The Norwalk girls basketball team didn’t finish this past season with a winning record, but the future remains bright with the entire year-end roster set to return for the 2023-2024 campaign.

A challenging schedule, varsity inexperience and a key injury were all contributing factors to the Warrior girls’ 6-16 overall record and sixth-place finish in the Little Hawkeye Conference. The Warriors lost to Bondurant-Farrar 51-36 in the first round of Class 4A regionals, ending a season in which the vast majority of their losses came against state-ranked opponents.

Although the win total was low, Norwalk’s consistent level of energy, effort and heart were never questioned by head coach Jill Martin. The Warriors played the final seven games without injured junior point guard Anna Larson – resulting in a roster consisting entirely of sophomores and freshmen – but the team responded by winning three of their final five regular season games.

Coach Martin tells KNIA-KRLS Sports that everyone involved with the Norwalk girls basketball program is excited for what the future holds.

“I think everyone has their battles within a season and we certainly had our fair share of those, but this crew… will go through a wall for us,” Martin said. “They are tough competitors and they will do everything to their best ability, and we as a staff are really excited about their future and having everybody come back.”

Sophomore Bailey Birmingham, a Class 4A All-District selection by the Iowa Girls Coaches Association, was Norwalk’s team leader with averages of 18.1 points and 6.4 rebounds per game, 41 steals and 102 free throws. She also made 42 three-pointers.

Sophomores Avery Thomas and Braelyn Clark both averaged more than 7 points per contest, with Thomas hitting a team-high 46 treys. Larson, one of the Warriors’ top on-ball defenders and emotional leaders, averaged 4.7 points, 5.4 rebounds and 3.9 assists before suffering a season-ending knee injury on January 24. Other top players in the rotation were freshmen Ava Carlson and Pearl Brown and sophomores Ava Garvey and Ellie Dueland.

In addition to the natural improvement that will come with growing, maturing and hitting the weight room, Coach Martin says that the Warriors must focus this off-season on better ball-handling skills and simply getting up as many shots as possible in the gym.