With a Section 2AAAA Championship and the first State Tournament appearance in program history, the Chanhassen Storm girls basketball team delivered the most memorable season in school history, earning the inaugural CCLN Girls Team Of The Year award.
“Our main focus is to get better than we were the day/practice before.”
That statement by Chanhassen Head Girls Basketball Coach Bart Inniger summed up his team’s primary goal heading into the season. “What fuels us is getting better every day.”
It was a simple goal, but it was the gateway to so many other goals.
“To be a top 3 team in our conference, to be a top 4 team in our section, to learn and develop the skills to be consistently competitive, and to play Storm Basketball (Play Hard, Play Smart, and Play Together) no matter the circumstances,” said Inniger.
In retrospect, those goals turned out to be pretty modest for this squad.
With a Section 2AAAA Championship and their first-ever trip to the State Tournament, the Chanhassen girls basketball team thrilled the Storm fanbase throughout a memorable winter, and earned the inaugural CCLN Girls Team Of The Year award.
Plenty of reason for optimism
There was no shortage of excitement heading into the season. The Storm returned three Division I signees — all juniors — which made Chanhassen an immediate threat in a loaded section. Kate Arnold, committed to the University of South Dakota, established herself as one of the best all-around wings in the state. Lyla Hentges, bound for the University of St. Thomas, is one of Minnesota’s premier three-point shooters. And fellow St. Thomas commit Skyler Mancini brought length, athleticism, elite-level defense and a strong all-around offensive game.
Rounding out the starting five were sophomore Reese Keating and freshman Lucy Hilgert, two underclassmen who more than held their own in a lineup loaded with Division I talent.
Senior Captain Grace Seubert shared that confidence from day one.
“I think we all knew we had a lot of potential from the start of summer workouts,” she said. “We were all super competitive and wanted to get better.”
Arnold echoed her teammate.
“I was pretty confident in our team before the season even started. I could tell that we had a lot of hard workers doing a lot of stuff in the offseason.”
Building a belief
That belief was tested during a rough stretch over the holiday break. The Storm dropped games to Prior Lake and Farmington, and Inniger could have watched his team fracture. Instead, the opposite happened.
“What I noticed was instead of allowing our frustration to fester, we used it as motivation,” Inniger said. “We played a top 10 team in Eastview the next game and lost by 4 and we still did not play as well as we are capable, but we started to believe we could play with some of the best teams in the state.”
The moment that turned belief into conviction came at Benilde-St. Margaret’s. The Storm had already lost a tough game to BSM at home after leading by 15 at halftime. At Benilde, history appeared ready to repeat itself: the Storm led late, only to watch BSM score to go ahead by one with just 6 seconds remaining.
Enter Kate Arnold.
With just half a second on the clock, Arnold caught an inbounds pass and buried the game-winner at the buzzer, and Chanhassen had something more valuable than a victory: the confidence to beat the best teams, not just compete with them.
“That resolve and toughness helped us as a team start to believe we could now beat those top teams instead of just compete with them,” Inniger said.
The Storm finished the regular season 18-7, earning second place in the Metro West Conference.
A trip to Fargo
Great teams don’t just gel on the court, they also find camaraderie and fun off of it. This team was proof positive of that, with a viral TikTok account that shared their light-heartedness with the world. One of the season’s signature bonding moments came when Inniger took his team on a road trip to Fargo, North Dakota, to play Fargo South, his alma mater.
“We got to play at Coach I’s old high school and we had awesome team bonding opportunities the whole trip,” Seubert said. It was a team filled with personality and shenanigans, which helped keep them loose as they headed to the playoffs.
The historic postseason run
When the Section 2AAAA bracket was set, the Storm drew the No. 2 seed, a position that brought optimism and a clear-eyed understanding of what lay ahead.
“We were grateful, but we also realized that we were going to have a gauntlet of tough games,” said Inniger.
Chanhassen opened with cross-town rival Chaska, the defending Section 2AAAA Champion, and a team they had beaten twice during the regular season. The Storm were sharp and beat the Hawks for the third time. Next came Waconia, a team that had pushed them to the wire in both regular season meetings. Inniger described it as the game he worried about most.
“Beating a team three times is extremely difficult, especially with as close as our games had been,” he said. The Storm held off a strong Wildcats squad to advance to the Section final.
“It was a back-and-forth game with lead changes and runs, and coming out on top was a really impressive win.”
Then came Minnetonka.
The Section 2AAAA Final at Minnetonka carried extra weight for Inniger, who had spent 19 years coaching there, including 14 as head girls’ coach. It was a packed, electric, sweltering gym. For the players, the nerves were real.
“I remember the locker room was very hot so we had a barf bag being passed around just in case,” Seubert said. “No one had to use it, thank goodness. That Tonka game was the most fun game I have ever personally played in. The atmosphere and our energy was so hype the entire time.”
“I loved playing in the Minnetonka gym because it’s smaller than ours so it felt super packed and loud,” said Arnold.
Once the ball tipped, the Storm were composed, confident and dominant. Freshman Lucy Hilgert set the tone immediately, scoring 9 of the team’s first 11 points as Chanhassen burst out to an 11-0 run. The Storm never trailed. The final score: 79-68.
“The game itself was unbelievable from the standpoint of how well we played,” Inniger said. Watching his team celebrate, with his son on the coaching staff beside him, made it complete. “We went into the Minnetonka game believing we were the better team. So many great individual moments during the game with players making big plays.”
“Not many people expected us to win, which made it even better that we did,” Arnold said.
History made
The State Tournament marked the first time in program history that the Chanhassen girls basketball team had reached that stage. The Storm went 0-2 in the tournament, but the achievement was not diminished by the results.
“We had really good energy the whole time and we wanted more,” Seubert said. “The whole playoff experience was unreal.”
Inniger reflected on just how far his program had traveled.
“From where we started the season to the last game, we grew as much as any team I have ever coached, and hopefully the memories that these girls created will last a lifetime,” he said.
The best, however, may still be ahead. All five starters are back, including their three Division I signees, Arnold, Hentges and Mancini, who will return as seniors. The program that made history this winter has every reason to believe the story is far from over.
RUNNER-UP
Holy Family Girls Hockey
The Fire had one of the most talented rosters in program history, featuring three of the state’s top senior award winners. Forward Maddy Kimbrel claimed the 2026 Ms. Hockey Award, the sport’s highest individual honor. Goaltender Kayla Swartout earned the Jori Jones Award, given to the state’s top senior goalie, and defender Katya Sander took home co-honors in the inaugural Senior Defender of the Year award. All three were named to the Star Tribune All-Minnesota team and will play Big Ten hockey next year. With several Carver County natives on the roster, the Fire finished third in the Class AA State Tournament.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Chanhassen Girls Volleyball
The Storm were the Metro West Conference champions and Section 2AAAA finalists. Senior outside hitter Bryn Lunski, a University of St. Thomas commit, earned Class AAAA All-State recognition in her final season. Sophomore outside hitter Ella Zieske joined her on the All-State list, while senior Anna O’Keefe was one of the metro’s best setters.
Chanhassen Girls Soccer
The Storm tied the program record with 13 wins, went undefeated through the Metro West Conference to claim the conference title, and reached the Section 2AAA Final behind one of the state’s most celebrated players. Senior Bella Naples, a University of Minnesota commit, was named the Star Tribune Varsity All-Minnesota Girls Soccer Player of the Year after scoring 27 goals and adding eight assists.
Holy Family Girls Golf
Led by All-State sophomore Keira Schuster, freshman Maggie Hoffer and junior Elin Bocks, the Fire girls’ golf squad finished in third place at the 2026 State Golf Tournament and captured the Wright County Conference championship.
Southwest Christian Girls Volleyball
The Stars kept their program’s rich postseason tradition alive with another strong run in 2025, winning the Section 2AA title and returning to the State Tournament. All-State Senior Breanna Beckering led the way throughout the season, anchoring a Stars squad that claimed the Class AA Consolation Championship.
