The Becker Bulldog girls basketball team gathered Tuesday to celebrate another very successful season.
Coaches Dan Baird, Dominic Squires and Scott Gudmundson organized the event at the high school with invitations sent out to parents and friends.
Baird’s varsity squad went 15-13 and won a nice playoff game against Apollo a few weeks back. The Bulldogs led the Granite Ridge Conference in scoring at 61.8 points per game. They improved their point differential by 7.8 points per game over last season while giving up just 54.8 points per game.
“Our identity was to create pressure and press,” said Baird.
His team averaged 15.6 turnovers per game, an improvement by five over last season. The girls caused 22.4 turnovers per game, which was a +6.8 improvement per game over last season. The Lady Bulldogs had 13.5 steals per game, versus just 9.6 from their opponents.
“I was happy about improvement in some key areas,” Baird said. “I feel our culture as a fun up-tempo team was mentioned by many. Many people flat out just commented how hard our team worked and were fun to watch because of how hard we played.”
The JV team, under the coaching by Squires, went 18-8 with Adeline Kent leading the team in scoring at 10.3 points per game.
Coach Alyssa Stevens did great job getting players to improve on the C-Team. They won two great games at the season-ending Cathedral Tournament. Baird said the girls knew their role and improvement was evident.
Awards
(Voted on by teammates):
Best Teammate:
Renee Tripp. She was identified as an excellent captain, always positive and upbeat and always included everybody.
Most Dedicated:
Courtney Nuest. The team voted that Nuest was one of first ones to practice, she was all business, participated in individual workouts, always looking to improve and her work ethic will take her far in life.
Most Valuable Player:
Julia Bengtson. She led the team in scoring, rebounding, assists, and steals; she improved 3.7 points per game from last year; Bengtson, a freshman, could end up being a 1,000 point scorer as sophomore if she continues on the pace she’s on. Bengtson was recognized for outworking most of her teammates and opponents. She led the team in assists and her 1.2 assist/turnover ratio was impressive. She committed only 2.7 fouls per game, while drawing 3.9 fouls per game from her competitors.
All Conference Award:
Bengtson, who led the Bulldogs team in efficiency (13.6), anything above 10 is very good.
All Conference Award:
Alayna Lindquist, who had a 1.7 assist turnover ratio, always stuffed the stat sheet, averaged three assists per game, 3.7 rebounds per game and typically was guarded by the best guard on opposing teams. She has an uncommon ability as really good defender — both on offense and team defense and gets steals without compromising team defense, which is very rare.
Honorable Mention:
Haley Benda, who was first on team in making three-pointers, second on the team in rebounding, third in scoring (had 17 points against Hopkins, 26 at Little Falls), was considered having great senior leadership,
Honorable Mention:
Nuest, who was second on the team in scoring (11.3 ppg) and averaged four rebounds a game. The coaches said she has an incredible commitment, mindset, and work ethic and is always positive and looking to improve.
Baird will be looking to have seven of his seniors replaced heading into 2018-19, but had nothing but high praise for McKenna Anderson, Haley Benda, Payton Bernstrom, Kirsten Fitzgerald, Madi Kerzman, Jalissa Johnson and Renee Tripp.
“Our seniors did a nice job helping to establish this culture leading into future,” said Baird. “Any future successes we have, this senior group will have a part in it.. They treated the officials with integrity, were great students in the classroom.”
