But to see those attributes out of a 5-foot-4 eighth-grader is an even rarer case.

It’s still very early on into their high school basketball careers — and they’re not even high-schoolers yet — but Sleepy Eye St. Marys’ Morgan Mathiowetz and Cedar Mountain’s Aubrey Steffl are a pair of 5-4, eighth-grade guards making big plays for their teams this season.

Morgan Mathiowetz is leading the Knights, who hold a 10-4 overall record, in scoring with 16.5 points per game. Her up-tempo energy sees her second on the team in rebounds with 6.4 rebounds per game, and she also leads the team in assists with 4.7 assists per game.

Despite her success, Mathiowetz isn’t alone in the Knights’ solid first half of the season.

File photo by Travis Rosenau Cedar Mountain’s Aubrey Steffl puts up a shot in the paint during a girls basketball game with Minnesota Valley Lutheran at Martin Luther College this season.

Seniors Liz Schwint and Allie Labat have also been a big help and have stepped up this season. Schwint leads the team in rebounds with 9.6 rpg and is also averaging 13.9 ppg. Labat adds 12.9 ppg and 4.9 rpg.

Natalie Fischer is another younger guard leading the Knights, averaging 15 ppg during her freshman campaign.

“We have so many scoring threats where if somebody’s having a good night, we’re going to keep giving them the ball … and that’s just important for us,” Mathiowetz said. “We work together and we feed off of each other and that’s really what helps us to drive and get the outcome that we want.”

Mathiowetz is also happy to do whatever she can to help her team win, whether she’s in the headlines or not.

“In the end, it’s really about what happens on your record, not about personal goals, and I think that’s important to me, too,” she said. “It doesn’t matter to me if I’ve [personally] succeeded, I still want to win and that’s the most important thing to me — having fun with my teammates and enjoying it and also trying to win. The things that go along the way also help with that, too.”

Much like Mathiowetz, Steffl leads her team in several categories this year like scoring (17.5 ppg), rebounding (7.5) and assists (2.9). While the speedy guard admits to sometimes feeling pressure on the court to be one of the Cougars’ leaders, she doesn’t let it negatively impact her play or thinking.

“My dad always tells me that it’s OK to feel nervous and have that pressure, but you don’t need to feel that pressure — you just need to play the game,” Steffl said. “Sometimes I’d always put the pressure on myself, but I also have my team with me that I just need to open up to and just play the game of basketball. Sometimes I do put a lot of pressure on myself, but I just try to flow with the game and help my team win.”

In addition to Steffl, the Cougars have been aided this season by senior forward Teresa Larsen, who is adding 10.6 ppg, 4.6 rpg and a team-best 4.5 steals per game. Senior forwards Paige Rose and Lauren Welter are both scoring 4.4 ppg.

“I think we have a really good bond,” Steffl said. “I have a really good bond with a junior and a sophomore, we kind of work really well together. If they see that I’m struggling or something, they’ll come and help me. We’re really close with the seniors also and they kind of have a closer bond, but we all work as a team and feel comfortable around each other.”

As many Sleepy Eye residents and high school basketball fans in the area are already aware of, there are several Mathiowetz family members that have been standout athletes at Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s in the past. The most recent Mathiowetz standout is Morgan’s big sister Madison, who graduated from St. Mary’s last year as the school’s all-time leading scorer and is currently playing DI basketball at South Dakota State University.

While Morgan Mathiowetz’s quick jump to the varsity level as a starter shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, it doesn’t make it any less impressive. But it hasn’t come without a little help from her family either, especially her big sister.

“Just seeing her work hard all the time definitely influenced me to do the same thing,” Mathiowetz said of her sister Madison. “Seeing her and her teammates have fun, it really motivated me to do the same thing and really enjoy it. She’d always say, ‘It doesn’t last forever,’ and, ‘Enjoy the time you get with those people.’ Especially since people are coming through really fast and you don’t always get all the time that you want. It’s been really fun working with her and learning from her and also just seeing her succeed.”

The Knights’ older players on the team like Labat and Schwint have also helped Morgan feel welcome after her sister’s graduation.

“They’ve really acted like sisters to me on the court and just helping me if I’m looking for advice,” Mathiowetz said. “It’s always them who step up and give that advice, just like any other senior or captain probably would. But it’s just really special to me because I’ll always have that friendship with them.”

As for Steffl, basketball is her favorite sport and the interest in it came at a young age through her family.

“Our family’s always kind of played basketball, so I was really young, I think it was probably third grade I started,” Steffl said. “Fifth grade, I started getting into AAU and I went with MN Rise, and then kind of just how it played and finding the love of the game … everything was focused on basketball after that and it still is. It’s my passion and it’s all I really want to do.”

The two eighth-grade stars will have the chance to match up with each other on Monday at Cedar Mountain High School as the Knights battle the Cougars in Tomahawk Conference action.

However, Monday’s game is far from the first time the two have played each other or with each other.

“I’ve been playing AAU with Aubrey for about three or four years now here, and I just know her really well as a person and a player,” Mathiowetz said. “And it’s just really fun to play against her because we kind of know each other’s weapons and weaknesses a little bit, so we kind of get after each other on the court.”

Steffl said she’s looking forward to Monday’s game and the challenge it brings.

“Morgan is a really good basketball player,” Steffl said. “I’ve played against her since we played elementary, third or fourth grade. And she’s always been one of those people that we’ll go against and it’ll just be me and her going at each other.

“Playing with her is really good, too, we just work well together. … I feel like in AAU, we’ve practiced together, we watch what each other do, we see each other in games. But it’s going to be fun. I always love playing against her because it’s really good competition.”

Before Monday’s game, the Knights host Sleepy Eye Public on Thursday and Sibley East on Saturday, while the Cougars are on the road to take on Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop on Friday.