Sudmann becomes the third all-time leading scorer in Charger history

After coming back for her fifth year at Briar Cliff University and making it to the third round of the 2023 NAIA Women’s Basketball Championship, Konnor Sudmann, a second team All American has achieved another milestone for herself. 

“It’s incredible. I think anytime you have a player reach 2,000 points, it doesn’t happen very often,” says Brian Ortmeier, the women's head coach. “To see it happen for Konnor, we’re just happy for her and proud of her accomplishment, she definitely deserves it.”  

Ortmeier came to the program in 2022 and led BCU to a 26-8 season, when the team claimed the GPAC postseason women's basketball tournament title. He is the third head coach that Sudmann has worked with to help build her career.  

The fifth year has been a starter for the Chargers since she was a freshman in 2019, where she threw up 469 points, got named GPAC Freshman of the Year and was first team All-GPAC. Since then, she has earned two more first-team titles and one second team title. 

“It’s really special, it’s not something I ever would’ve imagined I could do in a career,” says Sudmann. “I wouldn’t be able to reach this milestone without the teammates that I have now, previous teammates, and all the coaches that we’ve gone through here, especially these two right here for getting me to come back.” 

During the conference matchup against the Doane Tigers, the Treynor, Iowa, native reached above 2,066 points, a record previously set in 1998 by her own teammate’s mom, Wendy Hammen-Slaughter.  

“Usually, you don’t know people that have milestones ahead of you or career highs ahead of you,” says Sudmann. “I would say it’s special that I get to know Wendy, not like we’re ever counting points or anything like that, but it’s just cool to know she was a great player, All-American, and I’m able to reach what she did here at Briar Cliff.” 

Payton Slaughter, a second-team All-GPAC player, has played with Sudmann for all five seasons of their career. Having that time together creates chemistry on and off the court, and Slaughter says she couldn’t be prouder of her teammate and her achievements.  

“It’s been fun, we’ve seen a lot of different sides of each other on and off the court, and I think it’s just cool to see how she has grown as a player and the different things she’s done in her career and all the milestones she's hit,” says Slaughter. “It’s been an honor to be her point guard.”  

The regular season is coming to an end for Briar Cliff, and soon post-season play will begin. “I think that it’s not about point or anything like that for me, "says Sudmann. “It’s just doing stuff to help out my team to see how far we can get this year.” 

“We’re really focused one game at a time,” says Ortmeier. “That’s been our approach all season and at this point, we’re trying to get back into a rhythm and catch fire here for the last six, seven games that we have in the regular season. We just take that one day at a time mentality and if we can catch fire here, we can go on a good run to finish the season.” 

The Chargers will continue conference play Wednesday, February 21th, in Jamestown, North Dakota against the Jimmies. Tip off will be at 6:00 p.m. 

Konnor Sudmann at the women’s basketball matchup against Doane University on Saturday, February 10, 2024.