MINNETONKA, Minn. (AP) — Cheryl Reeve was once between sets of weightlifting at a Twin Cities-area gym when she saw a skinny young woman working on her game on an empty basketball court. This sixth grader had the moves and the determination. and moxie to get the attention of a WNBA head coach, and Reeve was so impressed she started an impromptu shooting drill for the girl to run over the course of the next half hour. READ MORE: St. Paul Woman Receives Age 21 for Murdering her ex-husband, burying him in the backyard When Paige Bueckers became a star on the local high school scene a few years later, Reeve, who is beginning his 13th season with the Minnesota Lynx, had a revelation. “I know her!” Reeve told herself the day she made the connection. This weekend, Bueckers will return home and lead the Connecticut Huskies to their 14th straight Final Four. Minneapolis is the too-good-to-be-true host city for Bueckers, the smooth-shooting second-year shooting guard who has been working his way back from a serious midseason knee injury. “She’s a generational talent,” Reeve said Tuesday as she reflected. in that first chance encounter with Bueckers, who in 2021 became the first freshman to win AP Women’s National Player of the Year. “You can catch them at a very young age. I was very happy to see that she was a girl, and I needed to acknowledge it. She didn’t know what she would become, but she was happy she was there and wanted to let her know.” ice, Minnesota naturally labels itself as the land of hockey. This is also an avid area for basketball, from the four-time WNBA champion Lynx to little girls learning to pass and dribble. A progressive culture provided fertile ground for Title IX advancements to spur the growth of the women’s game, and the arrival of the Lynx in 1999 gave the Twin Cities a professional team to follow. One of its biggest stars was Lindsay Whalen, who grew up in Minnesota, stayed home to play at the state’s flagship college and led the Gophers to their only Final Four in 2004. According to the most recent participation survey by the Federation National of States High School Associations, made after the 2018-19 school year, Minnesota has the highest per capita rate of female high school basketball players with 12,073. Minnesota had 15 nominees for the women’s McDonald’s All-American game, which was played Tuesday night in Chicago. The only states with more nominees were California, Florida, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia. Whalen, who retired from a 15-year career as a WNBA player and is now the head coach at her alma mater, signed a four-player recruiting deal. she classed for the Gophers for the upcoming season which was ranked 10th in the nation by ESPN. The entire quartet is from the Twin Cities area. “Whoever fits into our program, that’s the one we’ll recruit, but there’s no question, being here where there’s so much talent, we’re recruiting the state very hard, Whalen said last fall. READ MORE: MOA celebrates 50 years of Title IX ahead of NCAA Women’s Final Four One such player is Amaya Battle, who hails from the same dynasty at Hopkins High School that sent Bueckers to UConn two years ago. The Royals won Minnesota’s Class 4A state championship earlier this month, their only loss of the season coming against Sidwell Friends School of Washington, DC. “There’s definitely a sense of needing to perform well to put Minnesota on the map,” Battle said. she looking forward to her college career. “Minnesota players are good. That can help attract other younger players to possibly stay at home.” The Hopkins campus is about 10 miles west of the Target Center, where the national semifinals will be played Friday night. The Royals’ head coach is Tara Starks, who coached the Bueckers for a long time on the summer circuit and has known her since she was a fifth grader. As she watched her team perform in recent practice at the Lindbergh Center, the Royals’ home gym, Starks marveled at the game’s growth over the decades since she played for another area powerhouse, Minneapolis North. “We just packed up, went to the park and played. Our gym teacher was our basketball coach in high school,” said Starks, whose daughter is a graduate assistant on staff at UConn. “The opportunities and all the things that are offered now are very different now than when I was playing.” Including having a WNBA team in town to look up to. you’re younger and you’re working on your game, you can emulate Lindsay Whalen, Seimone Augustus and Maya Moore,” Reeve said. “We are so blessed here in Minnesota. I never want to take it for granted. “We are one of only 12 cities in the entire country that has this great opportunity for girls and women, and also for children, because I think it’s important that children see this. They grow up understanding that it’s normal when they look at their female counterparts and see what they’re doing.” Bueckers is one of those basketball-loving kids in the Minnesota area who grew up in the Lynx era, and now she’s well on her way to being one of those oft-emulated players herself. “People gravitate towards her. She’s the kind of girl you can’t help but love,” said Starks, who proudly displays a Bueckers jersey at her home. “His impact on her has been just ridiculous, and she will continue to be that way.” MORE NEWS: State lawmakers consider providing relief to Minnesotans facing high energy bills and surcharges starting in February 2021 Polar Vortex (© Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. 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