GIRLS BASKETBALL
2 | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2023
Index
Here’s where to find your team’s season preview:
Joe Brown / West Central Tribune
Willmar freshman Brielle Ogdahl, 3, rips a rebound away from Brainerd's Kylee Soens during a Central Lakes Conference game on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023 at the Big Red Gym in Willmar.
Cards hope to pick up where they left off Willmar, which closed last year winning 7 of 9, returns 3 starters BY MICHAEL LYNE West Central Tribune
WILLMAR — The Willmar girls basketball team feels it is heading in the right direction with a unique sense of versatility throughout its roster. Willmar, which finished with an 11-17 overall record and was 6-8 in the Central Lakes Conference, won seven of its last nine contests to close out the 2022-23 season. “After a rough start to our 202223 season, we started to find our groove in the middle of the year and we felt that we were playing
some good basketball down the stretch,” said Willmar head coach Brendan Hedtke, who enters his second season at the helm. “We gained a lot of good experience, both as players and coaches, last season that should lead to more confidence and success this year.” The Cardinals return both of their All-CLC picks from a season ago. Those pair of players are sophomores Telilie Lange and Brielle Ogdahl. Both return to the varsity roster to serve as captains with senior forward Kenedee Salonek, who was an All-CLC Honorable Mention a season ago and rounds
out Willmar’s trio of returning starters. Lange, a 5-foot-7-inch sophomore guard, averaged 8.1 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game and 2.0 steals per game and shot 42.6% from beyond the arc last season. She was an All-Area Third Team pick and was named Willmar’s most valuable player. Ogdahl, a 6-0 sophomore forward, averaged 8.4 points and 8.4 rebounds with 31 blocks and just 24 fouls in 800 minutes of action in 2022-23.
Willmar Cardinals ��������������������������� J2 New London-Spicer Wildcats ���������� J5 ACGC Falcons ������������������������������������ J7 BBE Jaguars �������������������������������������� J8 Benson Braves ��������������������������������� J9 BOLD Warriors ���������������������������������J10 CMCS Bluejays ����������������������������������J11 CCS Eagles ���������������������������������������J12 Dawson-Boyd Blackjacks ���������������J13 KMS Fighting Saints ������������������������J14 LQPV Eagles ��������������������������������������J15 Litchfield Dragons �������������������������J16 MACCRAY Wolverines �����������������������J17 Minnewaska Lakers ������������������������J18 Montevideo Thunder Hawks �����������J19 Paynesville Bulldogs �������������������� J20 RCW Jaguars ������������������������������������J21 Yellow Medicine East Sting ���������� J23 Credits The West Central Tribune’s Girls Basketball Preview 2023-24 was written, edited and photographed by sports writers Michael Lyne and Joe Brown, sports editor Tom Elliott and photographer Macy Moore. File photos by Matthew Curry.
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