The Week That Was #7: A long, tall tale or two
It was a short week that began with two of the longest players in Minnesota – Cassidy Carson of Eastview and Lily Fandre of Eagan. The two standout prospects, whose combined wingspan is amply illustrated in the photo above, met…
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Continue ReadingIt was a short week that began with two of the longest players in Minnesota – Cassidy Carson of Eastview and Lily Fandre of Eagan. The two standout prospects, whose combined wingspan is amply illustrated in the photo above, met up Thursday night in Apple Valley. I travelled to Eastview for the express purpose of seeing how the proven junior – the #7-ranked Carson – would match up against the emerging sophomore – #30-rated Fandre – in a length vs length encounter.
The 6’0 Carson was the first player in the class of 2021 to make a Division 1 commitment, doing an early verbal to the University of South Dakota. Cassidy is an elite talent with the longest stride in the class, the ability to drop bombs from long distance and a wingspan that makes her one of the top perimeter defenders around. Now, as Eastview goes through a rebuilding season, Carson’s full complement of tools is being utilized to the max. She’s averaging 15 points and 4 rebounds per game.
The 6’2 Fandre has emerged over the past 12 months as a strong D1 prospect. She began 2019 as an unranked player and finished the year in the first 30 and rising. Last week we named her among the top-five most improved players in the state. Lily plays every position and may be the best shot blocker in the state. She’s averaging 13 points and 6 rebounds per game.
So how did it turn out? Not surprisingly, in Carson’s favor, as Cassidy did the schooling and Lily did the learning. Carson made 5 three-pointers, scoring 19 points in all, to lead Eastview to a 20-point victory while at the same time preventing Fandre from scoring a single field goal. Lily managed just two free throws after scoring 29 points in her previous game. After banging on each other in a hard-fought battle, Carson and Fandre were gracious enough to pose for photos and acknowledge each other’s abilities.
Cassidy and Lily are classy kids with bright futures. It’s a privilege to watch them compete.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
- Winner – Madison Mathiowetz, sophomore guard, Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s. There are precious few times in a season when someone will score 50 points in a game. I recall Gianna Kneepkens of Duluth Marshall putting up 51 once last winter. Of course, there was also McKenna Hofschild‘s remarkable 63-point performance. I was fortunate enough to witness another one on Friday night in Sleepy Eye courtesy of Mathiowetz, who I am happy to report, is very much the real deal. We’ll have a feature story on Madison later in the week.
- Runner-up – Natalie Bremer, sophomore guard, Lake City. Last week we named Bremer one of our 10 most improved players of 2019 and she showed exactly why on Saturday at the Rochester Hoops Challenge. Bremer attacked the basket at every opportunity, showed us her superior ball-handling skills and terrific court vision all while playing at maximum intensity from start to finish in a win over Waseca. Natalie finished with 20 points.
- Honorable mentions – Anna Miller, the 6’2 junior forward from Rochester Mayo scored 23 points and dominated the glass in a win over Kasson-Mantorville. Sophomore guard Ronnie Porter of St. Paul Como Park scored 29 against Stewartville. Senior Lily Welch of Stewartville had 20 points in the win over Como, going 8-for-8 at the free throw line. Her teammate, junior Maia Peterson, scored 18 and was 4-for-4 at the line.
NEWCOMERS OF THE WEEK
We’ve got three dynamic duos to recognize this week, and all six of them are names to remember.
- Rachel Kottke & Kristi Kottke – 8th grade guards from Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart. The Twins are key pieces for a strong BLHS squad. Rachel had 14 points in Friday night’s win at Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s, including 9-for-14 at the free throw line. They’re following in the footsteps of their older sister senior Sara Kottke, who committed after the game to Bethany Lutheran in Mankato.
- Jacey Majerus & Paige West – freshmen guards from Lake City. Jacey and Paige look like 6th graders and play like 11th graders for the Tigers. The two high-skill, high-energy guards have been a huge part of the team’s success this season.
- Hailey Strum & Keeley Steele – freshmen guards, Stewartville. We wrote about these two the last time we were in Rochester. On Saturday they simply reinforced our opinion that they will make a ton of noise in the class of 2023.
COACH OF THE WEEK
Winner – Clay Olson, Lake City. When I first met Clay two years ago in Rochester we talked about his excellent crop of youngsters who were already making an impact. Those four kids are now veterans, led by junior forward Grace Bany and standout sophomores Mya Shones, Lilly Meincke and Natalie Bremer, who are scoring a combined 59 points per game. What’s more impressive, however, is the way Olson is integrating another crop of youngsters. He’s got five freshmen and an 8th grader on a team that already has 9 wins.
GAME OF THE WEEK
Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart at Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s – I travelled to Sleepy Eye on Friday night for an outstanding class A match-up between two quality squads. The gym was packed, the atmosphere was electric and the two teams exerted maximum effort from start to finish. It was as much fun as I’ve had at a game all season. BLHS prevailed 83-79 in a nail-biter. In addition to Mathiowetz’s 50-point performance, we saw top-50 freshman Allison Milbrandt of BLHS put up 20 despite being in foul trouble throughout the game. Sophomore Maddie Wulkan of BLHS made four threes on the way to 22 points.
Senior Mallory Brake of Hastings.MILESTONES
- Senior forward Mallory Brake of Hastings became the all-time leading scorer and rebounder for the Raiders. The career-points record was 2,251, and Mal is closing in on 1,500 rebounds. That happened Saturday in a 51-33 win over Park Cottage Grove as Hastings held the Wolfpack to just 5 points in the second half. Brake is averaging 28 points and 16 rebounds per game.
- Mathiowetz wasn’t the only player putting up big numbers in this abbreviated week. Junior Gianna Kneepkens had 43 points for Duluth Marshall in an 85-72 win over Mesabi East. Kneepkens was 7-for-10 from three, 17-of-22 overall, and had 15 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals. She’s now averaging 31.1 ppg while shooting 66 percent. The Hilltoppers are 8-1.
- Junior Jordyn Hilgemann of the other Marshall (the town in southwest Minnesota) scored 40 points in a 101-66 win over Windom on Friday to establish a new single-game mark for the Tigers. Marshall is undefeated with 10 victories.
- Sophomore Maddie James of Princeton, the #12-ranked player in the class of 2022, had a career-high 39 points Friday in a 69-63 win over St. Francis. It was the second time over 30 this season for James, who is averaging 16.5 ppg.
- Sophomore guard Sydney Runsewe, the #19 Player in the 2022 class, has long been known as an excellent shooter from distance. She proved it on Friday in a 79-70 win over Eden Prairie as she went 7-for-7 in the first half.
- Speaking of threes, Jackson County Central broke a school record against Pipestone on Friday with 14 threes in the game to give them 94 on the season. Freshman guard Maci Farmer had 7 of them.
THE WEEK AHEAD
My travel plans for this week include:
- Monday – Osseo at Rogers
- Tuesday – DeLaSalle at Holy Angels
- Wednesday – Blake at Minnehaha
- Thursday – Becker at Chisago Lakes
- Friday – Roseville at Cretin-Derham Hall
- Saturday – Showcase at Kasson-Mantorville
Top photo: Cassidy Carson of Eastview and Lily Fandre of Eagan squared off in a lengthy battle Thursday night in Apple Valley.