MENOMONIE – Four of the top 11 scorers in Menomonie High School girls basketball history are firmly entrenched in their college careers. Mary Berg, Sammy Jacobsen, Helen Chen and Emma Mommsen, the quartet that played major roles in Menomonie’s success the last several years, scored a combined 3,629 points.

Berg, who scored 1138 points at Menomonie is now playing for UW-Stout. Jacobsen, who scored 795 points, is playing for UW-La Crosse. The Blue Devils (6-2) and the Eagles (6-3) are set to meet twice in January, playing in La Crosse, Jan. 15, and in Menomonie, Jan. 29. Chen, who scored 971 points, is playing for the University of Minnesota, Duluth (4-6) and Mommsen, who scored 725 points for the Mustangs, is playing for Concordia-St. Paul (11-0).  Chen and Mommsen’s teams will meet twice, meeting in St. Paul, Minn. Dec. 21, and in Duluth, Minn., Feb. 1.

Berg, a 5-foot, 7-inch freshman guard, made a splash in her first game for the Blue Devils. Berg came off the bench to score in double digits in her first game as a Blue Devil, dropping in 10 points in a season-opening win over Calvin University.

Berg has continued to come off the bench to become an impact player, now averaging 7.8 points and 3.5 rebounds per contest. Berg, a business administration major, is averaging 26.1 minutes per game, fourth-best on the team. Berg has scored in double digits four times, scoring 10 points in her first game and 11 points in three other contests. Berg has played in all eight of the Blue Devils games so far and has one start. Stout returns to play Dec. 19 and 20 at the St. Pete Classic in St. Petersburg, Fla., with a pair of games.

As a high school senior, Berg was named Big Rivers Conference Player of the Year,  All-Northwest Player of the Year, first team All-Conference, All-State Honorable mention and a WIAA Scholar Athlete finalist.  As a junior, she earned first team All-Big Rivers Conference selection and honorable mention All-State.  As a sophomore, Berg was All-Big Rivers Conference honorable mention.

Jacobsen scored her first collegiate points, dropping in a bucket in a 93-54 La Crosse win at Lakeland University, Nov. 23. Jacobsen, a radiation therapy major, has appeared in four games this season. La Crosse returns to action Dec. 28 and 29 at a two-game tournament in Greensboro, N.C.

Jacobsen averaged 10.7 points and 4.2 steals as a senior at Menomonie. An All-Big Rivers selection, Jacobsen was a named the All-Northwest team and was a WBCA Division 2 All-State honorable mention.

Chen, a 5-7 junior guard, is in her third year at UMD, and has appeared in one game this year. As a freshman, Chen appeared in 13 games on a team that was NCAA Division II runner-up. Chen, a chemical engineering major, was an NSIC All-Academic pick.

At Menomonie, Chen earned first team, second team and honorable mention all-conference honors, as well as earning all-state honorable mention honors.  Chen was selected the WBCA all-star team. The Bulldogs will host Winona State, Dec. 18 before traveling to Concordia, Dec. 21.

Averaging just over 16 minutes per game, Mommsen, a 6-1 sophomore center, is shooting .512 from the floor (21-41), averaging 4.0 points per contest and has appeared in all 11 games. Concordia, ranked 13th in last week’s Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Division II poll, is off to their best start in more than a decade and the second best start in school history.

Mommsen, a business major who red-shirted the 2022-23 season, last season appeared in 28 games, averaging 11.4 minutes per game and shot .581 (36-63) from the field, averaging 2.8 points. She scored a season-best nine points and grabbed a season-high eight rebounds against Bemidji State, Jan. 16, 2024, and matched that career high this season with a nine point effort against Truman University Nov. 15, going 4-5 with a 3-pointer.

While at Menomonie, Mommsen earned 11 letters across three different sports – cross country (four), basketball (four), and track & field (three). The Mustangs posted a 25-4 record during her 2021-22 senior campaign when she earned All-Northwest Player of the Year honors, Big River Conference Player of the Year and honorable mention all-state honors.

The Golden Bears return to action Thursday, Dec. 19 when they face defending national champion Minnesota State, Mankato, in Mankato, before facing Minnesota-Duluth Saturday.

•  Liz Kyles was also a part of the Menomonie High School girls basketball success, graduating in 2024, and is continuing her collegiate basketball career at NCAA Division III St. Catherine University in St. Paul, Minn. Kyles has appeared in four games for the Wildcats. St. Kate’s is currently 4-4 overall and compete in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC). The Wildcats return to action Monday, Dec. 30 when they travel to Storm Lake, Iowa, to meet Buena Vista University.

Layne Pitt is the retired UW-Stout Sports Information director and also worked more than a decade at the Dunn County News.

Menomonie Collegians is a regular feature of Menomonie News Net. The column is not limited to student-athletes, but may be a former Menomonie student in a play, forensics, music or any type of collegiate competition. If you know of a Menomonie Collegian, please email [email protected].

The column Menomonie Collegians by Layne Pitt is licensed under a CC BY SA 4.0 International license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

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