Evan Thue –

Every year seems to always bring new battles, new experiences in our lives and new memories that we will take with us into the future. This season for the University of Wisconsin-Stout women’s basketball team brought out that fact. The Blue Devils finished the season with an 18-9 record, earning a spot in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athlete Conference (WIAC) Tournament.

Bailey Dierson, Kyncaide Diedrich and Carolyn Feddema are three seniors that have all played their final game for UW Stout. Since the final buzzer of the season has sounded, now is a perfect time to reflect on the season.

The team kicked off to a hot start winning 13 of their first 15 games, including a ten-game winning streak to start the season.

“The thing that stood out to me the most about this season was our work ethic as a whole team.  There’s a saying, ‘You’re only as strong as your weakest link’ and we truly bought into working our butts off every day and holding everyone accountable whether you play 40 minutes or you don’t see the court,” said Deidrich.

The team really bought into what they were doing and that’s what made for so much success this season. This season’s results were very impressive as it was the first year of Head Coach Hannah Iverson’s time at UW-Stout. The team really bought into what she was saying and that’s what made for success this season.

Speaking of success, the team made it to the WIAC Women’s Basketball Tournament for the first time in three years.

“After not making the WIAC tournament since my freshman year, it was very exciting to not only make the tournament, but also get a home game for the first round. The atmosphere for the tournament is always more intense and exciting compared to regular season play,” said Feddema.

The team was able to secure a win at home, but unfortunately they lost to UW-Oshkosh, ending their season. The season was still filled with some amazing moments. One such moment that both Dierson and Diedrich mentioned was the night they both got their 1000th point together. “The fact that we both did it the same night was truly incredible! I will forever remember that game and I am glad I could share that day with Bailey,” said Diedrich.

Many lessons were learned along the way in this four-year journey for these seniors, like Dierson continued to say. “I learned that previous results do not determine the level of success that you can accomplish in the future,” and that “you have more control over your success than you think.”

With lots of work that was put in, the team’s success shows how well the they played this year. Even though Dierson, Feddem, and Diedrich are all graduating after this semester, their legacy will live on with the team. Next season, the team will keep on working hard with a very bright future ahead.

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