Final stretch for Stewart

LAMONI — Nearly 50 family members and friends gathered in the bleachers behind the team benches at Closson Center on the Graceland University campus Feb. 14 to watch former Mount Ayr athlete Sam Stewart play close to home one last time.

She gave them a good show. It was her typical complete game, despite sitting out more than usual with foul issues. Stewart scored 15 points along with a team-high nine rebounds and two steals in Peru State’s 91-77 victory over Graceland University.

“I’ve been out of high school four years now, so it always feels good to come around home and see my community supporters,” Stewart said after the game between after posing for pictures with young fans and family members.

“Before the game I pointed up to bleachers and told my teammates, those people up there are here to see me,” Stewart said. “It kind of made me nervous!”

It was an important win, because the Bobcats are contending for one of the eight spots in the upcoming Heart of America Conference tournament. Going into Saturday’s Senior Day game against league leader and NAIA fifth-ranked Clarke University, Peru State is 13-14 overall and tied for seventh in the conference at 10-13.

Tough transition

Being a part of the Peru State team has meant more than wins and losses to Stewart in her final season. She is grateful for the family-like relationships with teammates in the aftermath of last summer’s tragedy.

Sam’s younger sister Maddie was one of three teenagers who died as a result of a two-vehicle accident on HIghway 34 on July 21. Halsie Barnes of Tingley and Ella Jo Leonard of Winterset also died as a result of the accident. A fourth passenger, Graceland University student Abigail Barnes, also a Mount Ayr graduate, was seriously injured.

Maddie was a member of the women’s basketball and dance teams at Southwestern Community College, and Halsie Barnes was on the SWCC softball team. Leonard was a member of the dance team. Abigail and Halsie Barnes were Stewart’s teammates and close friends on the Raiderettes state softball team in 2020.

Sam, the daughter of Kevin and Ashley Stewart and Julie and Josh Shields, found it difficult to pack up and leave home for her final year of college as the fall term approached. Being a member of the basketball team helped her settle in.

“It was hard leaving everyone and moving back to school,” Stewart said. “I had a very hard time adapting when I first got back. My team knew what had happened. They were there for me when I needed it.”

Stewart first learned about Peru State from another southwest Iowa player from Sidney High School, Maddy Duncan. She was trying to decide whether to play basketball or softball in college. (Stewart was all-state in both.) This season, both Stewart and Duncan surpassed 1,000 career points for the Bobcats.

“I was up in the air about where I wanted to go, but I knew I wanted to go somewhere where I didn’t know a lot of people,” Stewart said. “Farther from home, but close enough to where I could still come home if I needed to.”

As it turned out, both Stewart and Duncan were dealing with grief this year.

“Maddy also lost one of her best friends to cancer last year,” Stewart said. “We were there for each other.”

Stewart was known for wearing No. 32, but as a tribute to Maddie this season she wears No. 20. That’s the number of the jersey retired in Maddie’s honor during a December ceremony at Southwestern Community College, an event Sam attended with her family. Her younger sister Dannie also now wears No. 20 for the Mount Ayr Community High School team.

Coaching changes

Stewart was originally recruited at Peru State by Ian Holleran, who at that time was an assistant coach for head coach Joan Albury. After her freshman year, Holleran succeeded Albury for two seasons. He resigned the position after last season for family reasons, so when Stewart returned for her senior year she not only was dealing with family heartache, but facing another coaching transition.

Jason Smith, the all-time winningest coach at Bryan College in Dayton Tennessee and most recently head coach at NCAA Division II Cedarville, was named the Peru State coach late in the summer.

“One of the reasons I accepted the head coach position at Peru even though it was August was because of the returning players and their leadership, which included Sam,” Smith said. “Sam was our returning leading scorer and we had high expectations for her going into her senior year. Obviously, she had overcome much adversity with the loss of her sister in late July. She has remarkably managed herself and continues to perform at a high level on the court. She scored her 1,000th career point earlier this season and she leads our conference in steals.”

Going into the week, Stewart was averaging 13.4 points and leading her team in both rebounds (6.0) and steals (3.6) per game. She is among the NAIA national leaders in steals.

“Sam has dramatically improved her three-point shooting this year from last year,” Smith noted. “Sam is probably one of the hardest players to guard that I have ever coached. She is constantly moving and cutting to the basket to score or pursue the basketball. She has had a great career at Peru State. She will be remembered and missed. We wish her the best in her future endeavors.”

Stewart has been a President’s List student (GPA 3.5-4.0) at Peru State, majoring in kinesiology. She graduates this spring and will soon be applying for graduate school to pursue a career in athletic training.

The Senior Day ceremony Saturday will be emotional, Stewart admits. She averaged 12.2 points and 5.4 rebounds over a productive four-year career. But, the relationships off the court are what she treasures most.

“When I first came here on a visit with my mom I loved it,” Stewart said. “It was a small town feel. Everyone was friendly. The whole team was close throughout the years and that’s been my favorite aspect.”

Peru State is coming off a 78-63 victory Wednesday over Baker University as Stewart had a monster game with 27 points, seven rebounds and seven steals. Her season high is 30 points against MidAmerica Nazarene on Jan. 31. On Saturday, her final regular season ends.

“I know I’ll be sad at Senior Day,” she added. “But it’s been an awesome journey and I’m looking forward to what comes next.”