No. 4 Minnetonka at No. 2 Hopkins
7 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 28
MN Girls' Basketball Hub Spotlight Game

Hopkins has won five state titles in the past decade under coach Brian Cosgriff, including the last three in a row. The list of top players wearing Royals blue in those years is impressive and features 2004 Miss Basketball Leslie Knight, Stephanie Sension, more recently the Coffey sisters (Nia and Sydney) and a host of other college prospects. This year’s team remains loaded with the same type of talent, but the Royals endured injury woes early and surprisingly lost back-to-back games in mid-December.

Star guard TT Starks (7.1 ppg) missed time with injury but returned in early January, and the Royals have begun to roll. Hopkins has won nine straight since the losses and no one has come within 12 points in that span, as the Royals have won by an average of 29 points.

One of those victories was a 69-47 defeat of Minnetonka in the final of the Dick’s Sporting Goods Holiday Classic on Dec. 28. Tournament MVP Molly O’Toole (12.1 ppg) scored a game-high 21 points, Bloomington Kennedy transfer Jazmyn Martin (9.8 ppg) added 14 points and Nia Hollie (11.4 ppg) scored 10 points for the Royals. Cosgriff’s tight defensive scheme also harassed a usually good-shooting Minnetonka team into just 47 points, led by Anne Hamilton (8.9 ppg) and Mackenzie Dahl (9.3 ppg) with 11 points each.

The Royals are amazingly balanced, as six players average at least 7.1 points per game, and Cosgriff goes deep into his bench to bring out players such as Liz Bulver (9.8 ppg) and K’Aezha Wubben (4.9 ppg), who would be starters on most every other team in the state. Add in starters Viria Livingston (4.8 ppg), Evelyn Knox (3.2 ppg) and Ashley Bates (11.9 ppg) and others and the Royals can go 10 deep on any night.

Since that loss to Hopkins, Minnetonka has also been ripping through its opponents, winning six straight by a 22.2 point per-game margin. The Skippers may be one of the few teams in the state with the depth to match the Royals. In addition to veterans Hamilton and Dahl, Minnetonka features leading scorer Courtney Fredrickson (19.5 ppg), a 6-foot-2 sophomore forward who can score from anywhere on the floor. Junior Caroline Shelquist (11.2 ppg), sophomore point guard Hannah Hedstrom (7.6 ppg), senior post Olivia Baker (3.4 ppg) and sophomore forward Grace Allen (5.0 ppg) are all capable players. Baker has committed to North Dakota State, while Hamilton (Valparaiso) and Dahl (Sioux Falls) are also college recruits.