Without a ton of time spent on the basketball court during the off season, every outing for the varsity girls this year was progress along the learning curve.
“We literally watched them learn and grow game by game,” said head coach Myrriah Rutz.
So, while the Clippers upped their win-loss record to 7-17, two more Ws than a year ago, Rutz and company are hoping the season laid the footings of a sturdy foundation for next season and beyond.
With awards banquet held in the school commons, the Clippers wrapped up their year on March 19.
Rutz first recognized the Clippers two seniors: Mollie Bowman and Olivia Reinhardt.
Both made comebacks this season, Bowman bouncing back from injury and illness that limited her court time last year and Reinhardt not being on the team at all last year. Bowman also fought through an aggravated ankle this season while Reinhardt, nursing a thumb she broke in practice, missed the first six games.
Both said playing Clipper basketball taught them teamwork and discipline.
Bowman’s 3.96 GPA during the season earned her an Academic All-State award.
Junior Taylor McCabe was voted on by Valley Conference coaches to be a member of the All-Conference team. In Valley games, McCabe averaged 16.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 3.2 steals and 0.4 blocks.
The Leadership award went to Kaitlyn Flowers. The junior was a vocal and supportive leader on and off the court, Rutz said.
“She was our floor general. She was the one who was telling people where to go, but any time someone was down, she was the first one to say ‘you got it.’ A lot of times she would get in foul trouble trying to help defense, and on the bench, she was the first one to cheer for her teammates and the first one to give advice and to keep the girls’ spirits up when they were down. On defense, she was a spark. She would energize us to come up when we were down.”
Flowers also received the team-voted-on Sparkplug award, which Rutz said goes hand and hand with the leadership award.
Sophomore Ava Kluntz took the Most Improved award.
“From first trying to figure out balance and ball placement and shooting and then, at the end of the season, she was one our top rebounders,” Rutz said. “She made some great passes and made some great plays, so she really started to put it together.”
Kendra Schipper earned the JV team’s Most Improved award. The freshman hadn’t played basketball since she was a sixth grader and upped her game every time she got on the court.
Letter winners were Reinhardt, Bowman, Flowers, Kluntz, McCabe, Taylor Wolf, Kiya Sohn, Valentina Rohlfing, Cecelia Gair, Emma Kortuem, Harper Rutz, Brooke Bosse, Allie Anderson, Natalie Flowers, Gretchen Heldberg and Hadley Thompson.
This summer, the Clippers will have more opportunities to up their basketball skills, and the coach staff encouraged the players to take advantage of them.
“It’s really easy to get excited, to put in the work for a program that already has success,” said assistant coach Lindsey Botker. “You have that potential, but that starts with getting into the gym this summer. You can always go somewhere that is already successful, but how cool would it be to look back at your high school career and say ‘I was a part of building that program.’ We know that you are multi-sport athletes, and you have success with volleyball and softball each year, but there are a lot of lessons you learn playing basketball that cross over to other sports that you play.”
While a talented group of junior high girls will add to future basketball teams, the Clippers are also hoping that more girls who have not played for a while will rejoin the team.
Above: Letterwinners, from L-R: Gretchen Heldberg, Mollie Bowman, Hadley Thompson, Cecelia Gair, Allie Anderson, Kaitlyn Flowers, Taylor Wolf, Olivia Reinhardt, , Valentina Rohlfing, Emma Kortuem, Harper Rutz and Taylor McCabe. Missing are Ava Kluntz, Kiya Sohn, Brooke Bosse and Natalie Flowers.
Award winners Mollie Bowman (Academic All State), Taylor McCabe (All Conference) and Kaitlyn Flowers (Leadership, Sparkplug). Missing are Ava Kluntz (MIP) and Kendra Schipper (JV MIP).
Taylor McCabe earned a spot on the All-Valley Conference team.