The Minnewaska Area girls basketball team ended the season with a 12-13 overall record after losing to West Central Area in the Section 3AA opening round, 74-59.

The Lakers were seeded third in their half of the section, while the Knights came in as the sixth seed after losing to Minnewaska Area twice during the regular season.

The Lakers, coached by Sidney Schiffler, led the game 42-30 at halftime before the Knights came roaring back to claim the upset win.

Minnewaska Area was 0-7 at one point in the season before winning 12 of its final 18 games to finish 12-13 overall and 6-6 in the WCC to place fourth of the eight conference teams.  

The Knights moved on to face Montevideo and the Thunderhawks earned a narrow 57-49 victory to advance to the sub-section finals to face top-seeded NLS.

•  Minnewaska Area will graduate four seniors from this year’s team — Olivia Bleick, Mikalyn Andreas, Brooke Kolstoe and Leslie Murken.

The full 2022-23 girls basketball varsity roster this winter at Minnewaska Area High School includes seniors Mikalyn Andreas, Olivia Bleick, Brooke Kolstoe and Leslie Murken; juniors Jenna Drewes and Avery Fier; sophomores Sydney Dahl, Emily Peabody, Lauren Stryhn, Addyson Kath and Megan Thorfinnson; and ninth-graders Lauryn Ankeny, Kendall Danielson, Olivia Danielson, Jayda Kolstoe and Alia Randt.

Helping out Schiffler with coaching duties this year are Emily Roering, Makenzie Larsen, Josh Greene, Linda Mills (8th grade) and Gabe Eisenbacher (7th grade).

•  Montevideo won this year’s conference title with a perfect 12-0 league mark, followed by BOLD (9-3), Sauk Centre (8-4), Minnewaska (6-6), WCA (4-8), Morris Area-CA (3-9) and Melrose (0-12).  Benson did not play a full conference schedule this year because of a lack of players.

•  Megan Thorfinnson led or tied for the team lead in scoring 12 times in 25 games, while Brooke Kolstoe and Sydney Dahl were the leading scorers four times each, Jayda Kolstoe led the team twice, and Lauryn Ankeny and Leslie Murken with the leading scorers once each.

The Lakers had two 20-point games this year, including a season-high 21 points by Dahl during a 52-42 victory over EV-Watkins and 20 points by Thorfinnson during an early loss to LQP Valley. 

•  The leading rebounders this year were Dahl and Brooke Kolstoe.  Dahl led the team in rebounding 17 times, including the final eight games, while Brooke Kolstoe led the team 10 times and Avery Fier and Jayda Kolstoe led the Lakers in rebounding one game each.

The Lakers had eight games with double-digit rebounding totals, including five by Dahl and three by Brooke Kolstoe, who had a team-best 15 boards during an early-season win over WCA. 

•  Complete season statistics, team awards and postseason honors will be highlighted in the coming weeks. 

Check out more photos in our photo gallery!