File photo by Travis Rosenau Sleepy Eye St. Marys’ Morgan Mathiowetz leads the Tomahawk Division in scoring at the midway point of the girls basketball season with 34.5 points per game in eight conference games.

SLEEPY EYE — With most teams in the Tomahawk-Valley Conference, Tomahawk Division at least halfway done with their conference games, some conclusions can be drawn about how the season has gone so far.

Fourth-ranked St. Mary’s sits on top of the Tomahawk after a 13-0 start, 8-0 in conference. The Knights were a force in the conference last year, but there has been a clear step up in their game from a season ago.

“Last year we had no seniors, so we had everybody coming back from a year ago,” St. Mary’s head coach Bruce Woitas said. “Obviously Kylie Pelzel is still out with her injury, so we miss her a little bit, but I think just having everybody back, we’re really able to just jump in and progress into the season. We have kids that really put in time in the offseason, and we changed some things up offensively, but I think everybody caught on right away. It’s just been a really quick progression this year, and that’s really paid off for us. Having everybody back from a year ago has been a really big benefit that we had.”

St. Mary’s has gotten contributions from all around the lineup, with four players averaging double-digit points in conference games. Leading them is star sophomore Morgan Mathiowetz, who is averaging 34.5 points per game in conference on 65.5% shooting, both best in the conference. Olivia Schieffert averaged 14 points per game, while Brynne Ibberson averaged 11.9. Natalie Fischer follows with 11.5 points per game. St. Mary’s has seen marked improvement from many players this season, and the unit is working as a team to dominate in every game.

“I think everybody’s come around with the things they do,” Woitas said. “Obviously we have the star player in Morgan Mathiowetz, she leads the way, but we’ve got four girls that can consistently average close to double figures for us. We get that balance that just makes everything go a little easier. We have improvement from everybody. Sydney Tauer comes off the bench and has really improved for us. Doesn’t score a lot, but she does a lot of other nice things.

“Kiara Murphy’s another one of those players that have been giving us time off the bench as well. And our senior Amelia Schwartz, Brynne Ibberson’s improved her game as well. You go through everybody, everybody’s made that next step and they’ve made that progression, and that’s been a benefit to our overall team success.”

In particular, two areas where the team is excelling is 3-point shooting and passing. Mathiowetz leads the group and the conference in 3-point shooting, shooting 56.1% from 3 on 41 attempts in conference games, and Ibberson is shooting 40% from behind the arc. Murphy is also shooting 40% in conference games, and Fischer is eighth in the conference at 33.3%. The assist numbers are also impressive all around, with Schieffert earning 5.7 assists per game, followed by Mathiowetz with 5.4 per game. Fischer sits at ninth in the conference at 2.8 assists per game.

“I think that’s one thing we really try to emphasize,” Woitas said. “There are times I think even now we rush ourselves a little bit offensively, but I think our whole goal this year has been to get that ball moving and make that defense work a little bit harder. When you do that, make that defense rotate to the other side of the floor and make them move, that just opens up so much more for everybody. When we do that, that reflects what we see in our offense. It’s been really fun to watch this group progress this season so far.”

To stay on top of the section and even state rankings, St. Mary’s has some difficult opponents remaining on its schedule. In particular, Mayer Lutheran, who ranked second in Class A, will host the Knights on January 31, followed immediately by 13-2 Central Minnesota Christian on February 1. Then the Knights have a matchup against Valley Division-leading Martin County West on February 17.

“Those are going to be some big games coming up,” Woitas said. “We play Mayer Lutheran on a Friday and Central Minnesota Christian on a Saturday, so it’s going to be two big tests for us that we maybe haven’t seen in the conference so far. Martin County West is undefeated on the Valley side, and we could potentially see them right again after that in the Tomahawk-Valley Crossover game we started this year. We’ve got some good teams coming up, and we have to be ready for everybody in our conference too. We know that everybody is going to look to play their best against us, and our kids have to understand that and be prepared for that for every game that we play.

Mayer Lutheran in particular is going to be an interesting game to watch and may present the Knights’ toughest challenge before playoffs.

“They’re going to be a tough matchup regardless because of their length and their height,” Woitas said. “They obviously have a tremendous volleyball [program], a lot of those kids, they pretty much go 5-9, 5-10, maybe even a six footer in there. We’ve played them now the last three or four years in the nonconference schedule. We’ve always competed with them, I don’t think we’ve beat them yet in any of those nonconference games. We did beat them in a section game a few years ago and a state quarterfinal game a few years ago, but it’s a very good program. It’ll be a good challenge for us and a good way to measure up how we’ve been progressing throughout the year as well.”

EXTRA POINTS

While St. Mary’s sits at the top of most categories in the Tomahawk Division, a few other teams and players stand out as well. Sleepy Eye sits tied for second in the conference with a 6-2 record, despite losing two All-Journal First Team players in Kadence Hesse and Brea Mertz from a season ago. Leading the Indians has been Paige Haala, averaging 20.3 points 5.4 rebounds per game and 3.6 assists per game, while Kayla Hecht and Taylor Berkner average 12.8 and 12.1 points per game, respectively. Sleepy Eye is tied with Springfield, led by Emma Hauger (14.6 ppg, 2.9 apg) and Jada Reese (14.1 ppg, 2.0 apg).

Cedar Mountain sophomore Aubrey Steffl has been making her case for a top player in the conference as well, leading the Tomahawk Division in rebounds per game (10.6) and assists per game (6.6), second in points per game (27.3) and sixth in 3 point percentage (36.5) with the most attempts per game from behind the arc (63). Lily Hubin continues a standout career at BLHS, and while it hasn’t translated to much team success (5-6 record, 2-5 in conference), her 22.9 points per game and 6.3 points rebounds per game in conference games means that the Mustangs can’t be taken lightly.