Waukon girls basketball team a few points away from reversing its 9-12 season

The Waukon girls basketball team rode a bit of a rollercoaster this season, getting off to a slower start and an even slower finish while finding its greatest success through the middle of the season. Starting the season with two wins in their first three games before winning just one of their next six, the Lady Indians then strung together five victories in six games through the middle of this winter’s campaign prior to wrapping up their season by winning just one of their final six games to end up with a 9-12 overall record.
“I was disappointed at our record this season, I was hoping we would have been at least .500,” Waukon girls basketball coach Andy Sires said. “But it was a good year. Anytime you get to play basketball it’s always good. In the middle of the season we won five of six games; that was probably the highlight of our season. But we were just a few points from a much better season.”
That 9-12 overall mark included a record of 5-7 that placed the Indians in a tie for fourth place with Oelwein, a team the Indians split with during the regular season before having their season ended by those same Huskies in the opening round of Class 3A regional tournament play. Three of those Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC) losses came by a total of seven points, with two of them coming at the final buzzer; those three narrow losses making a considerable difference in the Tribe’s final NEIC placewinning.
“We lost to Decorah by three points in a game where we scored one point in the first quarter, we lost to Oelwein by a point on a late free throw, and we lost to Crestwood on a three-pointer at the buzzer,” Coach Sires remembered. “Those three games were big, because if we win those games we finish as high as second in the conference and our season record is reversed (12-9). Those losses really stung.”
Those three losses, along with another six-point loss to Spring Grove, MN, saw the Indians score more in the point range that typically resulted in wins for the hardcourt Tribe, while the remaining eight losses this season saw the Indians score less than 40 points, including three losses that yielded less than 30 points for the Indians. It was that lack of offensive production that Coach Sires saw as this season’s greatest challenge for his charges.
“We struggled to score at times,” he remarked. “If we could have scored more consistently our record would have been a lot better. Most of that was just that we weren’t taking our time on our shots.”
The second-year head coach also noted that free throw shooting and rebounding were trouble spots for this year’s squad. “We only shot 56% from the free throw line, we have to improve our free throw shooting,” Coach Sires said. “And rebounding is an attitude. We’ve got to work on that, and we’ll do more drills to improve on getting in better rebounding position.”
This year’s squad was led in veteran experience by five seniors that paced a team getting contributions from every varsity-eligible grade level. Nicole Behrend, Emily Hammel, Leah Riese, Madison Snitker and Bethany Stock each played their final games in a Waukon girls basketball uniform with completion of this season.
“We had five really good seniors,” Coach Sires said. “They were good leaders, they did a good job of leading the team.”
Some of that veteran leadership translated into leadership in this season’s final statistical numbers as well, with Behrend pacing the team in scoring with 148 points and finishing second on the team with 64 rebounds. Snitker was also among team leaders with her second-place season totals of 34 assists and 46 steals.
A great deal of this season’s remaining statistical leadership came from this season’s youngest competitors. Freshman point guard Maddie Ahlstrom paced the team this season with 80 assists and 57 steals, as well as a 78.9% free throw shooting efficiency. Those numbers helped her rank atop all Northeast Iowa Conference players in steals and second in free throw shooting percentage.
Fellow freshmen McKenzie Cooper and Sydney Ross used their 6’0” frames to also post team-leading numbers. Cooper pulled down a team-high 72 rebounds, and Ross swatted a team-high five blocked shots.
Those statistics resulted in team awards for both Behrend and Cooper as offensive and rebounding leaders, respectively. Snitker was bestowed both the team’s Defensive Award and the Moody Award given to the team’s most dedicated player. “Madison was always on the other team’s best player and did a very good job of defending them,” Coach Sires explained. “We gave her the Moody Award because she never complained and she always worked hard and gave 100% in whatever we asked her to do.”
Ahlstrom and Snitker were also each named to this season’s All-Conference team, Ahlstrom being a Second Team selection and Snitker receiving Honorable Mention. Snitker was also joined by fellow senior Leah Riese in each being named Academic All-State with the right combination of success both on the court and in the classroom.
“We have some really good kids this year, and we’ve got a lot of them coming back,” Coach Sires said of looking toward the future. “We have a lot of things planned in the off-season to help improve what we need to work on, but real improvement takes a lot of work on your own. It depends upon how good you really want to be. We’ve got a good summer planned with open gyms and team camps. I’m looking forward to a great off-season and an even better next season.”