Katie Klassen enters her sixth season as an assistant coach with the SUNY Canton women's basketball program during the 2025-26 academic year.
The Roos earned their first ever SUNYAC playoff win in their first ever season in the SUNYAC during the 2024-25 season. The Roos finished with a 16-11 record after a 10-8 regular season record in league play to earn the four seed in the SUNYAC playoffs as they defeated five seed Plattsburgh 61-58 in a thrilling first round game. Senior Natalie Bartle was named D3hoops.com All-Region Second Team and SUNYAC First Team All-Conference, while Sierra Pabo was tabbed SUNYAC Second Team All-Conference. Four players earned College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Honors and 15 players were named to the SUNYAC Commisioners Academic Honor Roll. Bartle was named the Oustanding Baccaulerate Graduate and the SUNY Canton Athletic department's Co-Female Student-Athlete of the Year, while Kat McRobbie-Taru was named the department's Female Rookie of the Year. Both Abigail Rice and Sadey Sprabary earned the SUNYAC's Elite 20 Award, which goes to the student-athlete at each of the SUNYAC's championship final sites with the highest cumulative grade point average. Canton had the fifteenth highest GPA among all schools in NCAA Division III according to the Women's Basketball Coaches Asscociation (WBCA) D-III Academic Top 25 Honor Roll.
Klassen helped lead the Roos to a new NCAA D-III era program record with 21 wins and just six losses during the 2023-24 season, marking the most wins by a SUNY Canton team since the 2006-07 team went 23-5 during the junior college days. Sierra Pabo was named the North Atlantic Conference (NAC) Rookie of the Year and First Team All-Conference, while Hope Aniceto joined her on the Second Team. Natalie Bartle was named to the D3hoops.com National Team of the Week. Aniceto set program records for single-season made threes (92) and single-game made threes (10 vs. Paul Smith's 2/5/24). Natalie Bartle had likely the
most prolific game of any Canton women's basketball player scoring 46 points, pulling down 26 rebounds and going a perfect 17-for-17 from the free throw line, all program records in a 74-72 win at Clarkson (11/15/23). Her 17 made free throws without a miss were just three short of tying the all-time D-III record. with The Roos also set the single-game program record for made threes in back-to-back games against Paul Smith's (16 - 2/5/24) and VTSU Johnson (19 - 2/10/24). The Roos qualified for their third consecutive NAC Tournament making it to the semifinal round.
Klassen helped lead the Roos to a previous NCAA D-III era program record with 14 wins during the 2022-23 season. The Roos 14 wins were the most wins since SUNY Canton became a four-year school and the most victories in the last 16 seasons since the 2006-07 team won 23 games. The Roos had two all-conference performers in Joie Culkin (Second Team) and Hope Aniceto (Third Team), while Culkin earned D3hoops.com National Team of the Week honors. Culkin was tabbed the Women's Basketball SUNY Scholar Athlete of the Year and Samantha Dayter earned the prestigious SUNY Chancellor's Award for Student Excellence as well as the Athletics department's Co-Female Student-Athlete of the Year.
Klassen helped lead Canton to just their second ever NCAA conference tournament playoff win and the program's first winning season in nine years during the 2021-22 campaign. The Roos earned just their second win against Clarkson since becoming a four-year institution and the first in nine years. Raven earned a spot on the D3hoops.com National Team of the Week and was tabbed NAC Second Team All-Conference.
Klassen also owns and operates Raise the Bar, a functional fitness gym in Potsdam, NY offering group fitness classes as well as personal training options.
To learn more about Coach Klassen check out a
feature on her during National Girls and Women in Sports Day that was done in February 2021.
(Updated 11/4/25)
