Record-breaking Warriors sweep Tri-Rivers East awards

Cal-Wheat, meanwhile, broke its program record for victories in a season for the second consecutive year and third time in four seasons (the Warriors set a new mark with 13 wins in 2019-20, tacked on five more wins last season and won 19 games this winter).

The Warriors’ divisional success is reflected on the recently released All-Tri-Rivers East team.

Juniors Kahlie Hill and Emily Boeckmann were both selected to the seven-player first-team, while a third junior, Courtney Knoche, garnered honorable mention accolades.

In addition, Cal-Wheat swept the two individual awards as Hill was tabbed as the division’s Player of the Year, while Matt Boeckmann was named the Coach of the Year for a second straight season.

Along with their first-team all-league honors, Hill and Boeckmann were both also selected to the Iowa Girls Coaches Association 1A Northeast All-District Team.

Hill put together Cal-Wheat’s best 5-on-5 scoring season of all time: her 368 points this year are a school record — 30 more than Katie Jacobsen scored in 1997-98.

The junior, who also broke Jacobsen’s career scoring mark, shot better than 52 percent from the field, including better than 54 percent of her two-point attempts, and knocked down a trio of three-pointers as well.

Few players in the state, regardless of class, were more accurate from the free throw line than Hill, who attempted 90 free throws and made 75 of them, an 83.3 conversion rate.

Hill led the Warriors with 231 rebounds as well — that’s the third-highest total in school history — pulling down more than half, 128, of them on the offensive end.

With her scoring acumen, Hill drew plenty of extra attention on offense and she made teams pay for it with 72 assists, good for second on the team. The junior’s strong passing helped her accomplish a triple-double in the Warriors’ victory over Central City, scoring 20 points, grabbing 11 rebounds and dishing out 10 assists.

Not to be outdone, Hill also came up with 47 steals and blocked 25 shots.

She was not the only one to break a school record either as Boeckmann became the program’s single-season leader in steals with 117, topping Morgan VanderHeiden’s previous mark of 112.

Boeckmann proved to be a master of snagging errant passes at the top of the Cal-Wheat zone defense and was equally quick at closing in on shooters as her team-high 27 blocks would attest.

On offense, Boeckmann set up her teammates with good looks — her team-high 105 assists were just two off the team record she set the year before — and provided a big lift with her outside shooting.

In fact, nearly two-thirds of Boeckmann’s 224 points came on three-pointers as the junior buried 49 threes — good for 22nd in Class 1A — including seven in one game against Marquette Catholic. Boeckmann added 21 free throws for good measure and pulled down 80 rebounds.

Strong play on the glass was just one of Knoche’s contributions during her junior campaign.

The guard finished second on the team with 137 rebounds, including 82 on the offensive end.

Knoche added 160 points, made up of 69 two-pointers and 22 free throws, and was third on the team with 38 assists.

Along with her rebounding prowess, Knoche gave the Warriors another disruptive force on defense, piling up 54 steals and blocking three shots.