DARLINGTON — Between the boys and girls basketball teams, nine players received SWAL All-Conference honors, and boys head coach Tom Uppena was named the Coach of the Year.
The honor was Uppena’s fifth in his seven-year coaching career at Darlington. He was named Coach of the Year previously in 2016-17, 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21. In seven years, Upenna has compiled a 145-32 record with four conference championships.
Three of Uppena’s players made First-Team All-Conference. Senior Carver Fitzsimons, an Honorable Mention selection a year ago, scored 13.7 ppg with 9.1 rpg. His rebounding mark put him second in conference to Andre Tainter with 10.1 ppg. He scored a career-high 28 points in Darlington’s 73-70 overtime win over Mineral Point.
Junior Will Murray led the team in scoring with 16.4 points, which was also third in the conference. He was the second-highest Redbird rebounding, averaging 5.7 rpg. Fellow junior Brady Long was the third First-Team All-Conference selection for Darlington. He was the third Redbird to average double-figure scoring with 11.4 ppg. He was also third on the team in rebounds (3.7 rpg). Long led the team in assists (3.9 apg) and steals (1.5 spg).
Freshman Broker Buschor received Honorable Mention. He played in all 26 games, getting the start in three. In those games, he scored 47 points. He was fourth on the team in scoring with 8.3 ppg.
Darlington ended its season 12-2 in conference to claim the SWAL title. The Redbirds fell to Marshall 55-49 in double overtime in the regional final on Saturday, March 4.
On the girls side, Kylie Butler and Cayla Golackson led Darlington as First-Team All-Conference selections. As just a freshman, Butler was third in the conference for scoring with 15.6 ppg. She made 64 of her 182 3-point attempts for 35% from beyond the arc. Butler ranked in the top 10 3-point percentage for Division 4 multiple times throughout the year.
Senior Cayla Golackson led the team in rebounding with a 5.4 rpg average. She was also third in scoring with 6.9 ppg, with an average of 5.7 of those points coming in the paint.
Jaidyn Evenstad, Jaylyn Schwartz and Maddie Gratz received Honorbale Mention recognition. Evenstad was Darlington’s second-highest scorer, averaging 7.5 ppg. She had the highest assist-to-turnover ratio (1.56) — a stat that measures ball-handling skills. Schwartz was second on the team in rebounding with 3.8 rpg. Gratz, one of three freshmen on the varsity squad, was one of six players to play in all 27 games.
The Redbirds finished third in conference with a 10-4 record behind Cuba City and Mineral Point. They fell by five points to SWAL champion Cuba City in the regional final — their best performance against the Cubans all season.
