored 25 more before taking a bow with 8 minutes remaining as the Tigers ran away from Norwood-Young America.
- Emma Kniefel, senior wing, Medford – Kniefel is one of the top unsigned seniors in the state, and it was fun to watch her go head-to-head with Boyer. The #54-ranked senior has more than 1,700 points in her high school career, a total to which she added 18 more on Saturday.
- Abby Hennen, junior guard, Minneota – The tall, talented guard is always impressive as she showed last March while leading the Vikings to a state class A title in Minneapolis. At the Komets Showcase, Minneota suffered its first loss in nearly a year but Hennen was still terrific.
- Lily Welch, senior guard, Stewartville – If you read our recent feature about Lily you already know what this talented point guard is all about. Welch offered up more of the same in Kasson against a strong squad from Simley.
Top photo: Sophomore Sophie Stork (left) and freshman Sidney Schultz (right) are talented young prospects from New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva.