College basketball prowess

Tiyana Schwinghammer drives to the hoop while scoring 2 of her 17 points in the third game of her collegiate career, as her Pioneers team faced Dakota-Bottineau in Thief River Falls on November 14.

Two members of last year's third-place B-B-E girls' basketball team are having outstanding freshmen seasons at their respective colleges this winter.

Abby Berge, a 5'11" guard/forward from Sunburg, is averaging 6.1 points per game and 4.8 rebounds per game with 39 percent field goal shooting for Division II Minnesota State University-Moorhead. Berge provided a 13-point outburst off the bench for the Dragons last Thursday in Moorhead in a 69-46 win against Bemidji State during which she earned a double double with 11 rebounds while logging 23 minutes. It also marked Dragons women's basketball head coach Karla Nelson's 400th career win. After a 57-48 win over St. Cloud State University on Friday, during which Berge scored 10 points (8-of-8 free throws) with 11 rebounds, Nelson's MSUM career record stands at 401-248 (2000-present).

Tiyana Schwinghammer, a 6'0" guard/forward from Brooten, is having a standout season as a freshman at Northland Community and Technical Community College in Thief River Falls. Through 10 games, she is averaging 14 points per game and 9.9 rebounds per game while having five double doubles so far. At the free throw line, she is shooting 76 percent, and she also has 36 assists and 28 steals. The Pioneers are 7-3 overall after going 2-0 this past weekend. Schwinghammer was one rebound away from earning five straight double doubles to start her collegiate career. As a result of this, she has earned extra emphasis by opposing defenses. In spite of that, she has averaged 12 points and 9 rebounds per contest in her last four games.

We also have Ashton Dingmann (B-B-E Class of 2022) playing for Division III Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter.

Ashton Dingmann is averaging 10 minutes a contest in 9 games for Gustavus Adolphus College while earning a 45 percent field goal shooting mark and connecting on 9 of 20 three-point attempts. The Gusties are 6-3 overall and 5-0 in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC). Gustavus, who is on a six-game winning streak, trails St. John's University by half a game in the standings. Four teams are currently tied for third place in the MIAC with 3-2 records: Concordia, Carleton, Hamline and Bethel colleges.

In his freshman season at Concordia College in Moorhead, B-B-E Class of 2023 graduate Kaden Pieper has averaged 7.4 minutes and 1.8 points per game.