SIOUX FALLS – For the five seniors on the University of Sioux Falls Women's Basketball, the 2020-21 basketball season has been like none other in their life. 
 
In negotiating through a pandemic, they have, like other student-athletes on campus, tried to negotiate COVID tests every week, wore a mask everywhere, been careful where to sit in games or practices, dealt with various protocols to avoid or prevent the spread of the Co-VID-19 virus, and managed academics both on campus and in travels to games across the NSIC.
 
As such, this basketball season has certainly been one to remember for these seniors, who have played through perhaps the most difficult year in school history. As they look ahead, the seniors do so with pride in their teammates, support from their family, coaches and faculty, and friendship from teammates and fellow USF students.  
 
Lauren Sanders, Amanda Dagostino, Anna Goodhope, KaSandra Springer, and Emily Petersen are the seniors who have helped lead the way for USF Women's Basketball this year. Coming from all over the Midwest, these student-athletes have come together and found a way to compete through these unprecedented times. So far this season, they have led their team to a 7-4 start, overall and in conference play, and are hoping to make a postseason run to the NSIC Tournament and beyond. 
 
With two four-year players, one three-year player, and two graduate student transfers, these five seniors bring multiple different perspectives to the table, as well as different styles of leadership. 
 
USF Head Coach Travis Traphagen, admires these five seniors and appreciates all the hard work they've put in every day.
 
"What a year! This will be something that our kids will remember for the rest of their lives," said Traphagen. "We've had some ups and downs, but I'm so proud of this group and how they overcame so much to come together to continue to represent this great university." 
 
Despite those "ups and downs" Traphagen mentioned, the five seniors on this year's squad came together amidst those trials and tribulations, and are now leading a hopeful team into the postseason. 
 
Sanders learns about leadership and finds resilience in process
 

Sanders of Millard, Neb., is one of the four-year players on the team. Sanders has been an integral part of the team since her first year as a freshman. On November 14, 2017, USF hosted Presentation College, where Sanders scored a career-high 23 points, including a career-best seven three-pointers. 
 
"For me, the most rewarding part of competing in athletics is the life skills it has taught me," said Sanders, who has accumulated 428 points, made 25 starts, and totaled 13 double-digit scoring games with three games of 20 points or more. 
 
"I have developed a higher self-esteem, learned how to be a leader, how to correctly take criticism, how to communicate, patience, resilience, and even being less selfish," said Sanders, who made 111 career three pointers in her time at USF, and has made at least one three pointers in 54 of her games. 
 
Sanders, who has totaled 34 games with two or more three pointers made, 14 times made three or more three's in a game, and twice has made four or more (7 career-high) three pointers in a game, has saved some of her best moments for big games. On March 2, 2019, she scored 21 points against Wayne State in the NSIC Tournament Quarterfinals, a career-best in a game against an NSIC opponent, as USF advanced to the conference semifinals.
 
Sanders, who is the daughter of Della and Christopher Sanders, serves as a member of the USF SAAC Group. A sports management major, she hopes to be an athletic director someday. 
 
Dagostino finds USF a perfect fit
 
Dagostino, who is a four-year player with the program from Andover, Minn., is another important member of the Cougar basketball squad, and contributes to the

wins in many ways. She was named Academic All NSIC (3.2 GPA) in both the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 season, as well as selected to the NSIC Team of Excellence (3.6 GPA) in the same seasons. 
 
In the 2019-2020 season, she was a recipient of the Division II ADA Academic Achievement Award (3.5 GPA) as well. 
 
"I chose to attend USF because, when I first visited here while I was getting recruited for basketball, it just seemed like a perfect fit for me," said Dagostino, who scored a career-high eight points at Upper Iowa on January 10, 2021 and has started in three games so far this season. 
 
"I felt like I would fit in well with the basketball program and I also loved the size of the campus and the community at USF," added Dagostino, who has 96 career points and 75 career rebounds. 
 
She has also scored at least one point in 28 games in her career, including eight games so far this season. The daughter of Jason and Marie Dagostino, Dagostino is majoring in Elementary Education and will either enroll in graduate school or start teaching in an elementary school after graduation from USF. 
 
Goodhope feels good about choosing USF

 
Goodhope, originally from Sioux Falls, SD, is a three-year player for USF, transferring from the NDSU Women's Basketball Program in 2018. 
 
"The coolest thing about my decision to come to USF didn't start when I decided to transfer. When I was a senior in high school, I gave a call to the coaches who had been recruiting me to decline their offer and tell them I was heading to NDSU. When I called Coach Trap(hagen), he told me something that has stuck with me since then: he wished me the best and luck and told me 'I hope that works out for, but with the off-chance that it doesn't, you will always have a spot on my roster'," said Goodhope, who has been an outstanding addition to the USF Women's Basketball Team, scoring 816 points so far in her career, with 711 of those points scored in her time at USF. 
 
"What sets Coach Trap and his staff apart is that they care about me as a person first. He cares," said Goodhope, who scored a career-high 30 points vs Winona State on January 11, 2019, and she grabbed her career-high 12 rebounds vs MSU Moorhead in that same season on March 3, 2019. 
 
The daughter of Sam and Laura Goodhope, she has knocked down 95 triples in her time at USF, hitting a career-high seven threes at Minnesota State on January 11, 2019. She had 34 made three's in the 2019-2020 season, helping USF to an NSIC South Division Title and No. 3 seed in the NCAA DII regional. 
 
Goodhope, who has scored 20 points or more seven times, has totaled 380 career rebounds with 31 games in double-digit points.  Three times, she has secured double-double performances and made five or more triples on three occasions. 
 
A media studies and computer science major, Goodhope wants to become an airline pilot when her basketball career closes. 
 
Springers values "welcoming teammates" in transition from volleyball
 
For KaSandra Springer, basketball has been a new adventure. For four years, she was a key member of the USF Volleyball Team, which enjoyed significant

success including the program's first 20-win campaign three years ago. An All-NSIC performer in 2019-20, she joined the USF Women's Basketball Team this season.  
 
Originally from Altoona, WI, she had an outstanding career for USF Volleyball, playing in 284 sets in 95 matches, with a total of 452 kills in 1317 attacks for a kill percentage of .191 in her career. She totaled 83 service aces, and recorded 707 digs and 65 blocks. 
 
Springer scored 570 points for the Cougars Volleyball Team, and her career-highs include 25 kills, 59 attacks, six assists, six service aces (three times), five blocks, and a .542 kill percentage. She stands at 10th in attack attempts (1317), fifth in service aces (83), 6th in service aces per set (.29), 5th in digs (707), 4th in digs per set (2.49), second in reception percent (.958) and 10th in matches played (95) in USF DII career history. 
 
Deciding to join the USF Women's Basketball Program wasn't an easy decision for Springer, but the team she was joining made the decision easier for her. 
 
"I was originally getting recruited to play basketball here at USF, but I decided to go with volleyball instead. When I decided to transfer over to the basketball team as a graduate student, the girls were so welcoming. They have been so amazing and have welcomed me with open arms. I'm so happy I get to call them friends now too," said Springer. 
 
The daughter of Wendy and Damian Springer, Springer is majoring in biology and hopes to become a traveling nurse after her time at USF. 
 
Petersen values the atmosphere at USF

 
Senior shooting guard Emily Petersen, a graduate student transfer from DI Nebraska-Omaha, is another senior providing key contributions. In her time at UNO, Petersen totaled 142 points, including 38 three-pointers among 50 made field goals, four double-digit scoring games, and scored in 22 games with 18 games of six points or more. Since joining the USF Women's Basketball program, Petersen has scored 28 points, including seven made three pointers, grabbed seven rebounds, dished out four assists, and grabbed eight steals. 
 
"I just really loved the community at USF, and the atmosphere on the team was one I wanted to be a part of," said Petersen, who has made two starts for the Cougars, played 145 minutes so far, and had a double-digit game (10 points) earlier this season. 
 
The daughter of Mark and Kathy Petersen, Petersen is enrolled in USF's Master of Business Administration program and plans to move back home to Omaha after graduation. 
 
After a year like no other, these women certainly deserve the recognition for their efforts and how they have focused on being good teammates. Being a college student-athlete is not a task most can take on, especially not during a pandemic, but these players have weathered the storm and will come out stronger on the other side. 

"Everyone knows that it feels so good to win. But at USF I can honestly say that the wins are not the highlight of my athletic career, it's the little moments," said Goodhope. "The little moments of great plays and great shots, along with the bus rides and laughter from the back of the bus, the pregame meals, and the late nights returning back to the Stewart Center. It's the whole process that makes playing basketball so rewarding."