If the 2020-21 girls basketball season had the usual two dozen games instead of the pandemic-limited 14, current senior Kaylee Karels could have easily reached the milestone 1000 career points instead of the 956 she ended up with when the Clippers were eliminated from tournament play earlier this year.
After all, Karels was the Clippers’ most valuable offensive player even as a sophomore, but head coach Joe Remiger said for her, it was never about points.
“We knew that she would be close to 1000 points by the end of this season, but those conversations between her and me at the beginning of the season were always ‘I want to do what is best for the team. I want the team to win.’ Nine hundred and fifty-six points or 1000 points…does that change who Kaylee is? No. She put aside those 1000 points and did what was best for the team.”
Karels and the rest of the Clippers were honored at an awards banquet, held in the school commons on Thursday.
Besides a plaque recognizing her 956 points, Karels took home one of two All-Conference awards. Classmate Sarena Remiger also was chosen by Valley coaches as an All-Conference player, and the pair were each voted on by the team to receive the Most Valuable Player/Offensive Player of the Year awards.
“These two young ladies, Kaylee and Sarena, not just this year, but since Todd (Karels) and I had them as third graders, it’s been a ton of fun coaching you, a ton of fun watching you play,” Remiger said. “Both of you played a huge role on our team. From an offensive end, there were lots of times when we were like ‘just get the ball down to Sarena. She will either get the ball out or shoot it, and we ran our offense off of that. And there were other times where it was ‘get Kaylee the ball. She’s feeling it tonight.’ She will get the ball up the court and definitely has the most points for us this year.”
While Remiger will miss his daughter on the court next year, he is glad he will no longer have to tell her to shoot the ball.
“There are so many times in a game where she was three feet from the bucket, and the whole crowd is yelling ‘shoot the ball,’ and she kicks it back out to the corner. So I wanted her to shoot the ball, but I understand from her end of it, it was ‘It’s so much more fun watching Kaylee or Greta (Hahn) or Ava (Hahn), and if they don’t make it, I will go get the ball and make it myself.’ That whole attitude exemplifies our seniors and our senior leadership and our captains.”
Ava Hahn and Greta Hahn were All-Conference Honorable Mentions. Ava Hahn also earned Defensive Player of the Year award while Greta Hahn and Mariah McCabe were the chosen as the team's Most Improved Players.
“From the defensive end was, without question, who is their best offensive player, and Ava’s guarding her,” Remiger said. “It didn’t matter if she was 7 foot or 4 foot it was who she was guarding. To be that versatile, she was quick enough and fast enough and could play down low and always made their best offensive player work.
“Greta, from where she was at the beginning of the season to where she was at the end of the season, I don’t want to say a whole different Greta because every game is better, better, better,” Remiger said. “And I heard from other coaches, especially at Martin County West, the focus was Greta; ‘she’s not getting the ball; she’s not making four or five threes against us.’ It was neat to see her getting better, especially defensively. We love where you ended, and we can’t wait to see where you are next year.
“Mariah was a whole different world from last year to this year,” Remiger said. “Last year, if she got the ball in the corner, Mariah would turn in the opposite direction and want to hide. This year she wouldn’t be afraid to take a shot from out there, wouldn’t be afraid to drive the ball from out there, and definitely defensively, yeah, there were a lot of fouls sometimes, but I would rather have to squelch that than have her not being aggressive enough. We want to see that next step for next year.”
For 25 rebounds during the Clippers’ big upset win at St. Clair, Remiger earned a trophy for the single-game rebounding record. She also took home the Rebounding Award for the most rebounds. Remiger also picked her to earn the Coach’s Award.
“My daughter has put up with a lot of crap over the years. Any time we get in a vehicle to go home she gets an ear full: what I wanted to get done, what didn’t get done. But at the end of the day, she showed great leadership this year. Our Instagram, you ran most of that, got pictures on there. Feed my Starving Children, you got that all set up…the video for today. Just a great role model. From a dad to a daughter, from a coach to a daughter, I love you, and you are going to get the coach’s award.”
Named as Sixth Players of the Year were Lacey McCabe and Micah Peterson.
“For Lacey, it was if there is a guard-heavy offense this is who is coming into the game off the bench,” Remiger said. “She played a huge roll on our B squad, but when she came off the bench in varsity, we needed her too to give girls breaks or when they were in foul trouble, especially with St. Clair, Lacey stepped up with 11 points."
Peterson was on the floor mostly for teams that leaned toward post players instead of being heavy in the guard department.
“In the St. Clair game, we were in the locker room, and I talked to Micah and said ‘you’re probably not going to get in the game tonight.’ But it wasn’t like she was in the corner pouting about it. It was ‘I’m going to cheer for the rest of the team and be a part of the team.’”
But when Peterson was on the floor, coach Remiger had complete faith in her.
“With Micah, defensively and rebounding, there was zero question when she went into the game of where she needed to be. She knew where she needed to be defensively, and if there was a shot going up, whoever she was by was going to get boxed out. It didn’t matter if she was 7-foot tall or 5-foot-7, Micah was going to box her out.”
With a GPA of more than 3.5 during the season, Remiger, Karels, Peterson and Sam Wondra earned All-Conference Academic awards.
Remiger pointed to Wondra, who didn’t get a ton of time on varsity.
“You came on this year. We had a chat before. We knew that it was going to be predominately B squad playing. For her to step in and say ‘I’m willing to do this from being a senior and not touching the ball as a sophomore.’ For her to be able to do that... but she knows what she’s doing with a basketball. She knows where she’s supposed to be defensively to try to get a rebound.”
Because Wondra and others participated, the B squad could play all its scheduled games this year, Remiger said.
“Thanks for not just thinking about you. Thanks for thinking about the rest of the team.”
Besides the award winners, earning letters were Delaney Thompson, Samantha Baker, Taylor McCabe, Addi Holden, Mollie Bowman and Olivia Reinhardt, all who also played on the B squad.
This year Karels sunk 45 threes to lead the Clippers from behind the arc. Greta Hahn had 34 threes, and Ava Hahn had 23.
The Clippers finished their season nine and seven in the conference for fourth place and 11-14 overall but had one of their best QRF scores, 70 vs in the 90s that they have been in over the last few years, Remiger said.
“Even though we were not at .500, a lot of games we played—BA was a 1-point game, Lester Prairie 5—were super competitive, and towards the end we had a chance to win where before we were losing by 10 to 20 or getting blown out completely. It’s great to see the girls’ progression, taking steps to get better.”
The Clippers only lost twice to Lake Crystal/Wellcome Memorial and GHEC/T/ML in the conference. The GHEC/T/ML games were close. In an extremely competitive section, they fell in the second round to two-seeded Buffalo-Lake-Hector-Stewart.
Highlights for Remiger were the upset win in St. Clair and hanging on to beat visiting Nicollet to avenge an earlier-season loss. The defense really upped their game with a lot of good teams not scoring as many points as they usually do, he said.
“Kudos to you girls for not just playing good D on your player but for being on the help side.”
Remiger said his team was enjoyable to coach and dedicated too.
“It was a fun group of girls. Always, team oriented. There wasn’t anyone who ‘it is all about me, and the rest of you are going to follow along.’ They worked hard, continually learned and definitely never gave up.”
While the B squad did earn a few wins this season, that wasn’t the goal of coach Chris Seely.
“I don’t care if we win or not. In the varsity we want to win, but at B squad, we just want to get you ready for that varsity level, but it does feel nice when we win.”
Seely said his team had a bigger roster than last year but it would be nice to have more.
“We always have to mix girls off the bench and save for varsity.”
He said the B team worked on a redirect offense this season.
“We tried to get away from set plays because we really wanted the girls to understand what the defense is doing and what we could do to take advantage of the defense’s weaknesses. We’re going to keep working on that redirect offense, and then next year we would like to up our defense to get more aggressive.”
Seely is hoping to bring up all next year’s eighth graders. This year, Thompson and Taylor McCabe were eighth graders on the team.
Remiger thanked athletic director Rich Kern, bus driver and bookkeeper Dean Koppelman, clock operator, bookkeeper, medic and at times coach stand in Brady Hahn, clock operators Greg Davis and Becky Michels, and this author.
He also thanked assistant coach Seely.
“I have zero complaints. I couldn’t ask for a better assistant coach. He pushes the girls, he pushes me to get better. He keeps a clear head. Sometimes my head is not clear when (I’m) tied up with the emotions going on, and he says we should do this and not do that. He also keeps me on track when I’m being pushed too far in my outside work.”
Seely said the basketball program is encouraging practice in the summer with a “Quick Handles Club” for ball handing and a “10,000-Shot Club.” He has forms to keep track of progress, and those who complete the goals will be recognized during a game next season.
Above: Top award winners were: Micah Peterson (Sixth Player of the Year), Kaylee Karels (MVP/Offensive Player of the Year, All-Conference, 956 points), Greta Hahn (MIP, All-Conference Honorable Mention), Sarena Remiger (MVP/Offensive Player of the Year, All-Conference, single game rebound record, most rebounds, Coach’s Award), Mariah McCabe (MIP), Lacey McCabe (Sixth Player of the Year) and Ava Hahn (Defensive Player of the Year, All-Conference Honorable Mention).
Earning All-Conference awards were Ava Hahn, Kaylee Karels, Sarena Remiger and Greta Hahn.
Earning All-Conference Academic Awards were Sarena Remiger, Kaylee Karels, Sam Wondra and Micah Peterson.
Letter winners were, from L-R, front row: Micah Peterson, Ava Hahn, Kaylee Karels, Greta Hahn, Delaney Thompson and Samantha Baker. Back row: Mollie Bowman, Addi Holden, Sarena Remiger, Lacey McCabe, Mariah McCabe, Sam Wondra and Olivia Reinhardt. Missing is Taylor McCabe.
Assistant coach Chris Seely and head coach Joe Remiger presided over the awards banquet.