Tietjen Signs With Briar Cliff

A career with a solid resume of work through four years still being written. Records were owned early on and history was made on the tail end. For Natalie Tietjen, signing with Briar Cliff University is evidence of a stellar basketball career. From an incredible start as a freshman and a mountain of adversity to climb with an ACL and MCL surgery missing half her senior season. Tietjen has been making the most of any time she can get on the court and the timing of the return is impeccable. At the moment of this writing, Tietjen is currently the record holder for Thayer Central girls basketball with points in a game, points in a season and in a career, along with steals in a season and for steals for a career.Upon returning to the starting lineup, Tietjen within a few games was able to have a game-winner against Sandy Creek filling in the role as the go-to player in crunch time quite nicely. Even with the current records, each game adding to her own. Natalie is proud of the accomplishments, but looks forward to someone breaking it sooner than later saying, “It’s been a fun time playing basketball and having the success I have had thanks to my coaches, and teammates. Though, I honestly don’t care for the records too much, because I want to see it be used a goal to reach and beaten. I think if people look at the career I’ve had, it’s proof to the younger kids that you should trust the coaches and the process. Being a part of the system that helped me get to where I am now, it speaks on the efforts for those who played a role in my growth and teammates as players.”From missing half of the season, Tietjen’s perspective and vision for the game on the court has changed as she explained, “What’s been good for being off the court is seeing how the game has slowed down so much. Being able to see openings I didn’t before, and helping my teammates grow as players has been fun. All in all, though I wish I could’ve had a full season, it’s been beneficial to be on the sideline and learn as a player without being in the game.” Head Coach Erin Kowalski was able to speak on Natalie’s career saying, “It has been great to see Natalie back on the floor doing what she loves. When she gets out on the floor she does a great job for us of being a leader and reading our offense and our opponents defense.“Her leadership and decision making out on the floor have been great to have back. She has done a great job of stepping into our offensive rotation and plays well with all of her teammates. One of the cool parts that I get to watch as a coach is seeing her get to play and practice with her sisters, Paige and Taylor. I think that is super special that she gets to spend a year of playing with her sisters. Not many people get to do that, and it is fun to see them all together. She kind of became ‘Coach Natalie’ for a little bit and she did a great job with the underclassmen and helping them learn our plays and system She also got to see the game from a different perspective which you can learn a lot from being on the sidelines, but I am glad she is no longer in that role .”A career that’s left quite a mark, and plenty of work still ahead, it’s easy to say Natalie Tietjen will be ready for what’s left in this season and the college career ahead.

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