The 2022 Mill City invading Chanhassen and the surrounding area this week. Teams from all over the Midwest, Northwest and even Canada came together for an entertaining and exhilarating few days of competition. Here we continue to recap the standouts from first day of games and more!
Camryn Dennin- Metro Stars
Camryn was a corner 3-ball specialist the entire first day of the tournament. She did a fantastic job of getting set up in both of the corners and moving off the ball to get into her spots and having her hands ready in the shooting position and if the defense allowed her to get a clean catch and shoot, the shot was going to find the bottom of the net. There was possibly no more automatic shot in the entire gym than a Camryn corner 3-ball on Wednesday.
Jocelyn Schiller- Impact Basketball (ND)
Schiller was a fantastic defensive guard. She used her quick hands and moved her feet to beat the ball handler to the position where they were going and interrupt, they ability to handle. She was extremely disruptive knocking the ball away and coming up with steals or deflections and trying to quickly turn it into points for her team. She also showed that she has an elite-level passing ability to get the ball down to her players inside the paint. She knew where they wanted the ball and would get them the ball on time and on the money for them to have a high percentage chance at scoring.
Lauren Hust- North Tartan SE
Hust has a problem for her opponents all day long around the basket. She did a great job of getting two feet in the paint, holding her ground, and giving her teammates a big target to throw the ball down into and once she caught it, she would either make a quick move to score over her shoulder or turn and face her defender and attack off one or two dribbles around the rim. She also showed off a nice midrange shooting ability and forced defenders to come out on her or risk giving up multiple buckets.
Abbie Pietila- Minnesota Fury
The clutch shot of the day award for Wednesday would have been given to Pietila if they gave it out daily. Not only did she hit a game winner, but it was a long distance 3-ball with her team down two and with no time expect for a quick catch and launch. The smooth shooting guard had used the buzzer-beater to cap off a strong game that saw her creating strong scoring opportunities for both herself as well as pulling in defenders and creating looks for her teammates. She had her fingers over almost all the success her team managed on the first day of the event.
Madison Malecha- Crossfire
On Wednesday, you would have been hard pressed to find a part of the game that Malecha wasn’t positively affecting for her team. On multiple possessions, you could of saw her coming up with emphatic blocks leading to quick layups on the other end or leaping in the passing lanes for steals and quickly passing to a teammate streaking up the court for an easy bucket. She also was no stranger to fighting for rebounds on both sides of the game and showed she could secure the ball among a crowd. A strong couple of outings to open up the event for Madison.
Alexis Rose- MN Comets Elite
Alexis just keeps on keeping on this AAU season. She had her hands in almost everything positive that would happen for the Comets on their first day. She is a hard-hat type of player who worked hard fighting for rebounds, played strong defense and then offensively was a threat to score inside or outside effectively. She also showed off the ability to run her team’s offense and showed a willingness to pass and create openings for her teammates.
Elizabeth Lukken- North Tartan North
Lukken is the go-to scorer for her team and frankly there is still nothing the opponent can do to stop her from putting up points. She scored off offensive rebounds, off moves off the ball, she hit the face up jumper and was a strong rebounder for her team even in a crowd. If you were looking for a strong scorer on the opening day of Mill City, you should have found your way to the court Lukken was playing at.
Jordan Ode- Minnesota Fury
The speedy and athletic Ode had a strong opening to the event. She used her speed so well to get out in the open court and once she got a head of steam, there was no one that was going to catch up with her. She showed off her lethal outside shot as well as her ability to sprint past multiple defenders in the half court for buckets right at the rim. She also was one of the strongest rebounding guards in the entire event as she multiple times used her elite leaping ability to simply rise over players to secure the ball.
Bergan Kinnebrew- Impact Basketball (ND)
Bergan brought a productive all-around game to Mill City and her scoring was on display all weekend long, but in particular during the first day of the event. She hit the ground running with a 20+ point scoring outburst right out of the gates against the Minnesota Fury. She showed she could score at all three level and was not afraid to create contact and get herself to the free-throw line. She was able to keep defenders off balance with the ball in her hands as they had to play her for a strong outside shot but also knew she was capable of using her quickness and craftiness to create off the bounce with effectiveness as well.
Peyton Stevermer- MN Rise
Peyton was a do-it-all guard on the opening day for her Rise team. She was 1 part of a highly effective duo for the Rise team along with Abigail O’Reilly. Peyton showed zero hesitation to fight in the paint to come up with tough, physical rebounds from the guard position. She also hit bit 3-pointer after big 3-pointer and was showed the ability to connect quickly and with a defender right in her face. Also, she was a physical defender and used her upper body to keep opposing ball handlers from getting past her and made sure she kept her body between her matchup and the basket.
