Summer Eclipse: Who were the 10 best unsigned 21s?
Macy Smith Macy Smith 5'10" | CG Spring Lake Park | 2021 State MN is a Division 1 basketball player. That’s not official yet, of course, but if you watched the Spring Lake Park senior-to-be this weekend in Bloomington you…
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Continue ReadingMacy Smith Macy Smith 5'10" | CG Spring Lake Park | 2021 State MN is a Division 1 basketball player. That’s not official yet, of course, but if you watched the Spring Lake Park senior-to-be this weekend in Bloomington you would be on board. The uber-athletic wing from Fury 2021 Yellow leads our list of the 10 best unsigned 2021s at the AAU Summer Eclipse. Smith hit the game winner Friday night, a smooth corner three, in a dramatic overtime defeat of the Minnesota Rise and was excellent throughout the tournament.
“You could tell that Macy really started to feel more comfortable with the new team and her new role this weekend compared to the first two tournaments,” said Fury coach Sam Ebenreiter. “She started being more aggressive and really showing her personality and who she is. Her length, ability to attack off the dribble and hit the outside shot has been huge.”
Smith is a well-known commodity in Minnesota girls basketball. She burst onto the scene as an uber-athletic 7th grader at Maranatha Christian before transferring home to Spring Lake Park last season. Smith has played for multiple AAU squads over the years. With the unexpected demise of the Tayler Hill Elite 2021 squad Smith was a late addition to the Fury. Ebenreiter could not be happier. “Macy and Morgan (Krumwiede) have had a fantastic natural connection right from the start and they are dynamite in the pick-and-roll together,” said the coach. “Macy’s ability to pass and be the initiator in the pick-and-roll has been a very pleasant surprise.”
The Fury, whose lone college commitment to date belongs to Mahtomedi guard Ella Hronski Ella Hronski 5'11" | SG Mahtomedi | 2021 State MN (UM-Duluth), are off to a great start this month, and the #36-ranked Smith is one of the key reasons why. The team has won a series of close games, capturing a title in Des Moines last week and going 3-1 in Bloomington.
Jade Hill Jade Hill 5'8" | PG Mpls. South | 2021 State MN – Fury 2021 UAA (Minneapolis South)
Jade has been among the top players in Minnesota’s Class of 2021 from the beginning, but this month we are seeing her in a whole new light. She averaged 28 points per game in high school this winter. This weekend she averaged 7.5 ppg but demonstrated clearly in the process that she is a D1 college basketball prospect to be reckoned with, one who can do so much more than score. The Fury are loaded but Jade has found her place. She is moving the ball, making plays, burying shots from distance and showing that she can play basketball in many different ways. Hill’s excellent basketball IQ is particularly obvious in this new setting and it has been fun to watch! The 5’8 point guard, at #9, is the only top-10 player in the class who has yet to commit.
Ivory Finley Ivory Finley 5'8" | CG Rosemount | 2021 State MN – 43 Hoops Johnson (Rosemount)
This weekend was the first action of the year for 43 Hoops 2021 Johnson and it was baptism by fire. After a rough start against Fury 2021 UAA (talk about a tough draw for your first game of the season!) the team gradually figured it out and one big reason was the play of Finley. The talented guard from Rosemount scored 50 points in four games, including 16 in the team’s final contest of the weekend against South Dakota Attack. She played under control and scored at all three levels, but was particularly good at using her strength to fend off opponents and get to the rim. Finley is a top 50 prospect who holds Division 1 offers.
Morgan Krumwiede Morgan Krumwiede 5'10" | SF Burnsville | 2021 State MN – Fury 2021 Yellow (Burnsville)
Morgan was a beast for the Fury which is pretty much par for the course for the Burnsville senior-to-be. At 5’10 or 5’11 she isn’t huge but she plays physical and goes hard from start to finish which can make up for a couple of inches in a big hurry. When the outcome was on the line Friday night in an epic struggle with the Minnesota Rise, the last play of the game was, not surprisingly, drawn up for Mo. At that moment she combined beautifully with Macy Smith Macy Smith 5'10" | CG Spring Lake Park | 2021 State MN (as they did all weekend) and the result was an overtime W. Krumwiede is a top 50 prospect who averaged 13 ppg during the high school season and had 33 points in four games this weekend.
Morgan Kelly Morgan Kelly 5'11" | PF St. Peter | 2021 State MN – Rise 2021 Wolfe (St. Peter)
Speaking of beasts… Morgan has emerged as one of the more impressive power forwards in the 2021 class. This weekend Kelly was relentless. She was particularly impressive in the game with Fury Yellow which could have gone either way. She was physical, displayed excellent footwork and moves in the paint, and had her motor revving in overdrive. Morgan finished with 20 points and a bushel of rebounds. The 6-footer was a walking double-double during the high school season, averaging nearly 17 ppg. Her steady-as-she-goes skill development over the past two or three years has led her to a place where she is the #62 prospect in the class and trending upward.
Lynnsey Hady Lynnsey Hady 5'10" | SG Rochester Mayo | 2021 State MN – Air Minnesota 2021 (Rochester Mayo)
Lynnsey is just so dang athletic. With tremendous length, plenty of bounce and the innate ability to play the game with flow, Hady has blossomed in the past 12 months. Her improvement is one of the primary reasons Rochester Mayo had such a good season as the 5’10 wing averaged about 13 points per game while rising in the rankings to #69. Air Minnesota struggled this weekend, and Hady’s consistency left a little to be desired, but when she was on it was a light show well worth the price of admission. In her strongest game of the tournament Hady had five threes and 21 points against the South Dakota Attack. Hady still has a long way to go but she is one of the more enigmatic prospects in the class.
Briana Stoltzman Briana Stoltzman 5'8" | CG Mankato West | 2021 State MN – Rise 2021 Wolfe (Mankato West)
A month ago we wrote a story about hidden gems in the class of 2021, an article that included plenty of praise for Bri Stoltzman. This weekend in Bloomington, Stoltzman made us look pretty good and made her Rise coach Dan Wolfe really happy, so much so that she was elevated to the starting point guard role after the first game. The 5’8 combo guard had 57 points in four games, tying for third in the top division with Utah commit Gianna Kneepkens Gianna Kneepkens 5'11" | CG Duluth Marshall | 2021 State #86 Nation MN of Fury 2021 UAA and Duluth Marshall, which is pretty good company to keep. Although she can certainly score the basketball it is Bri’s hustle plays and pressure defense that will carry her to the next level. The #91-ranked 2021 is entertaining D2 offers.
Ashlyn Bigelow – Southern Minnesota Fury 2021 (Kasson-Mantorville)
She is smart, she is skilled and she plays the game like a woman on a mission. She is Ashlyn Bigelow and on Sunday afternoon we watched her engineer a very impressive victory for her Southern Minnesota Fury squad over Minnesota Stars DeSart. Southern Fury went 3-1 in the tournament as Bigelow averaged over 11 points per game including 19 in a win over Air Minnesota. The 5’8 point guard is smooth with the basketball, plays with grace under pressure, and knows how to make great decisions on a consistent basis. Ashlyn has been in and out of the Prep Girls Hoops rankings but with tons of experience and a GPA that’s in the stratosphere, she will be a valuable asset in the right situation at the next level.
Mackenzie Jones – Comets 2021 Elite (Willmar)
Led by D1 commits Paige Meyer Paige Meyer 5'6" | PG Albany | 2021 State MN of Albany (South Dakota State) and Julia Bengtson Julia Bengtson 5'10" | PG Becker | 2021 State MN of Becker (Eastern Illinois), Comets Elite has been an excellent team for a very long time among the 2021 units. There hasn’t been a lot of turnover in the roster, either. New to the party this season, however, is Jones, a 5’9 rising senior. Jones led Willmar in scoring this winter at over 14 points per game. She’s big and strong and physical, and has ample offensive tools with plenty of range. Jones has a long wingspan which makes her a disruptive defender, and she is plenty aggressive, too. Mackenzie isn’t all that well-known in the bigger picture of Minnesota girls basketball, but her game was the subject of much discussion among the D3 coaches in attendance at the Summer Eclipse.
Bella Lenz – Stars 2021 DeSart (Prescott, Wisc.)
Bella had a 51-point game this past winter. That kind of performance is hard to miss but the reason you probably didn’t hear about it is due entirely to Lenz’s home address, which is approximately 1 mile east of the Mississippi River. We generally don’t cover Wisconsin players, but we’ll make an exception here for Lenz who is a long-time Minnesota Stars athlete. She had a terrific weekend for Jim DeSart’s squad, scoring 78 points in four games. In a game we watched the Stars dug themselves a very deep hole against the Southern Minnesota Fury before Lenz went on a tear. She made five threes and scored 27 points in all to give the Stars a chance. Against Martin Brothers of Iowa she had 11 points but every one of them came at the free throw line! That’s not something you see often.