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Lady Thunder Basketball Season Recap

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Manhattan, Kan.

The Manhattan Christian College Lady Thunder finished up their season back on February 24, in the Southwest Region Tournament in Overland Park. As many teams do, this year was filled with many highs and lows but saw lots of improvement as a team and individually throughout it all. 

In year two under head coach Mindy Eckert, MCC finished with an over all record of 8-16, a three game improvement from last season. The first half of the season was loaded with many DII and NAIA teams, where the Lady Thunder struggled at times but there was light at the end of the tunnel following the Thanksgiving break. December saw games with NCCAA Southwest Region foes Dallas Christian, 2022 NCCAA DII Runner-up Arlington Baptist and Kansas Christian College. Even though MCC came up on the losing side of these games, there was a different feel and level of play the ladies brought in these games. 

"The first semester was tough, and with a pretty young team you could see their struggles and how upset each of them were. So those early months were more about building their confidence and reassuring the team that we would be okay, this is going to pay off come conference time," stated Eckert.

From a 2-9 record last season and finishing in last place during the regular season, Manhattan saw big strides this season in the Midwest Christian Conference. Finishing with a 6-6 overall conference record the Lady Thunder jumped up to finish in 4th place. Another year of limited numbers due to injuries, the ladies still came out each night and fought hard. Leading the charge for MCC was the combination of sophomore Roni Harris (20.5ppg, 5.5rpg, 2.3apg) and Kayleigh Mannering (19.1ppg, 8.1rpg, 2.7apg). Harris was named to the All-Conference Second Team while Mannering was a 2x NCCAA DII Student-Athlete of the Week and was named to the All-Conference First Team. Senior Jordan Lewis finished her career at Manhattan Christian averaging 8.5ppg, 5.2rpg and 3.6apg. Lewis brought great leadership as well as experience that was a big help for the freshman this past year. 

"We had many highs and some pretty low, lows. But I think the challenges these young ladies faced just brought them closer as a team. They fueled each other tanks with so much positive support. We many not have ended the season we envisioned for ourselves but the bond and deeper faith they each formed, as a coach was just amazing to see up close," commented Eckert.