By Coach Aaron Rios
The 2023-2024 Lady Bulldogs season was an excellent season and Journey for the Sisterhood. During the season the team early on finished second in the Robinson Holiday tournament against good 2A competition. Sr. Stacie Vonderheide and Sophomore Nancy Ruholl made the All tournament for the tournament. Sr. Stacie Vonderheide also had the schools first Quadruple Double against Marshall during the tournament.
Early in the season the Lady Bulldogs experienced multiple injuries where three out of the teams five consistent starters missed multiple weeks and multiple games. During that period of time prior to the Holiday tournament it really gave a number of our team members the opportunity to step up early on and play a lot of varsity minutes. Freshmen Alisyn Kollman stepped up big in multiple games for our team during that stretch and throughout the entire season.
Freshmen Addie Lauritzen had to step into a starting position during that time period and remained a starter at the Varsity level the majority of the season. Freshmen Aubrey Denning showed moments of excitement and electricity throughout her Freshmen run including scoring eleven points in the second half in our regular season conference game against Altamont when the team needed her contribution to stay in the ball game.
Freshmen Gianna Frisbie did a great job of just being there for her teammates and contributing to the Sisterhood on and off the floor. Unfortunately Freshmen Avery Henning missed the majority of the season with an injury however she did an excellent job of showing up for the team and doing whatever the team needed to contribute to their success during the season.
After the Mattoon Holiday Tournament the team was 13-5 on the season and was ranked in the top 10 in the state. The Sisterhood had the second highest ranked strength of schedule next to the defending 1A champions Okawville for the majority of the season out of all of the top 10 ranked teams in the State.
Sr. Stacie Vonderheide was selected to the all tournament team in the Mattoon Tournament. The Lady Bulldogs competed tough against State ranked teams like Mattoon and Teutopolis during the tournament with a great double overtime battle with Teutopolis where the team had a chance to beat the Shoes for the first time in school history.
After the Holiday Tournament the Sisterhood went on a twelve game winning streak. During the second half run of the season history was made. On January 4th Sr. Stacie Vonderheide broke the schools single game scoring record scoring 52 points against Shelbyville. The record was previously held by Riley Guy who scored 43 points on Sr. night against Brownstown in February 2022. Stacie also went on to become the programs 5th 1,000 point scorer on January 8th in our game against Salem.
The Lady Bulldogs also defeated State ranked Altamont in the NTC tournament title game. That was an electric evening for High School basketball. I believe the overall attendance for the game was 782 fans watched the game at Beecher High School that night. The team was led by Sr. Stacie Vonderheide with 26points,11 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 steals Followed by Nancy Ruholl 26points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals.
The Lady Bulldogs also had great production from Jr. Adysen Rios with 5 of her 9 points coming in the 4th quarter of that game and Jr. Addi “Starblocks” Nuxoll with 7 rebounds and 3 block shots in the championship game. Freshmen Addie Lauritzen had a great night for the Lady Bulldogs finishing with 5 points in the 4th quarter and 10 rebounds in the contest.
Sophomore Nancy Ruholl was selected to the NTC All Tournament team and Sr. Stacie Vonderheide was the tournament MVP.
During the last regular season game of the season against Newton Sophomore Nancy Ruholl also became the 6th Lady Bulldog to score 1,000 points in there career. Nancy became the first Sophomore to ever pass the 1,000 point line in school history.
The Sisterhood went on to win their third Regional title in three years defeating Windsor Stew Straus in the Regional Championship game at the Enlow center on Thursday January 16th.
The Lady Bulldogs finished 7-1 in the NTC conference, 24-9 on the regular season. This is the first time in school history the program has won more then 23 games, 3 straight years in a row. This years team leaves the season putting their footprint on program history finishing with the 2nd best record in school history.
This years team Hustle award goes to Ava Faber. Ava had big moments this year and it came during tough games during the season. Ava was usually outsized on the back side of our zone and had to rebound time and time again against really tough competition. She also did all the little things that matter in big games for us this season.
The new team award given away this year was the “Starblocker” award. Addi Nuxoll was the first winner in program history to win the award. Addi had five blocks in NTC tournament semi final game against Brownstown and had three blocks in the championship game against Altamont. Nux led us in block shots this year and really was a big defensive presence during the season and was a big part of the teams success.
The Newcomer of the year award went to Freshman Addie Lauritzen. Addie did an awesome job transitioning into the high school game pace and physicality. That is difficult for any Freshmen to do. Addie had big game moments in our NTC championship game referenced above and in our Regional championship game. Addie showed her versatility on the defensive side of the floor being able to guard all five positions at some point during the season. Addie has a great future ahead.
Jr. Adysen Rios won the teams most improved award this year. Adysen went from scoring 1.9ppg as Sophomore to 9.5PPG as a Jr. To do that in our league and with our schedule is an awesome achievement. Adysen not only improved on the offensive side of the basketball but she usually had to guard the opposing teams best player from a guard s standpoint. Great Job Adysen and we look forward to you competing at a high level your Sr. year.
This years Offensive player of the year award goes to Nancy Ruholl. Nancy completed her Sophomore season finishing with 20pts , 8 Rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals per game. Nancy is truly a blessing for the Sisterhood. Nancy had a season high scoring 37pts against Mt. Carmel and scored 32 of her points in the second half.
Nancy finished the season making the All tournament team in Robinson, NTC All tournament team, 1st team all NTC and the first Sophomore in school history to be selected to the Illinois AP Honorable Mention team and the IBCA All State second team. Nancy is the first Sophomore to score 1,000 or more points by her sophomore year and has chance in her career to become the Lady Bulldogs all time leading scorer over the next few years. Which is just phenomenal. Stay tuned Sisterhood on this one… We have a good one!
Sr. Stacie Vonderheide completed her career going down as one of the greatest to do it in program history. Stacie also broke the school single season scoring record 840 points in a single season and averaging right at 26 points per game.
Stacie also finished the season with one Quaduple double and three triple doubles. Not only was Stacie unstoppable scoring the basketball she finished the season averaging right at 10 rebounds per game. Stacie assist averages 5 & 4 steals per game. Stacie always had a balance attack on both sides of the floor and made her teammates better in the four years she was part of the Sisterhood.
Stacie was selected this year to the Robinson All tournament team, Mattoon Holiday Tournament team, NTC tournament MVP, NTC conference First Team and was selected to AP Illinois All State second team. Stacie is also the first player in our program history to be selected to the first team All State IBCA team. Stacie was recognized on championship Saturday with all of the Class 1A and 2A 1st team All State selections. Which was an awesome moment for Stacie and her family, the Vonderheide 75.
Thank you Stacie V for four amazing years with the Sisterhood. We made a lot of great memories together and your leadership, passion and tenacity for the game will be missed. You have set the bar for many our players to come. We all can’t wait to come and see you play at the next level. Your best years are sitting right in the front window of the car your are driving on your journey!
We wanted to give a quick shout out to Kallie Kabbes who went down with a knee injury half way through the season. Kallie rather know as KK was a big part of our success this year and was always supporting her team. Sr. Season is right around the corner.
Our theme this year was Good Times & Good Vibes and Good Memories. We had a lot of amazing times this season. It was an absolute joy to get to spend the time with these kids this year. The team showed that no matter what adversity you face you can always end up being successful by believing in each other and believing in the mission of the TEAM!
Thank you to Coach Ashley Dryden and Coach Abbie Schmidt for having great success at the middle school and AD for always being a part of our journey at the high school level. We appreciate all of our sacrifice, time and energy to help the program.
A big thank you to Dr. William Farrey and all he does for our program. The bus rides and the journey would not be the same without you. Thank you to Coach Sandra Faber for all you do during the season. Also, Thank you to Jamie Vonderhiede for coordinating amazing team dinners and always bringing out the Vonderheide 75 to support our program!
A special thank you to coach Stacey Rios. You do an awesome job of being an amazing strong leader for our girls and our program. Your ability to see things during big game moments and get the team to execute is amazing. I hope we can have more GT & GV & GM next season.
Someone who doesn’t ever get recognized is one of our team’s biggest fans and he is a big-time support for our program is Jayden Rios. Jayden is St. Anthony alum who has been on this journey for the last five years with our program and has helped with stats, pregame planning, team scouts etc. Thank you sir for all you do and all the time you volunteer to help with the success and development of our team!
Thank you to All of our fans, parents, our students and all of our support we get from everyone in the community during the season. It has been an amazing ride and it has been fun to see all of the kids success over this season. We look forward to Nov 1st 2024 to kick off one more great season for the Sisterhood. GOOD TIMES & GOOD VIBES & GOOD MEMORIES! CHEER! & FIGHT!
