The North Central Missouri College women’s basketball team will host the Kansas City Kansas Community College Blue Devils at 5:30 tonight (Tuesday night) at the Ketcham Community Center, in the season opener for both schools.
North Central comes off a disappointing season that saw more losses than wins, and despite a strong surge towards late February, a one-point loss to St. Louis that ended the Lady Pirates 2015-2016 season in the Region 16 semifinal round, preventing a third-straight postseason title for NCMC.
KCK comes into the Ketcham Center a much different team than the one that won the NJCAA D-2 national championship last March in Overland Park, losing four starters and over 71 percent of their scoring from a season ago. Leading the returning talent for the Blue Devils is Shawnee Mission Northwest product Brooklyn Wagler and Blue Springs native Brie Tauai, both forwards for KCKCC. Following the season opening road trip to Trenton, KCK turns around to play the Ottawa University JV on Wednesday night, followed by a showdown with Des Moines Area on Friday. The Blue Devils enter the season ranked 10th in the NJCAA D-2 poll.
Hopes for fast improvement are high with the Lady Pirates program, led by veteran coach Jenni Croy, as a large crop of returning sophomores have improved their games from a season ago, while a small, but talented freshman class are ready to show their talent at the collegiate level. Among the freshmen, Mound City product Kendey Eaton, the point guard leader of the Class 1 Lady Panthers state champion team from last March, is expected to make an immediate impact, along with much-needed size recruited into the program in Kirksville product Sarah Lamp and 5’10” freshman Madison Gonseth from Murray, Iowa.
Power from the backcourt, and an up-tempo style could be a “calling card” for the Lady Pirates, with Eaton’s addition expected to blend well with Trenton native and returning sophomore McKinley Hurley, who showed vast improvement in her game late in her freshman season, as she adjusted to the collegiate level, and perhaps more importantly, continued recovery from an ACL tear suffered in her senior season at Trenton High School. Ottumwa, Iowa native Jami Nickerson, a three-point threat, returns for her sophomore season at North Central, with Coach Croy hopeful that Nickerson has added to her game in the offseason:
Cottey College, a Region 16 school from Nevada, Missouri, is coached by former NCMC All-American Stephanie Beason.
Other sophomore returnees for the Lady Pirates include the twin sisters from Kansas City, Asia and Dasia Young; Polo’s Adriana Segar; Holden’s Sydnie Stewart; along with a transfer from Central Methodist University by way of Pattonsburg High School, in former HDC Conference first-team selection Kelly Warford.
North Central’s women remain in the midst of early-season tough competition this weekend, traveling to Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, Kansas to play Johnson County on Friday night at 5:30 and Fort Scott, Saturday afternoon at 4.
Tonight’s 5:30 game will be broadcast LIVE on Hot Country Z 101.7 and audio streamed on www.kgozfm.com, with pregame at 5:20. Dennis Stephenson will have the call from the Ketcham Community Center in Trenton.
