Evenson takes over Arcadia program looking to make leap

Brooke Evenson has lived and breathed basketball since she was in elementary school, leading to a successful playing career at Baldwin-Woodville in high school and then five years playing NCAA Division II ball at Upper Iowa University.

Once her collegiate career ended, Evenson wanted a way to keep the sport she was so passionate about as part of her life. That led her to pursue coaching, a new basketball journey that’s now led Evenson to her first head coaching gig with the Arcadia Raiders.

“After college I was like what do I do now? Basketball’s been everything I’ve done every day since I was eight years old,” Evenson said. “It was figuring out how I could do basketball but in a different way. I knew that it wasn’t something I could just let go and never do again. So, when this opportunity came up, I knew I had to at least try for it.”

Evenson, who currently works as a school counselor at Eagle Bluff Elementary School in Onalaska, wrapped up her playing career at Upper Iowa University in 2024 and took on an assistant coaching role at Luck High School. When the Arcadia girls basketball head coach job came open after Evan Pagel accepted an offer to become the athletic director at Cochrane-Fountain City, Evenson’s sister Hannah, a teacher at Arcadia Elementary School, implored Brooke to apply for the position.

She heeded that advice, got the job and inherits a Raider team that heads into the 2025-26 season looking to do big things.

Arcadia is coming off a 13-12 season last winter that saw them finish third in the Coulee Conference with an 8-4 league mark. The year prior, they went 15-10 and were second in the Coulee at 10-2.

Most excitingly for the Raiders is the fact that they lost just one senior to graduation from last season — starter Kaitlyn Bremer — and bring back their other four starters and 93.5 percent of their scoring production.

“There’s a lot of good leaders on this team, so any questions I have, they’ve been able to answer. Whether it was just like, ‘how’d you guys run your press last year,’ or like, ‘what do you want to improve on from last year?’ Just different things,” Evenson said. “It’s been really nice. I think they only lost one girl last year, so having this many girls come back is amazing, especially as a new coach, knowing I can rely on them. It’s huge.”

The main returning starters from last year are seniors Justine Sonsalla and Joselyn Lockington along with juniors Tatum Drazkowski and Madison Grotjahn. Other experienced rotation players include senior Adella Anderson and juniors Amaya Schlesser, Chloe Schlosstein and Sacia Boland.

Drazkowski was a first-team All-Coulee selection as a sophomore after averaging a team-high 15.1 points and 11.8 rebounds during the season. With her back to lead a group heavy on experience, Evenson has high expectations for this group during the winter ahead.

“Looking into how they did last year I really think we can be a top two finisher in the conference. I think there’s a lot of just little things we need to work on to get us there,” Evenson said. “I think that we can honestly make a very deep run in the playoffs, it’s just that we need to buy in and show up every day.”