The Best of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in St. Paul, part 1
I put a ton of miles on my Jeep running here, there and everywhere watching basketball. Over the past month or so I have been to Jackson and Sleepy Eye and Rochester (twice) plus Princeton and Rogers and Kasson and……
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Continue ReadingI put a ton of miles on my Jeep running here, there and everywhere watching basketball. Over the past month or so I have been to Jackson and Sleepy Eye and Rochester (twice) plus Princeton and Rogers and Kasson and… well you get the idea. Not only did Martin Luther King, Jr., Day activities include the opportunity to watch four nice match-ups on a Monday afternoon but said games were less than 5 miles from my front door. Nice.
The day began at Cretin-Derham Hall where the visitors from St. Paul Como Park captured a neck-and-neck affair by a final margin of 62-56. After that it was over to St. Kate’s – or St. Catherine University as it says on the big sign as you enter the little campus – for three more games. None of those was close: Chaska defeated Hutchinson 53-34, Simley dispatched Holy Family 65-48 and Eden Prairie beat Rosemount 53-38. There were, however, some terrific individual performances. In fact, there were far too many of those to cover them all. With that in mind, these were the players who performed the best on MLK Day in St. Paul.
PLAYER OF THE DAY
Ronnie Porter Ronnie Porter 5'2" | CG Como Park | 2022 State MN , 2022 guard, Como Park – Como Park was ice cold in the early going on Monday (so was Cretin for that matter), but when Porter nailed a 3-point shot about 5 minutes into the game that at least lit a bit of a spark. Porter scored the next 5 points in a row for Como Park and totaled 4 triples before the break. When the second half opened, Porter scored 6 straight Como points to get the Cougars rolling. Midway through the period her dramatic and-1 gave Como a 4-point lead that they would carry through to the end for the W. Ronnie finished the game with 31 points as Como Park raised its record to 9-4. Jada James Jada James 5'10" | PF Como Park | 2022 State MN had 13 points for Como Park while Makayla Holton-Adams had 12. Nevaeh Moeschter Nevaeh Moeschter 5'8" | CG Cretin-Derham Hall | 2020 State MN and Takara Mason Takara Mason 5'6" | CG Cretin-Derham Hall | 2021 State MN had 17 apiece for Cretin.
Porter is one of the best long-distance shooters in the class. She’s also one of the quickest, and that combination can be difficult to defend. Porter was also the highest-scoring freshman in the state last year. This year she’s averaging 19.3 points per game and is just 29 away from 1,000 for her career. Ronnie is the #20-ranked prospect in the Prep Girls Hoops Class of 2022. She’ll play this summer for North Tartan EYBL.
TOP GUARDS
Kennedy Sanders Kennedy Sanders 5'8" | CG Chaska | 2023 State MN , 2023, Chaska – I never grow tired of watching Sanders manage a basketball game. Ranked #5 in the freshman class, Kennedy is the premiere point guard among the 2023s. Her court vision is unmatched. Ditto for her sense of timing. Sanders handles the ball as well or better than any other freshman and just doesn’t get rattled. She was magical again on Monday as Chaska picked apart Hutchinson in short order. There simply wasn’t anyone on the Tigers’ roster who could guard Kennedy. She finished the day with 21 points, a bushel of assists and a whole lot of ‘wow-did-you-see-thats!’ Kennedy plays AAU for the Minnesota Fury, which hosted the event.
Myra Moorjani Myra Moorjani 5'8" | CG Eden Prairie | 2022 State MN , 2022, Eden Prairie – Some say Moorjani is unorthodox, and that’s probably fair criticism. I say Moorjani is one of the most effective guards there is under pressure. Moorjani is athletic, she’s got great handles (even if the dribble is a little high sometimes) and she competes to the max max max. Moorjani is averaging 3.8 assists and only 1.2 turnovers per game, plus 7.3 points and 2.5 steals. The #28 player in the sophomore class was very good again at St. Kate’s, distributing the ball with poise and precision as Eden Prairie dismantled Rosemount. On a team loaded with great guards like Molly Lenz Molly Lenz 5'8" | CG Eden Prairie | 2023 State MN , Destinee Bursch Destinee Bursch 5'9" | CG Eden Prairie | 2021 State MN and Ashley Fritz Ashley Fritz 5'10" | CG Eden Prairie | 2023 State MN , it was Moorjani who stood out Monday.
TOP FORWARDS
Nia Holloway Nia Holloway 6'0" | PF Eden Prairie | 2022 State #45 Nation MN , 2022, Eden Prairie – This is a coin toss really between Nia and Mallory Heyer Mallory Heyer 6'1" | PF Chaska | 2022 State #36 Nation MN of Chaska. While Heyer has been dominating on varsity since 8th grade, Holloway’s rise has been more recent. Her skills are rapidly catching up with her athleticism, as Holloway becomes a more polished competitor while garnering Division 1 offers. She scored 17 points on Monday, but the bucket that stood out the most to me was an end-to-end full-court dash that demonstrated her much-improved ball handling, ability to finish from the left side of the floor, and grace under pressure. I’m not sure Nia could have pulled that off a year ago. EP has two more D1-bound seniors in #8-ranked Nneka Obiazor Nneka Obiazor 5'10" | PF Eden Prairie | 2020 State MN (Youngstown State) and #17-ranked Natalie Mazurek Natalie Mazurek 6'1" | PF Eden Prairie | 2020 State MN (South Dakota), and all three of them were very good. Meanwhile Heyer scored 14 points for Chaska in spite of a great defensive effort by Hutchinson’s Brynn Beffert Brynn Beffert 6'0" | PF Hutchinson | 2023 State MN . Mallory is the #3-ranked player in the class of 2022. She’s averaging 19 ppg and brings it hard every single night.
We’ll have part 2 of the Best of MLK Day on Wednesday when we’ll select our top shooter, players to watch, a fresh face or two and more.
Top photo: Sophomore Ronnie Porter Ronnie Porter 5'2" | CG Como Park | 2022 State MN of Como Park scored 31 points to lead the Cougars to a win at Cretin-Derham Hall. (Photo courtesy of Hometown Source)