After leading the Heron Lake-Okabena/Fulda Coyotes girls’ basketball team in scoring as a sophomore this past season, Chrissy Hermeling was selected to the All-Conference team by opposing coaches from the Red Rock Conference.
Hermeling and senior Khloe Gehl — who was named All-Conference Honorable Mention — were also among the many Coyotes recognized by head coach Andy Oakland at the team’s season-ending banquet last Monday, March 9 at the Fulda High School cafeteria.
HL-O/F finished the season with an overall record of 4-23. The Coyotes were 4-12 in the conference, defeating both Westbrook-Walnut Grove and Edgerton two times apiece.
Hermeling — who was voted by her teammates as the team Most Valuable Player — led the Coyotes with 219 points this year, averaging 8.1 points per game. She started 26 of the 27 games and made a team-high 57 3-pointers, came up with a team-best 39 steals and was second on the Coyotes with 27 assists in addition to shooting 100 percent (10-for-10) from the free-throw line.
Gehl was third on the team in scoring (119 points, 4.4 per game), third in assists (25) and fourth in steals (20), as she started all 27 games and provided solid senior leadership.
Gehl and fellow senior Kailee Haberman — who scored 94 points and pulled down 73 rebounds, both fifth-best on the team — were each selected to play in the annual Tim Orth game, which had been scheduled to be held Friday, April 3 in Wabasso. That game — which features seniors from the Red Rock Conference and the Tomahawk Conference — has now been canceled due to the recent coronavirus pandemic.
Junior Morgan Gehl was voted both Miss Hustle and Miss Defense by her teammates. Gehl was the Coyotes’ second-leading scorer (126 points, 5.1 per game), was third in steals (29), was third in rebounds (97, 3.9 per game) and was first in assists (34) while typically guarding one of the opposing team’s top perimeter threats.
The fourth and final team-voted award went to sophomore Taryn Evers as the Most Improved Player. Evers finished the season with 50 points and was fourth on the team in total rebounds with 93 (3.7 per game), as she played more and more on the varsity as the year progressed.
Sophomore Emily Madison (130, 5.4 per game) and senior Kelsey Fuerstenberg (111, 4.1 per game) were 1-2 in total rebounds for the Coyotes. Madison shot 64.1 percent (25-for-39) from the free-throw line and scored 84 points to go along with 31 steals (second on the team), while Fuerstenberg shot 56.8 percent (25-for-44) from the free-throw line and scored 72 points while starting all 27 games.
Sophomore Faith White was fourth on the team in scoring (105 points, 4.4 per game). She led the Coyotes in 3-point field goal percentage (30.8 percent, 16-for-52) and was fifth in the nine-team conference (37.8 percent, 14-for-37 in league games) in that department.
