Year 2 of Benson’s rebuild is underway

ACGC junior Mikaili Johnson, at left, and Benson sophomore Elle Kletscher battle for control of the ball during a game at Benson High School on Saturday, February 4, 2023. Macy Moore / West Central Tribune

Braves strengthen their varsity experience for another season as an independent

BY MICHAEL LYNE | West Central Tribune

BENSON — The Benson girls basketball team enters its second season of non-conference play as it looks to continue to rebuild the foundation of its program.

With a roster that had less than 10 players a season ago, the Braves decided to forego competing in the West Central Conference for two seasons.

Benson had a 3-11 overall record in the 2022-23 season. Two games were canceled. The Braves have more games on their schedule this season, including some independent ones against WCC teams, such as Melrose, Montevideo and Morris/Chokio-Alberta.

Renee Helgenset enters her second season as Benson’s head coach and is looking forward to her Braves making progress in year two. She will be assisted by Jeff Guest.

“We will have a balanced attack this season with several guards and post play,” Helgenset said. “We will have seven girls with prior varsity experience this season.”

Benson returns four starters to its lineup. They are 5-foot-8 senior forward Jordan Schmidt, 5-8 junior guard/ forward Elle Kletscher, 5-6 junior guard/forward Norah Hilleren and 5-3 freshman guard Kaida Helgenset. The latter three are listed as players to watch by Renee Helgenset.

“(Elle, Norah and Kaida) are our leading scorers and persevered under a lot of pressure last year,” Helgenset said. “They set the standard for their work ethic and attitude that our program needs to be successful.”

Kaida Helgenset averaged a teambest 12.3 points per game as an eighth-grader. Kletscher followed with 10.0 points per game and Hilleren had 7.1 points per game.

Schmidt was the Braves’ leading rebounder. She grabbed 11.8 rebounds per game and provided Benson a boost on defense with a team-leading 46 steals.

Key roster losses for the Braves were Lauren Schmidt, Shukri Mohamed and Ashanti Blan.