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Mar. 27—As Audrey Shindelar zip lined, scuba dived and fished with her family in Belize — on the northeastern coast of Central America — during Stewartville's spring break last week, her mind drifted.
Exotic fish were seen, but so were images of Benilde-St. Margaret's basketball players going past her and her Tigers teammates, even as she zip lined at break-neck speeds.
It wasn't quite a nightmare what happened to Shindelar and her teammates when they met the Red Knights on March 14 in the Class 3A championship at Williams Arena, but it was a painful loss, only the second setback that Stewartville was dealt all season.
It marked a rare sad moment for Shindelar, not only this past season, but in her stellar varsity career that has stretched five varsity seasons.
The happy memory that sticks with Shindelar is that her team reached the state tournament four straight years, the last two with her as its clear main star. The tough part is that for four straight years it was Benilde-St. Margaret's that ended their season, twice in the championship game.
But when all was said and done, what especially left her shedding so many tears at game's end was that it was over. Her time as a Stewartville Tigers basketball player had finally run out.
It has been a glorious five seasons.
"Not to win it hurt, because we'd made it to the state championship my freshman year, too, so it was tough not to win it this time," Shindelar said. "But I was just glad that we had had a chance to be there. My tears came in knowing that it was over, that I'd never get another practice with my high school team and never get another game with them. I'm going to miss the culture here and I'm really going to miss the girls that I got to play with. I just know how fun my high school career was. And I know that we lost a game that we could have won."
In one glowing way, the end was much like the rest of this past season for Shindelar — she played like a star. The 5-foot-11 athletic and sweet shooting guard finished with 29 points in that title match, to go with three rebounds and three assists, while playing some of the toughest defense around.
She had a whole bunch of games like that. She had so many that we at the Post Bulletin are repeating ourselves. For the second straight year, Shindelar — who will play next season at Division I South Dakota State University — is our All-Area Girls Basketball Player of the Year.
She ended her season averaging 23 points on blistering 60% shooting on 2-pointers, 48% on 3-pointers. She was also good for five rebounds and four assists per game while drawing the team's toughest defensive assignments for good measure.
Shindelar took her junior year's awesome showing and upped it a couple of notches this season, good enough to be named one of six finalists for the Minnesota Miss Basketball Award.
She continually came up big at both ends of the court.
"One of the things that separated her this year was every night she'd (defend) the other team's best scorer," Stewartville third-year coach Tanner Teige said. "That helped her be a more complete player. She can also score at all three levels and now she can read almost any situation and make the right play. She was able to work through so many different situations, knowing when to pass and when to shoot."
All that Shindelar added to her game, year after year, was a reflection of one thing — her desire for her and her team to be great.
"It's her work ethic," Teige said of a girl who, along with her sophomore sister and fellow starting guard Danika Shindelar, was in the gymnasium pretty every day last summer, working on their games. "To have a player who wants to be the best they can be, and not just talk about it, you don't see that much anymore."
As much as Shindelar appreciates being recognized as a star basketball player and the recognition that's come her way as Stewartville has become a state power, there is something she strives for even more.
It's simply to be known as a great person.
"I hope people remember that I was a pretty good player," Shindelar said. "But what I want them to remember even more is that I was a better person. It matters more to me to be a good person than a good basketball player. I try to be nice to everyone and go out of my way to make everyone's day better."
This is the player and the person that South Dakota State is getting, stellar in all ways.
She went a long way in making Stewartville what it was this season, joyful and together on and off the court.
Her plan is to bring the same approach to SDSU. It's winning stuff.
Continue reading...
Exotic fish were seen, but so were images of Benilde-St. Margaret's basketball players going past her and her Tigers teammates, even as she zip lined at break-neck speeds.
It wasn't quite a nightmare what happened to Shindelar and her teammates when they met the Red Knights on March 14 in the Class 3A championship at Williams Arena, but it was a painful loss, only the second setback that Stewartville was dealt all season.
It marked a rare sad moment for Shindelar, not only this past season, but in her stellar varsity career that has stretched five varsity seasons.
The happy memory that sticks with Shindelar is that her team reached the state tournament four straight years, the last two with her as its clear main star. The tough part is that for four straight years it was Benilde-St. Margaret's that ended their season, twice in the championship game.
But when all was said and done, what especially left her shedding so many tears at game's end was that it was over. Her time as a Stewartville Tigers basketball player had finally run out.
It has been a glorious five seasons.
"Not to win it hurt, because we'd made it to the state championship my freshman year, too, so it was tough not to win it this time," Shindelar said. "But I was just glad that we had had a chance to be there. My tears came in knowing that it was over, that I'd never get another practice with my high school team and never get another game with them. I'm going to miss the culture here and I'm really going to miss the girls that I got to play with. I just know how fun my high school career was. And I know that we lost a game that we could have won."
In one glowing way, the end was much like the rest of this past season for Shindelar — she played like a star. The 5-foot-11 athletic and sweet shooting guard finished with 29 points in that title match, to go with three rebounds and three assists, while playing some of the toughest defense around.
She had a whole bunch of games like that. She had so many that we at the Post Bulletin are repeating ourselves. For the second straight year, Shindelar — who will play next season at Division I South Dakota State University — is our All-Area Girls Basketball Player of the Year.
She ended her season averaging 23 points on blistering 60% shooting on 2-pointers, 48% on 3-pointers. She was also good for five rebounds and four assists per game while drawing the team's toughest defensive assignments for good measure.
Shindelar took her junior year's awesome showing and upped it a couple of notches this season, good enough to be named one of six finalists for the Minnesota Miss Basketball Award.
She continually came up big at both ends of the court.
"One of the things that separated her this year was every night she'd (defend) the other team's best scorer," Stewartville third-year coach Tanner Teige said. "That helped her be a more complete player. She can also score at all three levels and now she can read almost any situation and make the right play. She was able to work through so many different situations, knowing when to pass and when to shoot."
All that Shindelar added to her game, year after year, was a reflection of one thing — her desire for her and her team to be great.
"It's her work ethic," Teige said of a girl who, along with her sophomore sister and fellow starting guard Danika Shindelar, was in the gymnasium pretty every day last summer, working on their games. "To have a player who wants to be the best they can be, and not just talk about it, you don't see that much anymore."
As much as Shindelar appreciates being recognized as a star basketball player and the recognition that's come her way as Stewartville has become a state power, there is something she strives for even more.
It's simply to be known as a great person.
"I hope people remember that I was a pretty good player," Shindelar said. "But what I want them to remember even more is that I was a better person. It matters more to me to be a good person than a good basketball player. I try to be nice to everyone and go out of my way to make everyone's day better."
This is the player and the person that South Dakota State is getting, stellar in all ways.
She went a long way in making Stewartville what it was this season, joyful and together on and off the court.
Her plan is to bring the same approach to SDSU. It's winning stuff.
Continue reading...
