With the changing weather and the end of fall sports near, winter sports teams are preparing for their seasons at Northwestern College. The NW men’s and women’s basketball teams are in full swing following their first weekend of official games.
Men’s team
The men’s team is coming off of a less-than-stellar 2014-15 season and is seeking redemption. After failing to make the national tournament for the second year in a row and going 14-14 last season, they are ready to bounce back.
The NW men are returning ten players from last year’s team, including three senior captains: Taylor Francis, TJ Buyert and Bryce Moss. Key returners include sophomore Colton Kooima, who lead NW in scoring at 14.4 points per game and was named last season’s GPAC Freshman of the Year. Also returning is junior Jordan Baker and sophomore Nathan Wedel, who averaged 13 and 12 points per game respectively, earning all-conference honors. The men also have some newcomers including junior transfer Mading Thok from Ball State University. The Red Raiders have three freshmen who will have key roles this year: Jaxon Heinz, Chris Borchers and Alex Bakker. NW is excited about their team.
“Everyone worked really hard this offseason,” Buyert said. “We all worked together this summer and this fall to prepare for our season. Now that it is here, we have to put everything together to be successful.”
The men officially opened their season last weekend on a road trip to North Dakota. They played two games, losing the first in overtime to Valley City State 96-84 and beating Jamestown 109-100.
“It felt good to play and it felt better to come out of that weekend with a win,” Buyert said. “Now as the year continues we are trying to keep getting better defensively and learning to win as a team.”
Women’s team
On the women’s side, NW lost their top two scorers from a year ago and look to bounce back after a tough season. Finishing 17-13 in 2014-2015, the women are looking to build from last year. They are returning eight players from a year ago, led by four seniors: Arianne Gesell, Morgan VanDerSloot, Whitney Vander Maten and Katy Kuiper. Also returning are sophomores Claudia Larsen and Renee Maneman, who each gained tremendous experience last season as freshmen. This season, the Red Raiders are welcoming junior transfer Paige Herrboldt and three freshmen: Kassidy De Jong, Darbi Gustafson and Haley Birks.
“We are really excited about our team,” Kuiper said. “Our freshmen have shown that they are capable of having big roles for us. We can really challenge teams from a variety of options because of our depth.”
The women traveled to Aberdeen, S.D., last weekend where they split a pair of games. They lost in their first game against Valley City State falling 73-68. In the second game they recovered and defeated Presentation College 104-80.
“We are ready to prove that we deserve to be back at the national tournament,” Kuiper said. “Everyone has sacrificed and bought in to the team mission.”
Upcoming games
Both teams play again this weekend. The men will host the Red Raider Classic in the Bultman Center. Today (Friday, Nov. 13) at 8 p.m., NW will play Viterbo and tomorrow (Saturday, Nov. 14) at 4 p.m., they face off against Peru State. The women will travel to Des Moines for the Grand View Classic. The Red Raiders will be matched up against 24th-ranked Mayville State tonight (Friday, Nov. 13) at 5:30 p.m. and will then play the host team, Grand View, on tomorrow (Saturday, Nov. 14) afternoon at 3 p.m.
