Area teams off to a good season start

By MATTHEW DAVIS

High school and college basketball fans in the area will likely hear the name Javonni Bickham.

Minnehaha Academy’s 6-6 center has appeared on Division I college programs’ recruiting radar despite being a freshman. Bickham already had one varsity season under his belt entering this season.

As an eighth-grader, Bickham scored 7.2 points per game for the Redhawks. He was the team’s fourth-leading scorer and helped Minnehaha go 15-14 that season.

This winter, Bickham has helped the Redhawks to a 3-2 start and has a team-best 17.2 points per game through Dec. 12. He scored a season-high 26 points in a 69-50 win over Henry Sibley on Nov. 25.

While the Redhawks have Bickham as a force in the post, they came into the season with a young and inexperienced squad.

“We are inexperienced across three spots at least,” Redhawks coach Lance Johnson said early in the season.

Seventh-grader Jalen Suggs has the second-highest scoring average on the team with ten points per game. He hit a season-high of 16 points in a 74-54 win at Jordan on Dec. 5.

Senior guard Trenton McCarthy gives the Redhawks some additional offensive punch with nine points per game. Jake Richardson, a junior forward also has chipped in with 8.8 points per game, including his 14-point performance at Henry Sibley.

Minnehaha will have a challenging stretch of games in mid-to-late January. The Redhawks played two state tournament qualifiers from last season, St. Paul Central on Jan. 13 and St. Paul Academy on Jan. 20.

On the girls’ side of things for Minnehaha hoops, early 2015 will bring eager anticipation for the Redhawks. While the Minnehaha girls started 2-1 through Dec. 13, they have been without star sophomore guard Sarah Kaminski.

She tore her ACL during AAU basketball in the summer months. Her return should give the Redhawks a huge boost. Kaminski led the Redhawks to the state tournament last spring and averaged 17.3 points and 9.9 rebounds per game.

Besides Minnehaha Academy, Minneapolis Roosevelt has been successful on the hardwood this winter. The Teddies boys hoops team has a 4-2 start through Dec. 13 and a No. 8 ranking in Class AA.

The Minneapolis boys hockey co-op has also started the season strong with a 4-2 mark through Dec. 13. Connor Fulco has a team-high 12 points, and Will Graves has an .800 save percentage in goal.

Minnehaha Academy’s boys hockey team has big skates to fill this winter with 6-4 goalie Justin Ball graduated. Justin Evenson has made due with a .935 save percentage in goal. The Redhawks had a 3-2 start through Dec. 13.