The Week That Was #14: Making history, seeing the future
On Thursday night I watched a tiny 7th grader named Addison do some really great stuff in a varsity basketball game. On Saturday morning I watched a tiny 7th grader named Addison do some really great stuff in a varsity basketball game. The things is, it was not the same Addison.
We have written in some detail over the winter about the 7th grade sensation Addison Mack of the Blake School, who stands about 5 feet tall and can’t weigh more than 100 pounds. After a somewhat tepid first half on Thursday, Mack erupted after the break at Concordia Academy to score 21 points and spark the Bears to a 63-60 upset win over the Beacons. Thanks to Addison’s heroics, Blake was able to squelch Concordia’s 15-game win streak.
7th grader Addison Hoof of Lester PrairieOn Saturday a.m. I saw 7th grader Addison Hoof of Lester Prairie-Holy Trinity play big minutes against Mountain Iron-Buhl, showing the kind of natural athleticism and fire in the belly from which great players are made. This Addison is even smaller than that Addison. Hoof would need platform shoes to match Mack in the height department. But you know what? Hoof is a flat-out baller! This kid can handle the basketball, understands the game at a high level and has a motor that just does not stop. Although she isn’t putting up the kind of numbers or dominating games the way Mack is, Hoof is earning big minutes and playing a key role for the Bulldogs. She has 66 steals on the season, and is one of the fastest players we have seen
Hoof, by the way, not only runs fast in basketball bursts; she can do it over distance, too. Last fall she won a section championship in cross country and finished 6th in the state in class A. Not bad for a 7th grader! She’ll play AAU this summer for Minnesota Fury 2025 Yellow.
At this point we cannot allow the dimensions of Mack and Hoof to distract us from their incredible innate abilities and the advanced development of their skills. I have a photo of a tiny Paige Bueckers with her towering North Tartan teammates back in the day, and we all know what happened there. Hoof’s dad is 5’11, and there is plenty of height on mom’s side of the family. Here is the most relevant piece of information on both players: Mack will not turn 13 years old until the end of April; Hoof will still be 12 until mid-June. What they are accomplishing as 12-year-olds in varsity basketball is remarkable.
THREE GAMES AND SUFFICIENT SUNSHINE
I only saw three games this week. No, I wasn’t slacking in these waning days of the 2019-20 high school basketball season. I was being a good son by attending my mother’s 85th birthday party in Florida. I did spend some time poolside, as well, but most of it was consumed by finishing up the Prep Girls Hoops rankings update.
I hopped on an earlier flight than expected Thursday and landed at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport in time to catch Blake’s win over Concordia Academy. Although Mack stole the show, Blake received another quality performance from junior Cate Moe. She scored 21. As usual, the Beacons were led by junior point guard Ivane Tensaie, who had 17 points. Junior Sydney Pelzer, who cracked the Prep Girls Hoops 2021 rankings for the first time last week, also scored 17. Grace Landvik, the #128 player in the 2021 class, had 13.
On Friday I attended Farmington’s 61-40 win over Eastview in the company of power 5 assistant coach whose thoughts on Tigers’ junior Sophie Hart provided the kind of crucial insight that informs our prospect rankings on an ongoing basis. Hart had 11 field goals for 24 points to help Farmington capture the South Suburban Conference championship. The player who captured my attention the most on this night was sophomore guard Rose Wille, who you will read a lot more about in our 2022 rankings update stories. Wille has been a revelation this season, particularly since junior Paige Kindseth and senior Molly Mogensen went down with injuries. Wille has really stepped up and shown us what can be in the future.
Softball-playing senior Katelyn Mohr was also very good on Friday, as was junior guard Peyton Blandin. Senior guard Morgan Ebel, who announced her commitment Saturday to play for coach Mike Durbin at St. Ben’s, has been great this winter, too. Kindseth, incidentally, participated in the pre-game warmup session and is expected to play when Farmington opens section play against Rochester Century. Mogensen’s high school career is unfortunately over, and Molly had to set aside her crutches and receive assistance to climb the ladder after Friday’s game to cut down her piece of championship net.
Saturday’s contest at Lester Prairie featured another tremendous defensive performance from Jeff Buffetta’s Mountain Iron-Buhl Rangers who prevailed by a score of 76-47. MIB was also on fire from distance, scoring 15 three-pointers, 10 of them after half time. 8th grader Jordan Zubich led the way with 5 threes and 21 points. Senior Miah Gellerstedt had 3 triples while freshman Sage Ganyo and sophomore Brooke Niska had two apiece.
Lester Prairie’s best performer, as per usual, was top-100 junior guard Marissa Radtke with 18 points. Radtke, who recently passed the 1,000-career points milestone, is an athletic guard with nice handles and quick feet. She has long been able to get to the rim one-on-one and has plenty of bounce. Marissa is averaging nearly 22 points per game. She scored 40 against Litchfield and has topped the 20-point mark 17 times. She’s also averaging 4 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.9 steals per game. This spring Radtke moves to Dan Wolfe’s 2021 Minnesota Rise team, which is a talented group.
THE HAKAMAKIS MAKE HISTORY
On Monday the UM-Duluth-bound Hakamaki cousins of Cromwell-Wright made history as both Taya Hakamaki and Shaily Hakamaki reached 2,000 career points in the same game. Taya scored 23 points against South Ridge while Shaily had 22 as the pair became the first Minnesota teammates to reach 2,000 in the same game. Only eight sets of teammates have ever reached 2,000 points in the same season (see below), but it has never happened during the same game. The Miller twins – Kelly and Coco of Rochester Mayo – came close but ended up doing it a couple of games apart. Thanks to Matt Pederson for the information, which was forwarded to me by Marc Hugunin.
- Kelly Miller (2,151) and Coco Miller (2,113), Rochester Mayo, 1997
- Angel Robinson (2,375) and Ebony Black (2,090), St. Paul Central, 2007
- Brittany Chambers (2,826) and Leah Dietel (2,478), Jordan, 2009
- Madison Dorn (2,312) and Micaela Noga (2,417), Parkers Prairie, 2013
- Chelsea Mason (3,035) and Mya Buffetta (2,188), Mountain Iron-Buhl, 2017
- Claire Killian (2,340) and Kirstin Klitzke (2,024), Watertown-Mayer, 2017
- Gianna Kneepkens (2,000+) and Grace Kirk (2,000+), Duluth Marshall, 2019
Before the ink was dry on the Hakamakis’ record, we had another elite player reach the 2,000 career points mark. Stillwater’s Liza Karlen needed 24 points to hit the magic number on Tuesday and that’s exactly how many she scored in a lopsided win over Irondale. Karlen, who is #6 in the Prep Girls Hoops class of 2020 prospect rankings, will play next season at Marquette.
MORE MILESTONES OF NOTE
- Senior guard Lily Welch made history by becoming the all-time leading scorer at Stewartville with 1,592 career points.
- Sophomore Callin Hake of Chanhassen became her school’s all-time leading scorer with 1,258 points. The record was held by 2013-graduate Lauren Shifflet who played at Concordia-St. Paul.
Here are this week’s 1,000-point scorers:
- Senior Tara Hendrickson of Menahga
- Senior Jenna Anderson of Royalton (Bemidji State)
- Senior Hailey Hohenecker of Providence Academy (Sioux Falls)
- Junior Sophie Hart of Farmington
- Junior Anna Miller of Rochester Mayo
- Junior Macy Smith of Spring Lake Park
- Junior Bella Hartzel of Hill-Murray
- Sophomore Adeline Kent of Becker
- Sophomore Lexi Karge of Mankato East
There were also a couple of other notable records set this week:
- Sophomore guard Abbie Riederer established a new single-season points record at Minnesota Valley Lutheran with 498. Caliann Shavlik’s mark of 474 had stood for 28 years.
- Senior guard Jackie Olander of Cambridge-Isanti set a new single-season standard for assists. The multi-sport athlete broke the record of 107.
- Finally Grace Kirk (Brown University) and Gianna Kneepkens of Duluth Marshall continued their assault on the record books for the Hilltoppers as both players recorded triple-doubles in the same game. Kirk had 21 points, 11 rebounds and 10 steals Saturday in a win over International Falls, while Kneepkens had 39 points, 14 rebounds and 10 steals. What a year these kids are having.
Top photo: Chanhassen sophomore Callin Hake became her school’s all-time leading scorer.