Ariy-El Boynton

Seniors Andrea Verdegan and Courtney Grimsrud were never the go-to players in their four years at SDSU, but they were two pivotal members of the D-I move made during the middle of their careers.

“Sometimes you look for that superstar as a senior,” SDSU head coach Aaron Johnston said, “and I think Courtney and Andrea have been fantastic role models here at South Dakota State, great students and absolutely everything I could ever want in two young ladies to coach.”

“If you know and are around them and really pay attention to what our team’s accomplished, it’d be really hard not to recognize how important they’ve been,” he said.?

As center, Grimsrud was a mainstay of the women’s basketball team. She went out in her best game of the year in a 76-69 loss to Creighton to end the season. The Sisseton native earned Independent Defensive Player of the Year and Academic All-District honors as a junior. She was also was named to the 2006-07 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District Second Team, also a two-time honoree on the Division I Independent All-Academic Team. She ended her career with 101 blocked shots, enough for fifth all-time in SDSU history. The three-time state champion will finish her undergraduate academic career with a biology major.

Verdegan, a guard from Glen Flora, Wis., was a guard for SDSU for every game except one and was named Division I Independent All-Academic Team in her sophomore and junior seasons.

Verdegan led the Jacks in assists and steals each of the past two seasons. She ended her career with 192 steals; enough for ninth place. Her 356 assists was good enough for a share of 10th place all-time and was an important part of the two WNIT runs the past two seasons.

?”I got to do some great things,” said Verdegan, who ended her career with more than 900 points and a Summit League title. “I got to go to many great places, but it wouldn’t have meant anything if it wasn’t for my teammates and my coaches.”