Geistfeld Player of the Year repeat highlights UMAC women's basketball awards

Geistfeld Player of the Year repeat highlights UMAC women's basketball awards

Bookmark and Share

ST. PAUL, Minn.---For the second-straight season, the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) women's basketball awards are headlined by a duo from Bethany Lutheran College as Hanna Geistfeld repeated as the UMAC Player of the Year and Sarah Kottke was selected as Rookie of the Year as part of the conference awards announced Wednesday.

University of Northwestern Head Coach Aaron Kahl was also selected by his peers as the UMAC Coach of the Year following the Eagles' 7-1 conference record to share the UMAC regular season title. 

In the most unusual of seasons, Bethany Lutheran managed to win its final four games of the regular season to finish 6-1 and share its second-consecutive conference championship thanks in large part to the unstoppable play of Geistfeld. In seven conference games, Geistfeld led the conference in scoring with 24.4 points per game (ppg) and field goal percentage (69.1). She ranked second in rebounding with 8.7 rebounds per game (rpg) and was fifth with 4.1 assists per game (apg). At the free throw line, Geistfeld shot 77.3 percent which was fourth best. 

In conference play, Geistfeld recorded three double-doubles and surpassed the 30-point mark twice and 20 points five times. In the regular season finale against North Central University, Geistfeld poured in 26 points and set a school record with 12 assists in the win. Twice this season she was named the UMAC Player of the Week and was selected to the D3hoops.com Team of the Week. She went on to be named the UMAC Tournament MVP after leading the Vikings to a third-consecutive postseason title. In three games, she averaged 26.3 ppg, 12.7 rpg, 5.3 assists per game and shot 61.4 percent from the field and was 25-of-27 from the charity stripe. 

The Vikings' success was also enhanced by rookie Kottke who put together an outstanding first season. In conference games, she ranked in the top 20 for scoring with 9.6 ppg and was seventh in rebounding (6.9 rpg). Her main contributions came beyond the arc as she was second in the conference shooting 50 percent and averaged 2.0 made 3-pointers per game. Kottke scored 21 points in her collegiate debut against Crown College and finished the regular season with three games in double figures. Overall this year, Kottke was third on the team in scoring and shot 51 percent from the field.

While the Vikings found success this season, under Kahl's direction Northwestern earned a share of its first conference title since the 2014-15 season. The Eagles went 7-1 in conference play and were the lone team to defeat Bethany Lutheran this season. The Eagles led the conference in scoring defense (54.3 ppg allowed) and were second in scoring (74.5 ppg) and scoring margin (20.3 ppg). 

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 four seasons. Olson is also the only player to have been a First Team selection for three years in a row. The Vikings' senior was also the 2017-18 Rookie of the Year. 

Geistfeld is among five players to have been selected to one of the three All-UMAC teams and is the only other player to have been a back-to-back First Team honoree. The other three-time honorees include Naomi Hagstom (North Central), Kaylee Kennedy (College of St. Scholastica), Kelsea Lund (Northwestern) and Emily Witkowski (Martin Luther College).

Three other players have been named to one of the three All-UMAC teams twice in their careers including Brooklyn DeKam (Northwestern), Emily DiGiorgio (North Central) and Lexus Eagle Chasing (University of Minnesota Morris). 

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# – Sara Kottke, Fy., Bethany Lutheran
Coach of the Year Award – Aaron Kahl, Northwestern

First-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 Jr. Minnesota Morris Guard Rapid City, S.D./Stevens
Hanna Geistfeld* Sr. Bethany Lutheran Forward Truman, Minn./Martin Luther
Abby Olson Sr. Bethany Lutheran Guard Montevideo, Minn./Montevideo
Megan Roberts Jr. Northwestern Forward Greeley, Colo./Dayspring Christian Academy

Second-Team UMAC All-Conference
Name Year School Position Hometown/High School
Kadija Conteh So. North Central Guard London, U.K./City of London Academy
Kaija Davies So. Wisconsin-Superior Forward Aitkin, Minn./Aitkin
Brooklyn DeKam Jr. Northwestern Guard Edgerton, Minn./Southwest Minnesota Christian
Kelsea Lund Jr. Northwestern Guard Madison, Minn./La qui Parle Valley
Emily Witkowski Sr. Martin Luther Forward Saint Joseph, Mich./Michigan Lutheran

Honorable Mention UMAC All-Conference
Name Year School Position Hometown/High School
Kaelyn Christian So. Wisconsin-Superior Guard St. Michael, Minn./St. Michael-Albertville
Naomi Hagstrom Jr. North Central Forward Zimmerman, Minn./Zimmerman
Kaylee Kennedy Sr. St. Scholastica Guard Little Fork, Minn./Little Fork-Big Falls
Sara Kottke# Fy. Bethany Lutheran Forward Buffalo Lake, Minn./Buffalo Lake
Hailey Paup Jr. Northwestern Forward Cedar Falls, Iowa/Concordia Academy
Jadyn Sondrol So. Minnesota Morris Guard Grand Forks, N.D./Red River
Miranda Wagner So. Northland Guard Rawlins, Wy./Rawlins

UMAC All-Defensive Team
Name Year School Position Hometown/HS
Emily DiGiorgio Jr. North Central Forward Ironwood, Mich./Luther L. Wright
Lexus Eagle Chasing Jr. Minnesota Morris Guard Rapid City, S.D./Stevens
Jay Kwateh So. Minnesota Morris Forward Maple Grove, Minn./Osseo
Ellie Leadstrom Sr. Wisconsin-Superior Guard Superior, Wis./Superior
Megan Roberts Jr. Northwestern Forward Greeley, Colo./Dayspring Christian Academy

UMAC Sportsmanship Awards
Team Award – Minnesota Morris
Bethany Lutheran – Nuria Perez Casas, So., St. Vincenc du Horts, Spain/Salesians Sant Vicenc
Crown – Katie Archer, Jr., Two Harbors, Minn./Two Harbors
Martin Luther – Cassandra Rose, Jr., West Bend, Wis./Kettle Moraine Lutheran
Minnesota Morris – Maddie Fenske, Sr., Cottonwood, Minn./Lakeview
North Central – Bailey Brewster, Jr., Burnsville, Minn./Homeschool
Northland – Kayla Mitchell, So., Sherwood, Ark./Lisa Academy-North
Northwestern – Courtney Schmidt, Sr., Spring Valley, Minn./Kingsland
St. Scholastica – Ashley Faur, Fy., Pine City, Minn./Pine City
Wisconsin-Superior – Ellie Leadstrom, Sr., Superior, Wis./Superior