Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Martin Luther College’s Lauren Paulsen goes up for a shot in the lane during a nonconference women’s basketball game against Augsburg on Dec. 16 at MLC.

NEW ULM — Now on Christmas break, the Martin Luther College Knights women’s basketball team can relax a bit and enjoy the best start to a season the program has had in over a decade.

At 6-2, the Knights have won five or more games before the Christmas break for the first time since the 2011-12 season. That season the Knights went 5-5 into the break and finished the rest of the schedule in dominant fashion, winning the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference Tournament and securing a berth in the NCAA DIII Women’s Basketball Tournament, with the late Larry Czer serving as the team’s head coach.

The Knights fell to St. Thomas in the first round of that NCAA tourney to finish the season 20-6, but it was the first and only time the MLC women have been in that tournament.

While this year’s women’s team is far from getting their NCAA tournament plans together, having this type of a strong start to a season is what Knights fans, coaches and players have been waiting for for quite a while.

“First of all, I’m proud of our ladies,” MLC head coach Dan Gawrisch said. “Our players have shown up every day at practice to push one another and you see that paying off. You go back to our seniors in their freshmen year. There’s been a noticeable change in not only their practice effort but also their competition mindset. Now it has switched to a winning mindset and that’s huge. Whether that results in winning the game or not, for them to learn that over the course of their time here is a success for the program.”

Gawrisch, now in his 10th season as the team’s head coach, has been through some tough seasons over the last decade, and he knows not to get ahead of himself.

“You have to take it one play at a time, one game at a time,” Gawrisch said. “Things can change quickly with momentum in any given game or over the course of a long season, it’s a long sports season. It’s fun to look back and it’s fun to know what we’ve done before Christmas, but we also don’t start conference until after Christmas.

“I told my team this before the season, UMAC conference looks more competitive this year across the board than I remember it being since I started coaching. We’ve had competitive years for sure and great teams, but it’s more competitive this year than ever before. It’s really going to come down to which team continues to improve over the course of the season, which team brings the energy in January and February and keeps improving.”

Even though Gawrisch isn’t looking too far ahead, it doesn’t take away the extra smiles he’s been able to have with his coaching staff (Todd Schoof, Sarah Strobel) and players so far this season.

“Everything I’ve seen from our players so far, I have no hesitation to say we should be in that conversation and start thinking about those things and what we’re capable of and setting those kind of goals,” Gawrisch said. “But then we have to put the work in day in and day out and stay focused on the present in order to achieve it.”

The Knights also have student manager Ella Hunter, 2024 Minnesota Valley Lutheran grad, on the sideline assisting after injuries kept her off the court this year.

On the court, however, the Knights are led by seniors Emma (Nelson) Dorn, Lauren Paulsen and Grace Kieselhorst.

Dorn, a fifth-year senior forward and 2020 MVL grad, is averaging 12.3 points and a team-high 7.4 rebounds per game. The 5-10 forward said being off to this hot of a start was exciting but she echoed her head coach’s one-game-at-a-time approach.

“It’s exciting,” Dorn said after the Knights’ home win over Augsburg on Dec. 16. “Again, we have to just take one game at a time, but still I feel like this is one of the best teams I’ve ever been on. It’s been really fun to play with them. I think we have a really good shot this year, but we’ve just got to take it one game at a time.”

Paulsen is averaging 7.1 ppg, fifth on the team, but she’s been known more for her defensive ability and finished last season as a Defensive All-Conference player.

Kieselhorst is averaging 7.9 ppg.

The Knights have also seen Lydia Feidt continue to contribute this season in her junior year with 9 ppg.

Some of the Knights’ success can also be attributed to the new kid on the block in point guard Mya Morris. Morris, a sophomore that played at Crown last year before transferring to MLC this year, is leading the team in scoring with 13.6 ppg while adding 4.8 rpg and 2.4 assists per game.

“She relies on [her] experience, but she’s been very coachable as far as working into our system and finding her shots within our system and within her teammates,” Gawrisch said of Morris. “[Dec. 16 against Augsburg] was a great example — Mya’s shot wasn’t falling for her, we didn’t get the scoring numbers we typically have. Mya would tell you she didn’t have a great night shooting, but we’re deep and we have a lot of players we can go to. Whether she’s scoring 20 or she’s scoring 4, she’s doing a lot of things as far as controlling the ball, controlling the pace of play, effort on defense.

“We’re able to press with her, too, and other players off the bench because we have good speed. It’s been huge having Mya. And, obviously, she’s a great ball handler and shooter, so that stretches our defense and that compliments everyone else’s game. We’re able to look for those posts, we’re able to get the cuts. Grace and Lauren are able to hit their drives more, it opens things up for Lydia for offensive rebounds. It’s been just a really good thing.”

The Knights have also seen 5-11 freshman forward Ava Stein make a difference so far in the post with 6.8 ppg and 4.4 rpg off the bench.

How the Knights handle a tough UMAC schedule after break is yet to be seen, but they’ll have two more nonconference games to get back into their groove before they open conference play. First the Knights travel to St. Paul to take on Hamline University in a 3 p.m. game on Dec. 31 before heading to Northfield to battle St. Olaf College at 3 p.m. Jan. 1 in the new year.

They then open UMAC play at Minnesota Morris at 7:15 p.m. on Jan. 8 and travel to Crown for a 4:45 p.m. UMAC game Jan. 11. MLC’s first UMAC game at home takes place at 7:15 p.m. on Jan. 15 against the University of Northwestern Eagles.