As the Becker Lady Bulldogs basketball team gathered over the weekend to celebrate their incredible season at their annual banquet, Head Coach Dan Baird was thrilled to hear of being named the coach of the year by Breakdown Sports USA.
Baird, in just his third year holding the reins, led his girls team to a 27-5 record and a second place finish at state in March.
“My biggest goal as coach is to create a positive culture while teaching a growth mindset to set these girls up for success with this sport and their future,” Baird said at the beginning of this season.
Baird was in competition with coaches Brian Cosgriff of Hopkins, Aaron Boyum of Albany and Chad Johnston of Minneota for the COY award.
Other Team Awards
The Becker Bulldogs reached the state championship in a turnaround year, going 27-5. Becker defeated defending champ Robbinsdale Cooper at the buzzer in the semi-final game, 68-66.
Courtney Nuest’s memorable game winning three- pointer vs. Marshall in the first round provided the key highlight of the state tournament, and will be talked about for years!
Julia Bengtson was named Breakout Player of the entire state of Minnesota for all classes for the 2018/2019 season.
All conference went to Adeline Kent, Julia Bengtson, Courtney Nuest and Megan Gamble. All conference honorable mention went to Alayna Lindquist.
The team MVP went to Julia Bengtson and the most dedicated/improved award went to Adeline Kent. Best teammate was Amber Vogl and academic all-state went to Amber Vogl and Lexi Masog (seniors above 3.8) Scholar athletes (4.0 GPA) were Amber Vogl and Aly Gruenes.
Bengtson led the team in scoring with 564 points and an average of 17.6 points a game. She also led the team in assists (4.4 avg./game) and steals (3.3/game).
Kent finished with 542 points, averaging 16.9 points a game. Courtney Nuest had 317 points, averaging 10.6 a game and led the team in rebounding (6.2/game). Gamble had 293 points, Lindquist 143 points, Dani Nuest 164 points, Lexi Masog 129 points, Maren Westin 40 points and Ayla Brown 29 points.
The Bulldogs will lose two players to graduation (Masog and Vogl) but will field another young team next year in their quest to return to the state title game.
