Apr. 8—WAGNER, S.D. — Ashlyn Koupal was born into a basketball family.
She’s the daughter of two coaches and the second-oldest of six children. The elder trio of Koupal kids includes Ashlyn between an older sister and younger brother, two years on either side of her. For good measure, she’s a niece to one of South Dakota’s all-time best high school and college players.
Advertisement
However, Koupal was determined to find her own path and define her own legacy on the hardwood.
Mission accomplished.
During an astonishing high school career at Wagner, Koupal has put together a resume that reads like an itemized grocery receipt, and it’s almost as long, too.
Two South Dakota Gatorade player of the year awards. Two Class A player of the year awards. Four Class A all-state first-team selections. 2,500-plus career points. 1,000-plus career rebounds. Five-star recruit. Ranked top-15 nationally. McDonald’s All-American. Jordan Brand Classic All-American. Top-10 in South Dakota girls basketball history for points, rebounds and assists.
Advertisement
Those are just some of the highlights.
“The amount of joy that this sport has brought me is kind of insane,” Koupal said. “There’s anger, too, at times, definitely a little love-hate relationship, but it’s a lot of love for this game.”
This season, the 6-foot-3 senior guard/forward put up 28 points, 14.2 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 4.3 blocks and three steals per game, guiding Wagner to a 19-5 record and the program’s fourth Class A state tournament berth in five years. Koupal finished her time as a Red Raider as the program’s all-time leader in points (2,610), rebounds (1,210) and blocks (383) and stands at second in assists (463) and steals (253). In the history of South Dakota high school girls basketball, Koupal ranks fifth in points, second in rebounds and seventh in assists.
For stuffing the stat sheets while rounding out a stellar career, Ashlyn Koupal earned the Mitchell Republic’s 2026 girls basketball player of the year award for the third time in the past four seasons.
Advertisement
Last year, Koupal became the seventh multi-time Mitchell Republic girls basketball player of the year award winner, and she’s now the third member of the club to be honored three times since the award’s creation in 1994, joining fellow Wagner product and aunt Mandy Koupal (1996-98) and Sanborn Central/Woonsocket’s Myah Selland (2015-17). Of note, Wagner has three winners in the award’s history: Ashlyn Koupal, Mandy Koupal and Vanessa Yanez (2001).
The award is selected by the newspaper’s sports staff via a point-based voting system that awards five points to the top player, four points to the second player on the ballot and so on. Other players receiving consideration were Mitchell’s Addie Siemsen, Ethan’s Marissa Storm, Corsica-Stickney’s Braylee Bordewyk, Lyman’s Jordyn Scott and Sanborn Central/Woonsocket’s Liz Boschee.
Ashlyn Koupal’s Senior Night presentation came with a bit of a surprise.
Her father, Mike, the Wagner girls basketball head coach, and mother, Tera, an assistant coach for the Red Raiders, shared a soundbite from a Snapchat video featuring a young Ashlyn. In the clip, Ashlyn, then still in middle school as a sixth or seventh grader, was poking fun at her own basketball abilities.
Advertisement
“I actually did really good. I scored approximately zero points and had like three assists, so I’d say I’m probably going D-I. I’m probably ready to be on UConn or something right now,” Koupal said in the video.
While the tone was soaked in sarcasm, the content clearly hinted at a different message between the lines: I’m not at that level right now, but I’d sure like to be someday.
With years of hard work and dedication to the craft, Koupal steadily rose through the ranks. She was a first-team all-state performer by the time she was a freshman, and the Class A player of the year as a junior.
“I always liked the game, but going into my eighth-grade year is when I actually fell in love with the game,” Koupal said. “That was a huge transition point for me, just taking it so much more seriously, getting in the gym more and just putting so much time into it.”
Advertisement
Along the way, she became one of the most coveted girls basketball prospects nationally in the graduating class of 2026. Koupal even heard from those vaunted UConn Huskies during the recruiting process, an accomplishment that once felt out of reach.
After playing club basketball through the Sanford Sports Academy throughout her rise, Koupal decided to challenge herself in a new way prior to her senior year by joining the All Iowa Attack in 2025. The program, based out of Ames, Iowa, is a member of the Nike Girls Elite Youth Basketball League, where Koupal competed against other top competition from across the country.
“It was kind of eye-opening because it’s more like what the college level will be at, and that was good for me,” Koupal said. “Last summer, I put so much time in, and I loved that it was basketball 24/7.”
Koupal’s combination of talent and motivation to improve has set her apart as a prep athlete, and All Iowa Attack founder and coach Dickson Jensen believes it’s poised to carry Koupal even further.
Advertisement
“She still has the mindset of a very humble kid. She’s a McDonald’s All-American, a Jordan Brand All-American, and in general, many of those kids think they’ve arrived,” Jensen said. “Ashlyn knows, ‘No. I’ve still got to get a lot better.’ And when you find that in a kid, they are going to keep getting better.”
After being tested by other top talents for a full summer, Koupal made the extraordinary leap from elite to borderline unstoppable as a senior for the Red Raiders.
“I try to just trust the process and trust my training,” Koupal said of her mindset on the court as a senior. “I know what’s going to happen is going to happen, and I can only control so much.”
What Koupal often controlled was the action at both ends of the floor. After multiple years of being battered by defenses trying to knock Koupal off her game and make her job as difficult as possible, she was regularly the one taking the battle to the opponents this season.
Advertisement
“It was just physical, and, in my opinion, it wasn’t really even basketball, but she learned to play through it,” Mike Koupal recalled of how Ashlyn was defended earlier in her career. “She learned she needed to get stronger and get better at finishing at the rim and know her second go-to move after getting by a first defender. She got a lot better, and this year, she was getting by two (defenders), by the third and sometimes even four.
“Especially in her last four games, there were moves and shots that I was just thinking to myself, ‘Holy cow,'” he later added. “And I’d look over (at the opposing bench), and they’re just shaking their heads, like there was nothing anyone could do.”
Long before the Red Raiders took the court for their first official practice of the 2025-26 season, and even prior to the start of the academic year, Ashlyn Koupal finalized her college decision.
On Aug. 9, Koupal announced that she had picked Nebraska from her top-five list that also included Duke, Kansas, Michigan State and TCU. The timing was intentional, a move that helped Koupal focus her attention on one last high school season.
Advertisement
“So much pressure was taken off of me just getting the decision out of the way,” Koupal said.
Along with her final flourish on the basketball court, Koupal played on Wagner’s state tournament volleyball team in the fall and has one more season of high school athletics remaining as a member of the Red Raiders’ track and field team. There, Koupal is a five-time Class A girls high jump champion, yet another astounding accomplishment on her lengthy sporting resume.
But Koupal’s not-too-distant future is all basketball, and that’s a chapter she’s anxious to author.
“I’m really looking forward to just being around people who want it just as much as I do and getting pushed every day,” Koupal said. “I know the coaches are going to pour into me, and I’ll have weight trainers and just so many more resources. Thinking about how much better I can still be with some of those things has really opened my eyes, and I’m super excited to get down there.”
Advertisement
When Koupal officially joins up with the Cornhuskers in Lincoln later this year, Dickson Jensen doesn’t see it taking long for her to carve out her spot on the team.
“I’ll be shocked if, right away, she’s not a major contributor at the University of Nebraska,” Jensen said. “I think she’s going to see minutes, and lots of minutes, immediately, and she’s going to help Nebraska become a better basketball team. I think she’s fully prepared for that, and she’s going to have an immediate impact. She’s ready.”
Jensen, who has coached the All Iowa Attack since founding the program in 2004, said Koupal reminds him of another AIA alumna: Jessica Shepard.
“Ashlyn Koupal is a 2.0 version of Jess Shepard,” Jensen said. “Both great kids who worked their tails off, and a very similar type of player that can post up well, can go to the perimeter and see the court. Plus, they just love the game and have stayed very humble through the whole thing. Ashlyn very, very much reminds me of (Shepard).”
Advertisement
That’s certainly high praise. Shepard, a versatile 6-foot-4 forward, started her college career at Nebraska, where she was the Big Ten Conference freshman of the year in 2016. She later transferred to Notre Dame, where she won an NCAA championship in 2018 and was a third-team All-American in 2019. Since 2019, Shepard has played professionally with the WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx as well as overseas.
If Koupal keeps on her current trajectory, Jensen sees no reason she couldn’t have a prosperous career in professional basketball, too.
“If she continues to get better, she’s at that point where she can and will continue to play this game for a long time, God willing,” Jensen said. “You just know that she’s a kid who’s going to have a chance to keep playing this game for a long time.”
For a past version of Ashlyn Koupal, the one who wrote a book in Wagner volleyball coach Stacey Knebel’s first-grade class about growing up to play basketball, that sounds like a dream. But it’s drawing closer and closer to reality.
Advertisement
Yet Koupal, blessed with a certain level-headedness and quiet confidence, hasn’t allowed thinking too far into the future to get in the way of her present. To this point, she’s waited to set any specific individual goals for her first season in Lincoln, knowing that, like everything else so far in her basketball journey, those elements will sort themselves out with time and effort.
“I feel like there’s always a little pressure to perform, but I guess I’m not feeling a ton of that right now. I’m feeling more excited about going down there,” Koupal said. “This was always a goal. I’ve known from a young age that basketball is something I wanted to do. I’ve always wanted to take this seriously and pursue playing as long as I can. There were times when I truly didn’t think I could actually get here, but I know how bad I wanted it, even then. I think my younger self would be really proud of where I’m at today, because it’s really just a reflection of how much work I put in and how that hard work has paid off.”
Here’s a look at the other players who received consideration, with their vote-point totals in parentheses:
Addie Siemsen, Mitchell (10 points): The Kernels’ 5-foot-8 senior guard averaged 18.4 points, 5.9 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game to land on the Class AA all-state second team. Siemsen finished her career with 1,315 points, the fifth-most in program history, as MHS finished fifth at the Class AA state tournament with a 15-9 record.
Advertisement
Marissa Storm, Ethan (9 points): Helping lead the Rustlers to the Class B girls basketball state title and a 24-2 record, Storm posted 15.6 points, 3.7 assists and 3.2 rebounds per game. She was honored as the Class B girls Spirit of Su winner and headlined the all-state second team.
Braylee Bordewyk, Corsica-Stickney (7 points): As a junior this season, Bordewyk put up 19 points, 6.4 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game. The 5-foot-9 guard helped boost the Jaguars to a 19-6 record and a third-place finish at the state tournament as the No. 8 seed.
Jordyn Scott, Lyman (2 points): Half of the Raiders’ sister duo on the Class B all-state first team, Scott notched 18.3 points, 3.3 assists, 3.2 rebounds and 2.8 steals per game as a sophomore this season. The 5-foot-11 guard helped propel Lyman to the No. 1 seed in the Class B postseason and a 22-4 record.
Liz Boschee, Sanborn Central/Woonsocket (2 points): Boschee collected an all-state second-team selection this season. The 6-foot-1 forward averaged a double-double at 14.7 points, 10.5 rebounds, 3.6 steals and 1.8 blocks per game for the 16-6 Blackhawks.
Advertisement
Past award winners: 1994: Erin Olson, Mitchell; 1995: NaTascha Dawson, Howard; 1996: Mandy Koupal, Wagner; 1997: Mandy Koupal, Wagner; 1998: Mandy Koupal, Wagner; 1999: Lacey Johnson, Wessington Springs; 2000: Lacey Johnson, Wessington Springs; 2001: Vanessa Yanez, Wagner (2002 Season Switch); 2003: Jenna Hoffman, Mitchell; 2004: Jeana Hoffman, Mitchell; 2005: Allison Johnson, Mount Vernon; 2006: Jill Young, Mitchell Christian; 2007: Megan Doyle, Hanson; 2008: Terri VerSteeg, Platte-Geddes; 2009: Rhianna Gullickson, Hanson; 2010: Hillary Paulson, Freeman; 2011: Kerri Young, Mitchell; 2012: Kerri Young, Mitchell; 2013: Macy Miller, Mitchell; 2014: Macy Miller, Mitchell; 2015: Myah Selland, Sanborn Central/Woonsocket; 2016: Myah Selland, Sanborn Central/Woonsocket; 2017: Myah Selland, Sanborn Central/Woonsocket; 2018: Morgan Koepsell, McCook Central/Montrose; 2019: Karly Gustafson, Ethan; 2020: Avery Broughton, Corsica-Stickney; 2021: Bella Swedlund, Winner; 2022: Avery Broughton, Corsica-Stickney; 2023: Ashlyn Koupal, Wagner; 2024: Emilee Fox, Mount Vernon/Plankinton; 2025: Ashlyn Koupal, Wagner; 2026: Ashlyn Koupal, Wagner.
