Prep athletes of the week: Morgan Hill charts own basketball success at Minneapolis South

What she did last week proved to be a pretty loud confirmation of that.

Hill, a 5-10 shooting guard, topped 2,000 points for her career with a 33-point effort in an 84-60 rout of Burnsville.

She followed that game with 26 points in a 76-49 victory at South St. Paul and 30 points when Tigers rallied in the second half to defeat host Chaska 68-57. Her career total now stands at 2,086 points.

"It can be a lot of pressure to live up to the last name," Morgan said.

"People always bring up 'Your sister did this or your sister did that' and I'm proud of her, but I want to put my own name out there, too."

She is glad to have the chase for 2,000 points behind her so she can focus on savoring her senior year and helping South win another Minneapolis Conference title.

"It's all gone by so fast," she said. "It's hard to cope with this being my last year of high school basketball. I'm just trying to enjoy each and every moment."

MYKAELA DOORNBOS

The senior took first on the uneven bars with a 9.55 and the balance beam with a 9.3, and won the all-around championship with a 37.6 at the Prior Lake Invitational on Saturday. The Cougars won the meet with a team score of 145.35.

The senior forward had back-to-back two-goal games in victories over Delano/Rockford (2-1) and New Prague (4-3). She has 15 goals, tied for eighth in the state, and eight assists this season. Those wins improved the Wildfire's record to 6-3.

The 6-4 junior forward has been all but unstoppable offensively early this season. Last week he scored 33 points in an 81-58 victory over Henry Sibley and reached 33 again four days later as Wolfpack defeated Hill-Murray 71-57.

Kroells, a junior ranked No. 4 in Class 2A at 132 pounds, improved to 7-0 this season with three victories en route to the 138-pound title at the Delano Invitational. He defeated Class 3A, No. 6 Bret Wilson of Rogers 4-2 in the finals, capping a 5-0 week.

The senior guard led the Panthers in scoring in each of their first three games but has never had a game like the one she had Friday in a 79-72 victory over Hutchinson. Monahan scored a career-high 40 points as the Panthers improved to 3-0 on the season.

The sophomore point guard has guided the Centaurs to an impressive 4-0 start. Last week he scored a combined 71 points and had 20 assists in victories over Breck (86-83), Centennial (85-61) and Holy Family (76-70).

JIM PAULSEN

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