Northern Star: Elise Besonen

UWS junior leads UMAC in 3PT% and FT%

December 20, 2023

Ben Burns,

SUPERIOR, Wis.- Anyone who’s been to a UW-Superior women’s basketball game this season is well aware that Elise Besonen has been given the green light to shoot the ball.

“I know that if she doesn’t pass it to me, she’s making it for sure,” smiled Katie Dobson, both a teammate and roommate of Elise’s.

“She’s one that’s not selfish, but at the same time, she knows that she’s helping the team when she’s looking for her shot and when she’s scoring,” says Emily Carpenter, who’s in her second year as the Yellowjackets’ head coach.

Along with being her team’s leading scorer, Besonen is taking on an even bigger role as a captain for UWS. “It’s a little weird, but a little not because that’s what I had to do growing up,” says Besonen, who led the Ewen-Trout Creek Panthers to two district titles before high school graduation. “But just transitioning towards (becoming a leader) here is a little different. Exciting, too.”

Part of what makes Besonen a fitting leader for the Yellowjackets is her relationships in the locker room and beyond. “I like our chemistry. We have a lot of fun together; we laugh a lot. I feel like we’re a lot closer, we connected a lot faster this year.”

She’s especially close to Dobson, a fellow 2021 high school graduate. “We’re together a lot of the hours of the day, so it kind of feels like sisters. We try to make each other laugh; we try to force each other to get better.”

“We don’t remember how we became best friends,” says Besonen. “There wasn’t really a moment where we were like, ‘Yeah, we’re going to be best friends.’ It just kind of happened.”

From the sidelines, Besonen has a mentor in Coach Carpenter, who played in a near-identical role when she played for UWS. “(Elise) and I have had multiple conversations, just saying ‘Hey, you’re kind of leader of this team. As the point guard of this team, you are essentially the coach on the court.’ That’s how I played, so her and I have a very good relationship because we kind of mesh well together in that aspect.”

Besonen hopes those relationships with her teammates and coach can lead to more wins, and perhaps a UMAC title. “We know what we have to do to (win the conference), we just have to dig deep and find it within ourselves. It’s been a few years, and we really want to fight for that championship.”

The Yellowjackets (5-6) will host the 2023 Superior Shootout Holiday Classic, where they will face Marian on Friday, December 29 before taking on St. Norbert on Saturday, December 30.