Their time has come: Ebeling, seniors look to end careers on a high note with a title

By JEREMY BEHNKE

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- For Martin Luther College senior post player Beth Ebeling and her five fellow senior teammates, the time has come.

Unfortunately for the Knights, several other teams in the conference are also facing the same ultimatum: win now in the final season to shine.

The Knights return six seniors who finished with a 12-14 overall record and 7-5 in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference.

But the four-year starter thinks that this is could be the year the Knights bring the conference tournament to New Ulm after Northland College has seemingly been the perennial host with five tournaments in a row in Ashland, Wis.

"We have six seniors that have played together since freshman year, so right there, that's a lot of excitement," Ebeling said. "I guess this year we want to be our best year."

The Knights were 7-3 and in good position to lock up a second or third seed, but lost their final two conference games of the season to give them a 7-5 record.

With that in mind, the Knights know that they have to finish strong if the conference tournament is going to be on their home floor.

"Only for encouragement -- only to push us harder," Ebeling said. "We know what we can do, and we can go out and do it."

MLC coach Gene Pfeifer said it would be a fitting end for the group that has worked hard together for four years and the goal hasn't changed from a year ago.

"The goal remains the same," Pfeifer said. "We would love to have this group of seniors go out to where they can be conference champions."

Ebeling agreed.

"Every year we want it here; we're sick of going to Northland," Ebeling said.

Pfeifer said that a conference full of experience means there are no off days.

"We'll have to work hard," Pfeifer said. "There's a lot of seniors in the conference this year again, so Northland will continue to be strong and St. Scholastica, but we've got our people back too, so we definitely want to be competitive, and by the end of the season, be fighting for that top spot."

Junior guard Emma Babinec, who led the Knights in points (14.7) and steals (57) is back. Babinec also grabbed seven rebounds per game and was selected UMAC All-Conference. She will miss tonight's home opener against nationally ranked Buena Vista after a mild concussion sidelined her briefly at the Ripon Invitational.

Bethany Bauer, who will handle the point guard duties, averaged 8 ppg and dished out 116 assists. Seniors Erin Czer and Dania Koepke will play at the three-spot or rotate as the sixth-player. Czer averaged 5.5 ppg and was a threat from outside while Koepke averaged 3.8 ppg.

Ebeling and senior Sarah Beilke will also start with Ebeling playing at the four spot and Beilke at the five. Beilke averaged 9.5 ppg and 7.3 rpg. Her 94 blocks were fourth in the nation and she is a two-time all-UMAC honorable mention selection.

Junior Carly Belz, senior Crystal Mielke, sophomore Sarah Seelow and sophomore Liz Olson return. Olson is another threat from outside, making good on 25-of-56 3-point attempts for a .446 percentage.

Newcomers are Nikki Brost, Angie Unke and Katie Peter.

Although the Knights went 0-2 over the weekend, they nearly came back in the second half against Madison Edgewood in the third-place game. The Knights turned the ball over only four times in the second half, so they feel they have something to build on.

"I really excited, and I think the team is too, because we realize what we can do," Ebeling said. "We can beat any team in our conference out there. We just gotta put 40 minutes together."

Jeremy Behnke can be reached at jbehnke@nujournal.com