St. Peter's girls basketball team (27-2 overall) takes on Stewartville at noon today (Wednesday) in the opening round of the Minnesota State Class AAA Basketball Tournament at the University of Minnesota's Maturi Pavilion.
To get Saints' fans ready for the state tournament, here are some fun facts about this year's team:
Senior guard Rhyan Holmgren, heading to MSU-Mankato next year, is the Saints’ career-leading scorer and surpassed 2,000 career points earlier this season, the first Saints basketball player (girls or boys) to reach that milestone. She is a MN Coaches Association Class AAA All-State selection this season and was also SPHS’s 2022-23 ExCEL Award winner.
Saints Head Coach Bob Southworth is a former Gustie two-sport standout (basketball and football) and Gustie Hall of Famer. His junior daughter, Annika Southworth, is a starting guard who went over 1,000 career points earlier this season, and his other daughter, Kylie Southworth, is a freshman and the Saints’ top reserve. Annika and Kylie's mom/Coach Bob’s wife is Sara (Schonrock) Southworth who was also a two-sport athlete at Gustavus (basketball and softball) and started her collegiate hoops career at Drake University. Bob is a rare non-teaching head coach. He is the President of HomeTown Bank here in St. Peter. He has previously taken two St. Peter girls’ teams to state – 2011 and 2019. Annika and Kylie’s aunt is former Gopher women’s basketball standout Shannon (Schonrock) Swanson, a key member of the Gophers 2004 Final Four team.
The Saints varsity girls’ basketball team has a cumulative GPA of 3.860.
Every girl on the Saints’ roster is at least a two-sport athlete with many of them participating in three sports.
Senior Maddie Kamm has been a Big South All-Conference selection in softball and tennis this past calendar year along with being an honorable mention during the 2022-23 season for basketball. Other Saints earning All-Big South honors prior to this season: Rhyan Holmgren & Annika Southworth (basketball & tennis), Abby Maloney & Emmy Remmert (volleyball), Auden Anderson (softball), Olivia Seys (honorable mention in volleyball) and Kylie Southworth (honorable mention in tennis).
Junior forward Emmy Remmert is the 2023-24 ExCEL Award girls’ winner for SPHS.
Sophomore reserve forward Ella Dirks is the niece of former Saints’ standout Sidney (Dirks) Elofson, who was a key member of St. Peter’s 2010 and 2011 state tourney teams.
The Saints' tallest player, sophomore Braelin Weber at 6'4", has only played organized basketball for less than two years. Before that, she was a hockey player!
As mentioned earlier, Maddie Kamm and Auden Anderson’s Moms were former Saints girls BB players who also played together in the state tournament. Amy (Yost) Kamm and Natalee (Heisler) Anderson were teammates on the 1990 and 1991 Saints’ squads that placed third in Class A (two-class system) both years. Natalee Anderson went on to play collegiately at the University of South Dakota and is a member of the Coyotes’ Athletic Hall of Fame. Amy Yost played college basketball at Mankato State University (now Minnesota State University).
Saints Girls BB previous state tourney results:
1990
Quarterfinals - ST. PETER 72, Litchfield 45
Semifinals - Storden-Jeffers 64, ST. PETER 45
Third place - ST. PETER 60, Maccray 42
1991
Quarterfinals - ST. PETER 75, East Grand Forks 60
Semifinals - Rochester Lourdes 58, ST. PETER 44
Third place - ST. PETER 68, Perham 46
1992
Quarterfinals - Tracy-Milroy 66, ST. PETER 46
Consolation semis - Caledonia 53, ST. PETER 46
2010
Quarterfinals - Rochester Lourdes 49, ST. PETER 42
No consolation rounds
2011
Quarterfinals - Providence Academy 43, ST. PETER 33
No consolation rounds
2019
Quarterfinals - Minnehaha Academy 56, ST. PETER 37
Consolation semis - Holy Family Catholic 64, ST. PETER 59 (OT)