By Rich Winter 

605 Sports

SIOUX CENTER, Iowa — Every time Dordt University senior Karly Gustafson pulls into her hometown of Ethan, she can’t help but look at the sign outside the small town that says population 330.

Fresh off winning the NAIA women’s basketball national championship and being named an All-American basketball player, Gustafson remembers exactly where she came from. 

“I love going back home and all these little girls come up to me and ask questions,” Gustafson said. “I hope I’ve been a good role model and I guess my entire goal with basketball is to show people you can compete at a high level and still show love to others on the court.” 

Gustafason has been picking up fallen opponents and running down loose balls to hand back to a referee that just called her for a charge since entering Dordt as a precocious freshman back in 2019. 

With a host of schools courting the 2019 South Dakota Class B Player Of The Year, Gustafson said basketball was not the deciding factor in her choice to spend the next five years in Sioux Center, Iowa. 

“When I started looking at schools I knew I didn’t want basketball to be the main thing,” she said. “When I came to Dordt I realized this was the place where I could be focused, grow as a person and grow in my faith.” 

Gustafson, a 6-0 forward, began attending Dordt University in the fall of 2019, and just like any other freshman, she struggled. 

“My freshman year was a struggle,” she said. “Being away from home and being away from my family was hard. I ended up meeting a lot of new people, different people and that helped ease me into college.” 

Her basketball career mirrored that of her personal life and Gustafson had to work just to earn playing time that first season.

“I’d always heard the jump from high school to college was huge,” she said. “I worked hard and saw some playing time as a freshman.”

Gustafson averaged 9.8 points and 6.5 rebounds per game that season and was an all-GPAC honorable mention selection on a team that reached the NAIA national tournament. 

At that national tournament in 2020, Gustafson felt the sting of the COVID-19 pandemic first hand when it was canceled after the first day. 

“We basically played the whole season, had our jerseys on and they called off the whole tournament right before we were ready to play,” she said. 

Karly Gustafson ended her basketball career as the leading scorer and rebounder in Dordt University history - Dordt University Athletics

While Gustafson was growing as a person she was also growing as a player. During the 2020-21 season she was named an NAIA Scholar Athlete and earned second team all-conference honors while scoring 11.2 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. That sophomore season was the only time Dordt did not make the national tournament during Gustafson’s tenure.

In 2021-22, she averaged 12.6 points and eight rebounds per game. She won the Hustle Award at the national tourney and was on the all-tournament team. In 2022-23, she averaged 16.7 points and seven rebounds per game while making 61.8 percent of her field goals. That year Gustafson was named all-GPAC, NAIA All-American second team. CSC Academic All-District and NAIA Daktronics Scholar-Athlete. 

The COVID-19 year provided an extra year of eligibility and with her undergraduate degree in social work already secured Gustafson soldered on both athletically and academically.

The daughter of Jeff and Janet Gustafson, Karly will receive her masters degree in social work in July. While the basketball team was cruising to a 35-2 record and winning an NAIA National Championship, Gustafson was following her passion for the elderly working part time as a hospice social worker. 

“It was challenging this season,” she said. “We were having this terrific basketball season and I was spending time sitting with someone who was nearing the end of life. My teammates and my coaches knew what I was doing and they helped me through what was an emotionally challenging year.”

Gustafson’s career at Dordt University will not soon be forgotten. A two-time All-American, she leaves as the school’s all-time leading scorer and rebounder, awards she gives absolute credit to her teammates. 

“I’m not much for individual awards,” she said. “When I think of those numbers I think of the screens people set and the assists people gave me. I had good teammates and coaches and people that pushed me.”

Few athletes get to end their careers as national champions and Gustafson said that experience was incredibly fulfilling. 

“That moment was just so special,” she said. “Our team is just a big group of friends and to work toward a goal and then accomplish that goal is something I’ll cherish forever.”

When Gustafson was a little girl she remembers her mom, dad and siblings going to the gym with her and rebounding any missed shots. As a brilliant basketball career came to an end Gustafson relished that moment with her family that attended every game this season. 

“That was pretty special,” she said. “They’ve supported me for the last 10 years of basketball and winning a national title makes all those late nights and early mornings just a little more special.”