Mount Pleasant, IA- The 2025-26 Iowa Girls’ basketball season is in the books and now is the time of year that teams celebrate how much they have grown and accomplished after spending a third of a calendar year with one another. For the Mt. Pleasant Girls’ basketball team, it was a chance to recognize their largest senior class since the 2016-17 season.
“Yeah, it was really nice to get together the last time after spending a couple weeks off, you know, for the girls and stuff,” said head coach Curt Watson. “But it’s nice to see our five seniors back, you know, tonight. And then everybody else, we only missed two tonight, so it was great to have everybody back and give them the awards out. And just a great night.”
The players, coaches, parents, guardians, and friends piled into the Mt. Pleasant High School Commons Space for their team banquet Monday night to hand out the team awards and congratulate the All-Conference nominees after a 4-18 campaign.
The Panthers certainly had their chances throughout the season to improve upon their record, yet growth and ability to stay in games was the hope and expectation for coach Watson heading into the season,
“I think we came out and we competed game after game. I think there’s only two games we really didn’t compete very well. I mean, based on what I told the girls, we just had one quarter a night where we just didn’t play very well. But you take the other three quarters, we played really, really well. And we just couldn’t overcome that one quarter on there. But I was really proud of the way they competed all year and their attitude, their toughness. They just showed up every day at practice trying to get better. And really, as a coach, that’s all we can ask.”
For the team awards, Emma Humble, a freshman, earned Most Improved for the season. Coach Watson detailed how Humble took over the scout team offense responsibilities.
A pair of Panthers claimed both the Coaches Award and Panther Award. Taking home the Coaches Award was Delania Hourihan and Kaylen Hunold, both seniors. Hourihan netted two points for the year, while Hunold dished out a pair of assists.
Myah Starr, a senior, and Ruby Syfert, a freshman, each garnered the Panther Award. Starr led the team in three pointers made as she finished the season with 84 points to go along with 21 steals and 73 rebounds. Syfert was the leading rebounder on the Junior Varsity team and when asked what her secret was the freshman stated, “I get the ball.”
As the maestro of the offense, Abby Carthey was tasked with dealing with the ball handling responsibilities and maneuvering through opposing pressure defenses, resulting in Carthey being named Offensive MVP. Additionally, Carthey was the leading scorer for half of the victories, as she led the team with total points. She finished her career with 471 points.
Carthey also was named All-SEC Honorable Mention.
Notching her second Defensive MVP award was Kynlee White. The senior has been in charge of guarding the best player on the opposing team, resulting in 1.1 steals per game. She was also named Team MVP last season.
Lastly, Paityn Ensminger was tabbed Team MVP. The junior had to consistently contend with centers that were taller than her, but she answered the call each night. Ensminger averaged 6.7 points and 5.7 rebounds per game, including nearly three offensive rebounds per game. She also led the team with a 45.8% field goal percentage as she was named All-SEC Honorable Mention.
Coach Watson was impressed with how she controlled the paint for the Panthers,
“Yeah, she did. I think she had four double-doubles, and she fought like crazy in the lane to get rebounds and stuff. And she, like I said, probably was the shortest post we played in all the games we played this year. But she battled, and she just got better as the year went on. And I’m looking forward for her next year to have a big year.”
The Panthers will be looking toward Ensminger and Abigail Shelangoski to lead the squad next season with Haylay Lydolph and Elodie Rawson getting plenty of reps from off the bench to help complement.