MAC Champs: Our Saber Girls Basketball Team

By Claire McGarry

The Saber Girls basketball team had an incredible season. With 20 wins and 5 losses, the team showed it could play against the toughest competition. The only losses were against Maquoketa, 4A Bettendorf, 4A Davenport North, 5A Johnston, and 4A Norwalk. Originally, the team was ranked 6th in 4A, eventually making their way up to 4th. In the MAC conference, Davenport North and Pleasant Valley had D1 players on their squads. This made people doubt that the Sabers would compete in the MAC conference. Against all odds, the Sabers won the conference, sending them to the state tournament.

The team consisted of seniors, Lauren Walker and Alyssa Lippens, juniors Ava Putman, Kinley Birt, Clara LeConte, Zoey Fuglsang, sophomores Maelea Neilson, Briah Ruess, Quinn Schroeder, Claire McGarry, Makenna Ohnemus, and freshman Audey Fuglsang, Emma Putman, and Lena Perrone. Their coaches were Ron O’Brien, Kayla Martens, Jim Hand, and Mike Hofer. In addition to the team's success, head coach Ron O’Brien was named MAC Coach of the Year. 

The team is very close on and off the court, doing team bonding activities like team dinners and fun activities like going to St Louis. “We just have a really good team, everyone likes each other, and you all get along really well, which makes playing on the court really fun, and people just come and work hard every day. I thought it went great,” Junior Ava Putman said when asked about why the team is so successful. 

The girls' team faced a few unexpected challenges this year, including Clara LeConte getting a concussion at the Maquoketa game, and then a few weeks later being out with mono. “Clara was one of our big scorers, and then she went down at Maquoketa, which was hard…I think just having to adjust, especially for Landre and Zoey, they had to really step into more of a scoring position,” said Lauren Walker. Zoey and Landre certainly stepped up this year with a combined total of 218 points, up from 52 last year. 

When asked how she thinks the next season will go, Clara LeConte said: “I think we can make it back to state next year…it will be fun to play (with the team) that we had when we were little, so we are all kind of excited to play again with that team.” The hopes for next year's team are high, even with the two seniors, Alyssa Lippens and Lauren Walker, leaving. Lauren's leaving is a hit scoring-wise, having 628 points this season alone, but other juniors will be able to make up the deficit, like Ava Putman, who had 295 points this year, or Kinley Birt, who had 127 points this year. 

To round off the year, the basketball team made it to the state tournament. Beating Burlington 65-42 and Clear Creek Amana 76-63 secured the team's spot in the state tournament. While the Sabers lost in the first round to Norwalk, they fought hard the whole game and came back from a 24-34 deficit at halftime, only losing by two points. “State was great,” said Clara LeConte. The team practiced at Carver Area and Knapp Center in preparation for the big game.  

 It was a surreal experience for all on the team, with Lauren Walker being the only one who had been to State. 

“I’d say it was really fun, going into the season, people did not think we were going to be very good, but we proved people wrong, which I always enjoy,” reflects Lauren Walker.