Latest Hill tandem a final go-around for Minneapolis South

Prep Sports Notebook by MATTHEW DAVIS

As soon as the Morgan and Jade Hill tandem concluded for Minneapolis South girls basketball, a new one began.

Jade and her seventh-grade sister, Angel, now play together for the Tigers this winter after Morgan’s graduation last spring. Morgan now plays Division I women’s hoops at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. She scored more than 2,000 points at Minneapolis South and helped the Tigers make the Class 4A Section 6 final last year.

“I definitely have to step up and talk more to my teammates and just be a leader,” Jade said.

Their oldest sister, Tayler, left the biggest legacy at Minneapolis South with 3,894 career points and a Class 4A state title in 2009. She led the Tigers to three state title games. Since then, she starred at Ohio State and became a WBNA player. Hill played for the Washington Mystics for five full seasons but got traded to the Dallas Wings during the 2018 season.

“It’s definitely a lot of pressure. A lot of pressure on us just to keep the legacy up and play hard and do good all the time,” Jade said.

Tayler returned to Minneapolis during the offseason and came to many of Jade and Angels’ games. The duo has the Tigers off to an 11-5 start through Jan. 22. The Tigers could make another run in Section 6 though they may get a lower seed.

“We’re still young,” Tigers coach Nate McGuire said. “I think we’re getting better, but it’s still a pretty dramatic change from what we had last year when we went to the section finals against Hopkins.”

Jade, who has played point guard since eighth grade for the Tigers, has become the leading scorer this year. She averages 20.4 points 4.7 assists and 5.7 steals per game. She also has been drawing Division I interest as schools such as Chattanooga and Kansas State.

“Last year, my sister scored most of the points,” Jade said. “Now it’s my turn to step up and score points.”

Angel plays wing for the Tigers and leads the team in rebounds with 6.4 per game. She also posted 6.8 points per game and averaged 3.8 steals per game on defense. She does all of it going up against players who are often sophomores, juniors or seniors.

“Sometimes I’m nervous,” Angel said about the older competition.

Nerves calm across the team though when Jade has the ball.

“That is pretty typical. When there’s so much pressure on the ball, I think that everyone’s heart rate does it,” McGuire said. “Jade just does it so much. I think the whole team has that much confidence in her.”