The second day of the MN State AAU Qualifier saw some interesting match ups, some nail biters, and clarification on who will battle for the number one seeds on Sunday afternoon. What I like about the qualifier is that teams are forced to play teams, they can’t duck out. It is one of the few times in the year everyone is in the same house. That sets up some intense rivalries.
Most of my time was spent eyeballing the 2019s. The Suns rose in the beginning and the Suns at the end. North Tartan Coury, the defending champion at the 2019 level survived a scare from MN Stars Nelson. If you are looking for the best action in any class that may be at 2021. MN Stars Hersch blitzed MN Suns Coley. By half MSH had 47. Put it in perspective of the ten teams I charted today that was better than six teams for their entire game. Add in the 48s out there and only one team bettered that total for the day. Of course AAU ball is physical. Calls aren’t going to be made as tightly as those that are called in November. We are on an industrial schedule. The games come on every hour on the hour. The exception was the NTC v MSN game where both teams attempted 22 free throws. During the high school season teams average 16.9 free throws per game. It drops to 13.8 during club ball.
Tomorrow each age bracket will feature the battle for true #1 seed for the state tournament in two weeks. Generally whoever wins this Sunday has a 57% chance to win in two Sundays. At the younger levels there is a lot more churn.
GAME 1 MN SUNS KIETZER 48, MN STARS AMUNDSON 40
Absence makes the heart grow fonder. May time has a lot of pot holes for teams. Case in point is MN Stars Amundson—they were missing Kacie Borowicz. And missing a dynamic ball handler in late game situations has dire consequences. MSK went on a 15-2 finishing kick in the last six minutes to bump off MSA. Instrumental in the Rising Sun effort was Wayzata’s Mimi Schrader who had 18 points.
GAME 2 NORTH TARTAN COURY 43, MN FURY 2019 YELLOW 21
North Tartan Coury held the MN Fury 2019 Yellow team to the lowest point total I charted today with 21 points. That can be explained by the 12.5 percent shooting by MF19Y.
GAME 3 MN FURY 2019 GAUNTLET 63, MN STARS AMUNDSON 48
After sitting out an hour, MSA was back at it against a fresh MN Fury 2019 Gaunlet team. Ironically MSA was faster out of the gate grabbing a 16-3 lead and forcing MF19G to regroup. They righted the shop and led by eight at half (31-23). McKenna Hofschild spearhead the first half rally with the first eight points after the time out for Fury with two free throws sandwiched around two 3s.
GAME 4: NORTH TARTAN COURY 46, MN STARS NELSON 43
This was the most physical of the contests today and the most dramatic. In the end, NTC out slipped by MSN who rallied to take a 39-36 lead with 3:49 left on a drive by Aja Wheeler. Less than 30 seconds later Sara Scalia tied it for NTC on a steal, lay up and one. Masengo Mutanda, who led NTC with 17, grabbed a missed MSN shot and converted a lay up to give NTC the lead at 41-39 with 2:50 to go. It appeared that NTC had the game sewn up at 46-40 with 33 seconds left after a free throw by Kallie Thiesen. Alexis Hultman drained a three from the right side to close the game to the final margin with over 20 seconds left. After two missed NTC free throws MSN had one more chance to tie, but a last second prayer by Wheeler was in and out.
Ironically both teams were identical at the free throw line at 12/22.
GAME 5: MN STARS HERSCH 67, MN SUNS COLEY 43
In the only non-2019 game I charted today MN Stars Hersch eclipsed MN Suns Coley. MSH out ran MSC with 12 transition baskets early. MSC, who beat the defending 2021 champs Tayler Hill Elite last night didn’t get back quick enough to stop the attack. Leading the charge was Adelia McKenzie who had a day’s high 19 points. 16 of her points came on slashes to the basket. She did deliver a 3 from the right side. She got to the lane on 57% of her touches and when she got to the lane it was going up 94% of the time. MSH was the only team to crack the century mark all day.
Later in the day Tayler Hill Elite stunned MSH 56-45. That left three teams at 2-1, but with point differential they will move on to the 9:10 game.
| AGE | TEAM | POINTS | PP100 | LEADING SCORER |
| 2019 | MN Suns Kietzer | 48 | 94.1 | Mimi Schrader 18 |
| 2019 | MN Stars Amundson | 40 | 75.5 | Brienna Smestad 9 |
| 2019 | North Tartan Coury | 43 | 86.0 | Sara Scalia 11 |
| 2019 | MN Fury 2019 Yellow | 21 | 42.0 | Madeline Rice 7 |
| 2019 | MN Fury 2019 Gauntlet | 63 | 94.0 | McKenna Hofschild 17 |
| 2019 | MN Stars Amundson | 48 | 72.7 | Taylor Fautsch 12 |
| 2019 | North Tartan Coury | 46 | 78.0 | Masengo Mutanda 17 |
| 2019 | MN Stars Nelson | 43 | 71.7 | Dlayla Chakolis 11 |
| 2021 | MN Stars Hersch | 67 | 104.7 | Adalia McKenzie 19 |
| 2021 | MN Suns Coley | 43 | 68.3 | Frankie Vascellaro 12 |
TRENCH PLAYER
GAME 1: Mimi Schrader, MN Suns Kietzer (Wayzata)
GAME 2: Sara Scalia, North Tartan Coury (Stillwater)
GAME 3: McKenna Hofschild, MN Fury 2019 Gauntlet (Prior Lake)
GAME 4: Masengo Mutanda, North Tartan Coury (Armstrong)
GAME 5: Adalia McKenzie, MN Stars Hersch (Park Center)
PLAYER OF THE DAY: ADALIA MCKENZIE