Growth is one key word Belmond-Klemme girls’ basketball coach James Severson uses consistently when talking about this year’s team.
Finishing with a record of 4-18, this season wasn’t about wins and losses. It was about the players learning life lessons. It was about them bonding as teammates.
In those regards, it was a successful run for the Broncos.
“It was just a lot of fun,” Severson said. “It was a lot of fun for the girls. It was a lot of fun for us as coaches. I know the wins didn’t show up so much on the scoreboard as we had wished, but at the same time it was the amount of growth we had from the beginning of the season to the end of the season. We took six seniors that essentially had zero varsity time and turned them into a team that was really competitive in games and caused some teams some fits at times. So, I was just really proud of that and really proud of their effort.
“There’s a lot of times during the season we could have rolled up shop and I’m not sure too many people would have questioned that. But the girls never did that, they never quit. They played with a ton of heart and emotion throughout the entire year, and that was just something to really be proud of.”
With a daunting conference schedule — finishing 1-15 — the Broncos faced adversity early in the season. After pulling off a 15-point win at Northwood-Kensett to even its record at 1-1, Belmond-Klemme had the tough task of facing on of the best teams in the state, Bishop Garrigan. The Broncos trailed 50-0 at halftime and were beaten 84-4.
“It’s one of those moments where we could easily have packed up shop and I don’t think anybody would have blinked an eye,” Severson said. “But it shows the heart and the fight that these girls had in just wanting to get better and wanting to improve. They knew that games were going to be hard to win, but what we talked about all year were the life lessons that it’s not always about what shows up on the scoreboard. It’s about how you approach it. It’s about how you handle the disappointment. It’s about how you keep fighting.”
The Bronco girls kept fighting. That Bishop Garrigan game started an eight-game losing streak. But then Belmond-Klemme won two of its next three games.
It was a 47-35 home victory over North Iowa on Jan. 30 that proved to Severson that his girls had made significant progress in the first few months of the season.
“It was one of most complete games where everyone was scoring, everyone was a part of it,” Severson said. “But I also think one of the things that was really impressive about it was that throughout the season our girls just grew, and it was really fun for them to be a part of that. The North Iowa game was a big moment for us.”
Belmond-Klemme averaged 26.3 points per game, shooting 24.2% from the field and 18.6% on 3-pointers.
The team was led in scoring by senior Kendra Huedepohl at 10.6. She also was the leader in steals (2.6) and offensive rebounds (3) per game. Junior Nevi McMurray put in 7.4 points and had a team-high 6.6 rebounds per game. Kaylen Morris, a senior, tallied 5.5 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2 assists. Seniors Lila Swenson (2.2) and Lila Pigman (1.2) also contributed in the scoring column.
The Broncos will lose 67% of their offense due to graduation. Seniors Huedepohl, Morris, Swenson, Pigman, Macy Gobeli and Grace Fahrmann leave a major impact on the program.
“Their legacy is not going to be basketball; their legacy is going to be how they treated people, how they brought people along and how they just handled their daily business of practice,” Severson said. “Everything was about finding the enjoyment, the fun. I think the younger girls saw that and they really kind of bought into that right away that it’s not always about winning. We talked about goals at the end of the season — everybody wants to get to the state tournament, but that’s just not an attainable goal for 80% of the teams that play high school basketball. So, what are some other goals that we can reach for that are within our control, and it was all about enjoyment.”
Following his team’s season-ending loss at Pocahontas Area on Feb. 17, Severson will always remember the mixed emotions in the locker room.
“It was sad and there were tears, of course, but it was a lot of fun,” Severson said. “It was a lot of jokes. It was a lot of people just like remembering all of the good times that we had had throughout the year. It wasn’t just this really sad like, oh man, we lost and our basketball career is over. It was more about the sadness of like all of the time we got to spend together as friends is now coming to a close. That was just really cool to see that at the end of the season, and have that be our focus the entire season.”
Severson is excited for next season, bringing back some good building blocks in McMurray, sophomore Avery Boeshart and freshman Carly Stein.
“Nevi stepped up huge this year as a junior in terms of leadership, and I think that will continue to grow next year,” Severson said. “Carly as a freshman, she hasn’t played a lot of basketball and so stepping in as a freshman in kind of some key moments when we needed her, she really, really grew a lot. I think she’s really looking towards the offseason to just kind of grow some of those basketball skills. Avery’s going to spend a lot of time in the gym this summer and kind of hone in on her 3-point shot. You bring those three back and you have pieces that you can work with and be adaptable.
“It will be very interesting next year. I think we’ll probably still be in the nine, 10, 11 range. But I think those three are going to be huge pieces for what we’re going to do over the summer and then into next fall when basketball starts again.”