Allyson Christopher

Savannah Bentrup (9) dribbles the ball against Affton. “[Being a freshman on varsity intimidated me] because I don’t want to mess up and let the team down,” Bentrup said. Bentrup had been playing basketball since second grade.

After each high school varsity sport is over for the season, coaches come together from conferences and districts to vote on players who get All-Conference and All-District awards. Typically, juniors or seniors who have experience with the sport at the varsity level receive the awards. But that is not the case for freshman Savannah Bentrup.

Bentrup received first team All-Conference and All-District honors for girls basketball after having a stellar rookie season. 

“[When I received these awards] it meant a lot. I felt that I succeeded and that all my hard work paid off,” Bentrup said.

As a freshman, Bentrup was able to average 17 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks per game. 

“To my best knowledge of what I remember, I have not had a freshman receive the magnitude of the rewards that Savannah received,” head girls basketball coach Laura Bishop said.

These awards, however, did not just come easy to Bentrup, as she had to put in the work and make sure she was meeting the expectations of the coaches and the team.

“I listened to my coach’s opinions and ideas. I did the things that they told me to,” Bentrup said. “I got stronger against older people, and I got better defensively with the drills we did at practice.”

Being a freshman on varsity can be intimidating and stressful, but Bentrup used the stress to help motivate her throughout the season.

“Being a freshman on varsity motivated me because I wanted to meet the standards of the seniors and the people who are older than me,” Bentrup said. 

With just being able to achieve these accomplishments at an early point in her career, the sky’s the limit for Bentrup for the rest of her high school basketball career.

“I am excited to see the growth she makes over the next three years and do think she is very deserving to receive the awards she received,” Bishop said. “I think she has the possibility to break all the scoring records at Oakville and continue to grow in her game.”