Photo by Wade Gardner, d3photography.com

By Parker Olsen
for D3sports.com

From living in a town of less than 900 people to playing in front of thousands of fans, the gym Raegan Sorensen plays in now is a little different today than just five years ago. But all along, her game has been top notch. The UW-Stout senior has helped propel her team into the Final Four for the first time in school history.

The guard has some of the best athleticism and skills in the nation. Her ability to score is historic. Coming into the matchup with top-ranked NYU, Sorensen is 13 points from the Stout record of 1,738 career points.

• NYU: Pellecchia rolling with the defense
• Smith's hidden superpower
• 2025 D3hoops.com All-Region teams
• Jostens Trophy fan voting
• More NCAA Tournament features

“Raegan is a special type of kid,” Stout head coach Hannah Iverson said. “She’s a type of athlete and type of player that doesn’t come around every day, especially not in this level. She’s one that really takes our team to another level.”

Coming out of high school, Sorensen was full of potential — it was just a matter of all her strengths coming together to deliver as a college athlete.

“I came from a very small school, Unity, and the talent in our area wasn’t great,” Sorensen said. “So I think once I got to college it was really fun for me to be a part of really good programs and playing against really good teams.”

She proved herself in high school by breaking her school’s career points record. It didn’t take very long for her to prove she could do the same at Stout. In just the 11th game of her college career she set what is still her career high of 36 points. Safe to say that the transition from high school to college wasn’t too rough.

“When you really think about it, it makes sense right?” Iverson said. “Before the world knows she’s Raegan Sorensen she can go do some crazy things. People found out real quick what she was, and what she is and her ability to do things on the floor.”

While it may have been a little intimidating to face opponents who were years ahead of her in the weight room and on the court, Sorensen pushed herself to catch up quickly. Something great about that freshman season was that “no one really knows who you are.”

“I could just be myself and have the team around me and play together and put it all together at a college level so it was pretty neat, it was pretty fun,” Sorensen said.

With more than 100 college games under her belt, she gets treated a little differently by defenses now. She draws so much attention on the court that if she makes a break for the paint, she can dish it to another one of Stout’s weapons and rack up assists. Despite the fact that people know who she is, she still averages nearly 18 points a game.

Rising to the occasion, through the first four rounds of the NCAA tournament Sorensen averaged 24.5 points per game. The senior has plenty of ways to burn opponents on her way to scoring. Standing at a not-so-towering 5 feet 7 inches, Sorensen uses her agility and athleticism to score against bigger defenders. Her explosive speed lets her blow past opponents off the dribble and she has a mid-range jump shot that lights up the scoreboard.

Her versatility on the court makes her a threat that most teams struggle to guard. She’s the kind of player that Iverson said makes the Stout coaches say “holy smokes, I’m glad she’s on my team.”

“Raegan has god-gifted abilities that are just next level, and along with that a work ethic and this level of competitiveness that she just will do whatever it takes to get a job done,” Iverson said.

That competitiveness drives Sorensen each and every day. It’s something that has become ingrained in the Stout culture.

“It is a thing we live for — honestly it’s the thing we have to write our practices around. Like if we don’t have enough competition in our practice our girls are like ‘what the heck,’ ” Iverson said.

As someone who is “as competitive as the day is long,” as her coach put it, Sorensen is constantly driven to win every rep, every game, and ultimately is seeking to win a national title.

“I think even during this tournament I’m realizing that it’s the last college games that I’m going to be playing, that’s been driving me. I want to give it my all and go out giving 110 percent and that’s really what drives me because anything can happen at any moment,” Sorensen said. “Once I get going I can’t stop.”

When she gets going, you can tell. She’ll run harder, her intensity grows and … her eyebrow goes up?

“She has this next level where all of the sudden you’ll see it happen,” Iverson said. “All of a sudden she gets this little eyebrow and that eyebrow goes up and uff da, get out of her way.”

“My eyebrow, when that’s up I’m going. I’m going hard,” Sorensen said.

As a 50.8% career shooter she’s an athlete that makes the Stout coaching staff proud that she wears blue and white. While her basketball career may be coming to close this week, she’ll still represent the Blue Devils for another year. Sorensen is also a part of the Stout track and field team. Because she didn’t participate in track her junior year she’ll have this outdoor season as well as, for the first time in her career, both the indoor and outdoor seasons in 2026.

“I visited many schools that were like, ‘eh I don’t know if we could do both.’ That’s another great thing about Stout and how they love it,” Sorensen said.

“I love being busy.”

The D3hoops.com All-Region 9 first team selection and the Blue Devils have been awfully busy preparing to take on the defending national champion. The veteran-led team is hoping their chemistry and experience can guide them to pulling off another program history making win.

“We know how to compete at a high level and stay calm in big games,” Sorensen said.