Aaron Frey, PR Specialist, 309.341.5301 afrey@sandburg.edu
March 19, 2024
ROCKFORD — After winning a share of its first conference championship in seven seasons, the Carl Sandburg College women’s basketball team had a league-best three members voted to the All-Arrowhead Conference team.
Sophomore guard Elly Bentley and freshman forward Brook Pieper were first-team selections, while sophomore guard Kelci Shelton was named to the second team. Additionally, Chargers coach Kellen Fernetti shared Coach of the Year honors with Sauk Valley’s Julie Schroeder-Ranz.
Bentley, a 5-foot-3 guard from Limestone High School, was voted first-team all-conference for the second straight season. She started all eight conference games for the Chargers and led them in scoring at 18.6 points per contest. Bentley also topped Sandburg with 3.5 assists per game and an 89 percent mark from the free-throw line in Arrowhead games. The second-year player averaged 6.0 rebounds and 1.9 steals per outing against conference opponents while shooting 43 percent from the field.
Bentley scored in double figures in all eight Arrowhead matchups and reached the 20-point mark in five of those games. She had 22 points, eight rebounds, six assists and three steals in Sandburg’s win Feb. 6 against Black Hawk, a game in which she also surpassed 1,000 points in her Chargers career. Bentley also connected on a game-winning jumper with 1.8 seconds left in a win Feb. 1 at Sauk Valley.
Pieper, a 6-1 freshman from Abingdon-Avon High School, finished one rebound shy of averaging a double-double in conference play. Against Arrowhead opponents, she was second on the team to Bentley in scoring at 13.3 points per game, and she averaged a team-best 9.9 rebounds and 2.1 blocks.
Pieper shot 46 percent from the floor while adding 2.0 assists and 1.6 steals per game. She recorded three double-doubles in conference play and was a rebound away from a double-double in two other Arrowhead contests. She put up 22 points and 12 boards in Sandburg’s victory at Sauk Valley.
Shelton, a 5-6 guard from Monmouth-Roseville High School, shined on both ends of the floor in her only season in a Chargers uniform. While starting all eight conference games, Shelton had a team-best 4.4 steals per contest and led the team in shooting at 49 percent from the floor.
Shelton also averaged 10.6 points, 7.9 rebounds and 3.3 assists per outing. She had at least five steals in five Arrowhead matchups, including a 19-point, 13-rebound, four-assist, six-steal effort in the Chargers’ overtime win Jan. 4 against Highland.
In just his second season with the Chargers, Fernetti helped Sandburg to a 6-2 conference record and its first Arrowhead championship since 2017. The Chargers shared the conference title with Sauk Valley, finished the season 23-10 overall and were runners-up in the Region 4 Division II District A tournament.
2024 ALL-ARROWHEAD CONFERENCE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL TEAM
First Team
MVP — Shelby Veltrop (Sauk Valley)
Elly Bentley (Sandburg)
Ariadna Kuc (Highland)
Andrea Lopreanto (Black Hawk)
Brook Pieper (Sandburg)
Second Team
Kira Klapprodt (Kishwaukee)
Harvest Day (Sauk Valley)
Laney Parker (Black Hawk)
Kelci Shelton (Sandburg)
Alicia Garcia (Highland)
Co-Coaches of the Year
Kellen Fernetti (Sandburg) and Julie Schroeder-Ranz (Sauk Valley)
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