Hamlin's state champion girls basketball team: "These kids are amazing!"

The whispers were everywhere but that's what happens when you spend three days covering a state high school basketball tournament.

It was that way last week when the state Class A girls tournament was held in the Watertown Civic Arena and it appeared that No. 1 Hamlin and No. 2 Wagner were on a collision course to meet in the state championship game.

Hamlin, which was hoping to take the final step after back-to-back state runner-up finishes, did have to survive a first-round scare from Lake Central Conference rival Flandreau.

I kept hearing from fellow media personnel and basketball fans (not Hamlin fans mind you) that they thought Wagner was perhaps the best team. It didn't play out that way — Hamlin prevailed 58-55 in a game that represented everything a championship game should be.

More:Hamlin's girls take final step, win Class A championship thriller over Wagner

"Of course this means more (after the last two years)," said Hamlin senior standout Kami Wadsworth. "It means everything."

Head coach Tim Koisti, a Hamlin graduate who has coached 24 years at his alma mater and spent the past 14 years as the head girls basketball coach, said during the postseason that his team didn't care about who got the points or the headlines but was focused on just getting wins.

As a former basketball reserve, I don't want to diminish the role that the other members of Hamlin's team played in a three-year run that ended with a 70-6 record, two state-runner-up finishes and state title. Yet, this Hamlin team primarily relied on five players.

"These kids worked their tails off all year long for this," said Koisti, whose team overcame an early 20-11 deficit against Wagner in the championship. "They just kept fighting and clawing. Wagner's such a good team, they just kept coming at us and coming at us and we had every answer. These kids are amazing!"

Let's call them the "Iron Five" because they played nearly every minute of the three games in the state tournament. The five included Wadsworth and fellow seniors Ally Abraham and Brooklyn Brandriet, junior guard Marissa Bawdon and freshman guard Addie Neuendorf.

Wadsworth and her cousin Abraham been starters all three years. Wadsworth, an All-State player who will take her talents to the University of Sioux Falls next winter, was a nightmare inside for all of the teams trying to figure out a way to beat the Chargers. She could also hit the 3-pointer and is a darn good free-throw shooter, which makes throwing the ball inside a good thing.

Koisti also noted Wadsowrth's defensive improvement, which showed in her work on slowing down Wagner's freshman standout Ashlyn Koupal on the perimeter in Saturday's championship game.

It didn't hurt that Abraham, who has spent years playing basketball on teams with her cousin, did all the little things and played a big role in helping Wadsworth do her thing. They worked so well as a duo.

There's also Brandriet, who moved in last year after a sophomore season at Florence-Henry. She's a good 3-point shooter who likely would scored more for any other team she would have played for. She focused on defense and passing with the Chargers and waited for her moments. How about four 3's and 14 points in the state championship? I can't think of a bigger moment.

Neuendorf also moved in last year from Mitchell and started as an eighth-grader. The daughter of Hamlin head boys coach Todd Neuendorf, a Watertown native, and Hamlin assistant girls coach Jaime Neuendorf, might as well already be a coach. She plays that way. She leads. She can score. She can play defense. She can pass. She, like all of her teammates, is determined.

Let's not forget Bawdon, who stepped into a much bigger role this winter and gave the Chargers another legitimate 3-point shooter. It was the dilemma other teams faced. How do we stop Wadsworth and Abraham inside and also stop the 3-point threats of Brandriet, Neuendorf and Bawdon.

The answer. You don't. There were 25 attempts to find a way to beat Hamlin this year. All of them failed.

More:State A Girls Basketball: Roncalli caps impressive run, defeats Hamlin for first championship

Family's a big deal around this Hamlin team. Wadsworth's dad Travis and sister Lexi Roe were assistant coaches. Travis' sister Tara, who happens to be Abraham's mom, led Hamlin's girls to their first state title in 1996 (also beating Wagner). Another title came in 2005 in the Watertown Civic Arena.

Koisti, who has guided Hamlin to nine straight Northeast Conference titles, has gradually built the program back to the top of the state's Class A field.

Hamlin had similar teams in 2021 and 2022 when they advanced to championship games in Watertown and Brookings, respectively. Both times, again with limited depth, the Chargers appeared worn out and fell behind early in championship-game losses to Aberdeen Roncalli and St. Thomas More. Unlike this year, they didn't recover.

More:Rapid City St. Thomas More wins first Class A title since 2018 52-30 over Hamlin

What was different this time? Hard to say. Maybe a combination of the experience and lessons learned.

"We knew Wagner always had very good starts and we knew we could battle back. We just had to find our rhythm and we did," said Abraham, who injured her knee in the final minute of her high school career and had to watch from the sidelines as potential game-tying 3-pointer by Wagner fell short in the final seconds.

She gave her all. So did the rest of the Chargers.

They say good things come to those who wait. It did for Hamlin.

So what's next for a team that will move on without Wadsworth, Abraham and Brandriet?

"We work our butts off in the summer and come back next season," said Neuendorf.

Follow Watertown Public Opinion sports reporter Roger Merriam on Twitter @PO_Sports.

This article originally appeared on Watertown Public Opinion: Third time was indeed the charm for the Chargers.