The Remsen St. Mary’s girls basketball team ended their season in the state semifinals for the second year in a row. This time, the Hawks fell to Newell-Fonda by a score of 60-35.
It was a perfect storm in the first quarter with Remsen St. Mary’s shooting 2-7 from the field and scoring six points and Newell-Fonda shooting 9-14 from the field scoring 21 points. Remsen St. Mary’s head coach Scott Willman says getting a couple extra shots to drop could have changed the outlook early.
The Mustangs continued to use their strength in the post all game. Kierra Jungers finished with a double-double of 14 points and 11 rebounds with Kinzee Hinders adding another 13 points. Coach Willman says they were a really tough matchup.
Senior Mya Bunkers scored seven points but went down with an injury late in the third quarter. She says having the team step up like they did all season was a great thing.
The Hawks end the year with a record of 24-1 putting together the only one-loss season in school history. Coach Willman says this year will go down in the history books.
The group of six seniors that graduate the program took the Hawks to their only two state tournaments in school history reaching heights nobody thought possible. Carmindee Ricke says that part is great, but she says getting to do it with her friends was the most rewarding.
Whitney Jensen will get the opportunity to keep playing basketball at DMACC in college. She says the friendships she made through this sport are the most rewarding part.
Ricke says this group was a lot of fun to be around, and that will be what she misses most about playing basketball in Remsen.
This run has been made more impressive considering the program nearly did not make it a few years ago. There was a three-year span that saw the Hawks win 10 games combined, and one of those years saw just five girls play the rest of the season after an injury to the only player off the bench. Coach Willman says that group laid the foundation that allowed this group to reach these heights.
Mya Bunkers says they knew this run could be a possibility since they were little, and it means everything to have sent the program to new heights.
Coach Willman is not worried about the girls in their future endeavors. With the amount of energy and passion they have for everything, they will go far in life.
The Hawks end the season with a record of 24-1 graduating six seniors off the roster. Newell-Fonda is off to its fifth championship game in six years and will take on North Linn on Saturday, March 2 at 7:00 PM.
