Midseason all-area watchlist: the 33 players you need to know in prep girls basketball
ST. CLOUD – It's midway though girls basketball season in central Minnesota and with the Granite City Classic and other holiday tournaments behind us, some teams and athletes have stood out from the pack.
Let's take a look at what local players could be in the running for the end-of-season St. Cloud Times teams of the year. Luckily there is still time for others to improve their resume and make a push for their team and for individual postseason awards.
Read below for a roundup of the players you need to know from Albany (11-1), Becker (8-4), Foley (6-7), Holdingford (12-3), Kimball (5-11), Sartell (11-4), Sauk Rapids-Rice (6-8) and St. Cloud Cathedral (9-5).
Albany (11-1)
Players to watch:
Senior Guard Tatum Findley
Senior forward Kylan Gerads
Senior forward Alyssa Sand
It’s been four trips to state in five years for Albany and the Huskies again look like a favorite to compete for the Class 2A title. Returning almost all of the top-scoring players from last year’s runner-up squad, Albany has just one loss to Mountain Iron-Buhl (14-2). The Huskies have beaten powerhouses like Crosby-Ironton (10-5), Sauk Centre (11-3), Holdingford and Providence (13-2). The Huskies beat the Mainstreeters 49-41 in the Section 6-2A championship game last year but lost to the Lions 74-60 in the state championship game. The Huskies have also defeated .
Albany is lead by senior forwards Alyssa Sand and Kylan Gerads, who both scored their 1,000th career points Dec. 5 in the 71-30 win against the Huskers. Sand, who has 19.5 points per game, is committed to St. Thomas and Gerads, who scores 18.8 PPG, is committed to St. Cloud State. The two also dominate on boards with more than 250 total, but Huskies are dangerous at all positions. To round out the starting five are senior guards Tatum Findley, Savanna Pelzer and Callie Holthaus. Pelzer was the hero against Providence, netting two free throws with two seconds left to put Albany ahead. She has 7.4 points per game, behind Findley’s 13.2. Findley can shoot or drive to the basket and she shoots well from the foul line.
Shooting 44.3% as a team and forcing 17.6 turnovers per game, Albany is a nightmare matchup for any team. The Huskies were down by double digits at times Dec. 19 against the Lions.
“Our girls just really responded, they just battled their tails off,” coach Aaron Boyum said after the game. “They were relentless, I thought, in a lot of ways, relentless in attacking the basket. Just superb rebounding on both ends of the court.”
Becker (8-4)
Players to watch:
Eighth grade guard Adele Changamire
Junior forward Reese Hausmann
Senior guard Alexis Rose
After finishing third place in Class 3A last year, Becker graduated over 50 points per game from their strong senior class. This season the team will rely on senior guard Alexis Rose for much of the scoring. She has 21.6 points per game through 12 games, including 32 in a 71-63 win Tuesday over Cambridge-Isanti (6-10). Rose averages 41.1% from the field and follows shots well, claiming 6.4 rebounds per game.
Eighth Grader Adele Changamire has come into her own through the middle of the season, scoring 16.6 points per game over the past five game. She had a few points on last year’s team, but now averages 12.9 points per game, second for the Bulldogs. Changamire also a talented runner and finished 26th in the Class 2A state cross country race in November.
Junior Reese Hausmann has 4.2 boards per game and has six points per game for the Bulldogs. A few of her classmates have impacts, too, like Madison Bass, Hannah Dierkes and Tess Brown.
It will be a tough task to get out of the Section 5-3A tournament this year. Monticello (14-1) looks like this season’s team to beat after losing to Becker in 2023.
Foley (6-7)
Players to watch:
Junior guard Adelyn Rudnitski
Senior guard Macy Zawacki
Senior center Ella Duevel
In the 2023-24 season the Falcons are hoping for another winning record and to improve on last year’s first-round exit from the Section 6-2A tournament. On Nov. 30’s season opener, the Falcons avenged the first-round exit loss to Eden Valley-Watkins (4-12), but recently have been up and down.
The team graduated athletes Marley Wheeler and Piper Osborne to play other sports in college, but many of last year’s impact players are back. The starting lineup is experienced including seniors Macy Zawacki, Keira Osborne and Ella Duevel. Zawacki leads the team in soring with 11.3 and junior guard Adelyn Rudnitski is also reliable for double digits averaging 10.2.
Duevel has been the Falcon’s main presence at post. She has 9.9 points per game and 117 rebounds.
“We’ve got a good group of seniors that have been around for a while, four of the five starters, and then we’ve got that younger group of freshmen that, as they gain more experience, they'll help us down the stretch,” Coach Jay Storkamp said Dec. 8 after losing to Albany. “But right now, we're all just in that process of feeling each other out a little bit and getting used to each other.”
As a team Foley has shot 33.2% from the field. The Falcons have forced 17.5 turnovers per game, but have also given away 20.1.
Holdingford (12-3)
Players to watch:
Senior forward Makenna Hohbein
Senior guard Madison Mitchell
Junior forward Addison Pilarski
Undefeated in five conference games, Holdingford is making a run for the Central Minnesota title.
Holdingford has averaged over 60 points per game with junior Addison Pilarski and senior Madison Mitchell leading the team with 14.9 and 13 points apiece. Senior Makenna Hohbein also has 10.3 per game. Last year Pilarski set the program’s single-game scoring record with 39 against Duluth Marshall in the GCC; her season high was 31 in the first game against the Crush. No other Huskers have averaged double digits, but they’ve played a deep squad. A dozen players have had minutes in 10 games or more.
On defense, the Huskers have 16.4 steals per game, 7.9 coming from Mitchell or Hohbein. Pilarski leads the team in rebounds with 94. Senior Felicity LeBlanc has 82 and Hohbein has 74. The Huskers have outrebounded their opponents by more than five per game. Hohbein also leads the team in assists with 70.
Kimball (5-11)
Players to watch:
Freshman forward Mazie Jurek
Senior guard Brookelyn Kuechle
Freshman guard Hope Kuechle
Kimball has had a rough start a year after winning its first-round game in the 2022-23 Section 6-2A tournament. The Cubs dropped seven straight games by double digits after starting 2-1. The team graduated most of its offense, including Olivia Mortenson, a volleyball player for St. Cloud Technical and Community College. The Cubs have won three games in 2024, and have seven of 10 games remaining at home.
Two freshmen aren’t just getting used to their first season on varsity, they’re leading the team. Mazie Jurek has 12.9 points per game and Hope Kuechele has 6.8. Kuechele also has the most assists and steals on the team with 44 and 33. Jurek has 113 rebounds to lead the team.
Track 800-meter recordholder Brookelyn Kuechle is hoping to get into a better rhythm as the basketball season goes on – she’s had the most field goal attempts on the team but is only shooting 26.4% from the field and 18.5% from deep. She has 9.5 points per game. One of the three senior Cubs, Brookelyn Kuechle has 37 assists and 19 steals. The other seniors, Allie Leither and Ava Molitor, are third and fourth on the team in rebounding behind Jurek and junior Samantha Winter.
As a team the Cubs are shooting 23% from beyond the three point arc and 33.2% from the field.
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Sartell (11-4)
Players to watch:
Junior forward Greta Crandall
Senior forward Kaia Gack
Senior forward Brenna McClure
With that two CLC losses, Sartell trails Alexandria (12-2) and Brainerd (10-3) in the conference standings. The Sabres have a road game against the Warriors on Thursday.
Sartell plays good defense, holding opponents to a average of 42.3 points per game while scoring 51.7. They snag 27.2 rebounds per game and have over 14 steals.
“We want to defend and create offense with our defense,” coach Katie Martin said Dec. 5 after the Sabres’ win over ROCORI.
Seniors Kaia Gack and Brenna McClure lead the team in rebounds, both averaging over six per game. A Concordia-Moorhead commit, Gack has 14.6 points per game so far this year followed by junior Greta Crandall’s 10.6, junior Kennedi Gack's 7.7 and and McClure’s 7.3.
McClure sets herself apart from the younger Gack sister with two more rebounds per game (6.3) and one fewer turnover per game (2.2).
Sartell lost in the semifinals of the Section 8-4A tournament last year, 81-40 to the state champion St. Michael-Albertville team that is 14-1 this year with 75 points per game.
Sauk Rapids-Rice (6-8)
Players to watch:
Junior forward Olivia Mohs
Senior guard Courtney Paulsen
Senior guard Sienna Petermeier
Sauk Rapids has some improvement ahead of it the team wants to compete again for the Section 8-3A championship, which it lost last year to Alexandria. Under new coach Brooklyn Harren, the Storm have some quality wins including Brainerd, Cathedral and Dassel-Cokato (8-5), but the Warriers are the only CLC team Sauk Rapids has defeated and the Storm are at the bottom of the conference.
Sauk Rapids is lead by senior Courtney Paulsen, who carries the Storm with 22.1 points per game. Paulsen's season high came Dec. 8 in a 73-70 loss to the St. Cloud Crush. She has an opportunity to beat the Crush on Feb. 1, a game after the Storm take on Alex.
Junior Olivia Mohs and senior Siennna Petermeier are at the top of a list of eight contributors good for a few buckets a game. Mohs has 7.2 and Petermeier has 6.5, but any game they could be eclipsed by sophomore guard Alison Schreifels, junior center Lauren Schloe, junior guard Ella Jevne or a few others.
St. Cloud Cathedral (9-5)
Players to watch:
Sophomore guard McKenna Buckentine
Senior guard Ella Voit
Junior post Ellie Voth
Cathedral opened the season with a sour 75-34 loss to Sauk Centre , but the next game Nov. 30 the Crusaders beat the Royalton (9-6) team that eliminated them from the first round of the Section 6-2A tournament last year. The Crusaders busted out a six game winning streak over the holidays and have recently come back to Earth on a tough stretch of games including against Pequot Lakes (12-1), Sauk Rapids and Albany. Cathedral trails the Eagles and Huskies in the Granite Ridge Conference, but plays both teams again in February.
The Crusaders are experienced and play well together. Junior Ellie Voth has the most points on the team (10.8), followed by triple-sport standout senior Ella Voit (10.4 PPG). Sophomore guards McKenna Buckentine (8.8) and Keira Alexander (7.3) are huge too.
The Crusader sophomore class has a large presence outside of Alexander and Buckentine. Emily Schaupp, Katie Pfeiffer and Madison Voigt have also had contributions.
Voit and Buckentine are neck and neck in assists with 33 and 31 while Voth paces the team with 19 blocks and 86 rebounds.
This story will be updated with statistics from ROCORI (2-12), St. John’s (3-4), and the St. Cloud Crush (3-11) when they become available.
Contact reporter Reid Glenn at rglenn@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: Central Minnesota girls basketball all-area team watchlest
