Champion Vikings headline 2019-20 UMAC women's basketball awards
ST. PAUL, Minn.---For the first time in program history, Bethany Lutheran College captured the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) women's basketball championship after an impressive 14-2 before collecting a second-straight postseason title Saturday. Following their outstanding season, the Vikings have been rewarded taking two of the top three honors announced with the 2019-20 UMAC women's basketball postseason awards and all-conference list Tuesday.
The Vikings' Hanna Geistfeld was selected UMAC Player of the Year, while head coach Lyle Jones was named Coach of the Year for the second year in a row. Haley Wollschlager of the University of Minnesota Morris was selected by the conference coaches as the Rookie of the Year.
Behind Geistfeld's play on the court and Jones' leadership on the sidelines, the Vikings captured their first regular season title and will make a second-straight NCAA tournament appearance Friday. The Vikings defeated the University of Wisconsin-Superior on the final game of the regular season at home to end the four-year winning steak for the Yellowjackets. They then earned an impressive comeback win over the Yellowjackets a week later to take the tournament championship and extend their current winning streak to five-straight games.
This season, Jones' Vikings set a program record for wins boasting an impressive 23-3 overall record heading into the NCAA championship. Their two losses this season came at the hands of the University of Northwestern. In between the two losses, the Vikings put together a 13-game winning streak. This season in conference play, the Vikings led all team in scoring with 77.3 points per game (ppg), as well as scoring margin (15.3 ppg), field goal percentage (44.0), made 3-pointers per game (7.2), rebound defense (34.6 rebounds per game/rpg) and rebounding margin (9.1 rpg).
The key to the Vikings' offense ran through Geistfeld. The junior forward was nearly unstoppable averaging a double-double in 16 conference games. She led the UMAC in scoring (21.5 ppg) and rebounding (10.2 rpg) while shooting a conference-best 64.0 percent from the field. She put up similar numbers in overall games and tallied 560 total points this season.
Geistfeld surpassed the 1,000 career-point mark with a 30-point performance against Northland College on Jan. 11. She scored 30 or more points six times this season and tallied a program-record 37 points in another win over Northland in which she went 16-for-21 from the field. This season, Geistfield recorded 18 double-doubles and led the Vikings in scoring in 15 games. Three times she was selected as the UMAC Player of the Week.
For the Cougars, Wollschlager helped her squad earn a UMAC postseason berth and first-round UMAC tournament win as the No. 4 seed. The rookie guard helped run a Cougar offense that was second in UMAC games for scoring with 76.8 ppg. She finished her first conference season scoring 5.4 ppg and adding 2.6 rpg. Wollschlager ranked sixth in the UMAC for assists with 3.4 per game and 13th in steals with 1.9 per game. Five times this season Wollschlager reached double figures in scoring and tallied a career-high 17 points vs. St. Olaf College.
Abby Olson of Bethany Lutheran is the only player on the UMAC all-conference list to have been named to one of the three teams in each of her first three seasons. Wisconsin-Superior senior Eva Reinertsen is the only other UMAC player to have earned all-conference recognition three times in her career. Olson and Reinertsen are the only two back-to-back All-UMAC First Team selections.
Eight other UMAC players have been named to one of the three teams twice in their careers including Emily Carpenter (Wisconsin-Superior), Geistfeld, Naomi Hagstom (North Central University), Kaylee Kennedy (College of St. Scholastica), Rio Landers (Northwestern), Kelsea Lund (Northwestern), Abby Van Kempen (Minnesota Morris) and Emily Witkowski (Martin Luther College).
Minnesota Morris won the team sportsmanship award, an accolade that is selected by the UMAC coaches and awarded to the team that best represents sportsmanship throughout the entire season. Each team also had one representative named to the individual sportsmanship award list.
Player of the Year Award* – Hanna Geistfeld, Jr., Bethany Lutheran
Rookie of the Year Award# – Haley Wollschlager, Fy., Minnesota Morris
Coach of the Year Award – Lyle Jones, Bethany Lutheran College
First-Team UMAC All-Conference
| Name |
Year |
School |
Position |
Hometown/High School |
| Emily Carpenter |
Sr. |
Wisconsin-Superior |
Guard |
St. Peter, Minn./St. Peter |
| Hanna Geistfeld* |
Jr. |
Bethany Lutheran |
Guard |
Truman, Minn./Martin Luther |
| Kelsea Lund |
So. |
Northwestern |
Guard |
Madison, Minn./La qui Parle Valley |
| Abby Olson |
Jr. |
Bethany Lutheran |
Guard |
Montevideo, Minn./Montevideo |
| Eva Reinertsen |
Sr. |
Wisconsin-Superior |
Forward |
Duluth, Minn./Denfeld |
Second-Team UMAC All-Conference
| Name |
Year |
School |
Position |
Hometown/High School |
| Emily DiGiorgio |
Jr. |
North Central |
Forward |
Ironwood, Mich./Luther L. Wright |
| Lexus Eagle Chasing |
So. |
Minnesota Morris |
Guard |
Rapid City, S.D./Stevens |
| Kaylee Kennedy |
Jr. |
St. Scholastica |
Guard |
Little Fork, Minn./Little Fork-Big Falls |
| Abby Van Kempen |
Sr. |
Minnesota Morris |
Forward |
Elbow Lake, Minn./West Central Area |
| Mia Wassink |
Sr. |
Minnesota Morris |
Forward |
Edgerton, Minn./Edgerton |
Honorable Mention UMAC All-Conference
| Name |
Year |
School |
Position |
Hometown/High School |
| Brooklyn DeKam |
So. |
Northwestern |
Guard |
Edgerton, Minn./Southwest Minnesota Christian |
| Naomi Hagstrom |
So. |
North Central |
Forward |
Zimmerman, Minn./Zimmerman |
| Rio Landers |
Sr. |
Northwestern |
Forward |
Grand Meadow, Minn./Grand Meadow |
| Kenlie Pytleski |
Jr. |
Bethany Lutheran |
Forward |
East Chain, Minn./Granada-Huntley-East Chain |
| Marissa Ruiz |
Sr. |
Wisconsin-Superior |
Guard |
Inver Grove Heights, Minn./Simley |
| Karli Skog |
So. |
St. Scholastica |
Guard |
Crosslake, Minn./Pequot Lakes |
| Emily Witkowski |
Jr. |
Martin Luther |
Forward |
Saint Joseph, Mich./Michigan Lutheran |
UMAC All-Defensive Team
| Name |
Year |
School |
Position |
Hometown/HS |
| Emily Carpenter |
Sr. |
Wisconsin-Superior |
Guard |
St. Peter, Minn./St. Peter |
| Emily DiGiorgio |
Jr. |
North Central |
Forward |
Ironwood, Mich./Luther L. Wright |
| Rio Landers |
Sr. |
Northwestern |
Forward |
Grand Meadow, Minn./Grand Meadow |
| Jordan Sauve |
Jr. |
Northwestern |
Guard |
Blaine, Minn./Blaine |
| Abby Van Kempen |
Sr. |
Minnesota Morris |
Forward |
Elbow Lake, Minn./West Central Area |
UMAC Sportsmanship Awards
Team Award – Minnesota Morris
Bethany Lutheran – Laura Ellinghuysen, So., Winona, Minn./Hope Lutheran
Crown – Stevey De La Ossa, Sr., Tucson, Ariz./Salpointe Catholic
Martin Luther – Cassandra Rose, So., West Bend, Wis./Kettle Moraine Lutheran
Minnesota Morris – Becca Holland, Sr., Donnelly, Minn./Morris
North Central – Allison Bulthuis, Jr., Prinsburg, Minn./Central Minnesota Christian
Northland – Aja Gregg, So., Greenacres, Fla./John Leonard
Northwestern – Jordan Sauve, Jr., Blaine, Minn./Blaine
St. Scholastica – Kaylee Kennedy, Jr., Little Fork, Minn./Little Fork-Big Falls
Wisconsin-Superior – Mackenzie Kmecik, Sr., Superior, Wis./Superior