The Annandale girls basketball team recently celebrated their success at their end-of-the-season awards banquet. The Cardinal girls ended up with a 14-14 record and placed sixth in the Wright County conference. The team made it to the subsection finals and lost a close game to Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted, 47-43.
Seniors on the 2011-12 team were Felicia Fobbe, Katie Gruys and Chelsea Watson. According to head coach Rob Tengwall, the seniors "provided leadership and experience and they will be missed."
Kuefler, MVP
Kuefler is a junior and has started on varsity for three years, playing at point guard and wing. As one of the Cardinals’ leading scorers Kuefler averaged 17.1 points per game this season and was named to the All Section 5AA and the Wright County All Conference teams.
She also averaged 5.4 rebounds and just under 3 steals per game. She shot 43 percent from the field and 80.4 percent from the free-throw line.
"Kuefler was named the MVP of the team and based on her statistics and the leadership she showed throughout the season, she was very deserving," Tengwall said.
Gruys, SALT award
Gruys, a 6-1 senior, was also named to the All Section 5AA and Wright County All Conference teams. She has started for the past two years on varsity, averaging 11.5 points and 5.8 rebounds per game this past season. Gruys also shot 47.3 percent from the field and 64 percent from the free-throw line.
"She was the dominant force in the lane for us all year," Tengwall said. Gruys was also voted as the SALT award winner, which stands for Sportsmanship, Attitude, Leadership and Training.
Whitesell, most improved
Sophomore Emmy Whitesell was voted the team’s most improved player, averaging averaged 3 points per game, the majority of which were scored in the last half of the season.
"Emmy was a major role player for us coming off the bench," Tengwall said. "You could see as the season progressed, she just became much more confident and you saw it in the way she played. The last half of the season her scoring increased significantly and her defense and ball handling also improved."
Gunnerson, best defense
Sophomore Maranna Gunnerson was voted as the team’s defensive player of the year. She stepped in as point guard half-way through the season and did a great job of playing defense and running the offense while pushing the ball up the court, according to Tengwall.
"… Maranna’s point guard play allowed us to move Kaytlin over to the wing position and become more effective offensively," Tengwall said. "She is extremely athletic and did a great job guarding the other team’s point guards and scorers."
Next season
Tengwall is optimistic about next season and said, "Maranna and Emmy are sophomores, Kaytlin is a junior, so the future is bright – especially with all the other players we have returning."
Freshman Hannah Spaulding, will be another returning starter. She averaged 9.1 points and 5.9 rebounds per game.
"These players along with girls moving up from the Junior Varsity make for an exciting 2012-13 season’" Tengwall said. "Anne Kittok, Sam Thurber and Emma Atkinson all had significant playing time and will be returning next season."
Leading next year’s lineup will be senior captains Kuefler, Kittok and Thurber.