The Thunder women's basketball team opened their season on Monday night with an exhibition with Southwestern College (KS) at the Howie's Activity Center. The Thunder would find themselves down 17-9 after one quarter, but would use a 19-point second quarter to cut the deficit to three going into the half. The Thunder would take a 32-31 lead early in the third quarter, their first lead since 5-2 in the first, but would be behind 50-42 after three. The Moundbuilders would outscore the Thunder 18-9 in the fourth to close out the game and the Thunder would fall 68-51 on Monday night. The Thunder would shoot 33.8% from the field, 13.6% from the three-point line, and 22.2% from the free throw line. Sophomore, guard Macayla Hines would lead the Thunder with 12 points on 6 of 11 shooting in 37 minutes. Redshirt-senior, forward Nekayla Williams would chip in with 11 points and five rebounds, while freshman, guard, Mackenzie Lovett would have seven points and nine rebounds in her collegiate debut. Freshman, Tahila Morris would also score six points in her debut for the Thunder.

The Thunder will play again on Tuesday, November 4th at home against Randall University at 6:00PM.

How to Follow the Thunder: For complete information and to stay up-to-date with Manhattan Christian College Women's Basketball, visit www.mccthunder.com and follow the team's social media pages on X and Instagram.

After a 13-win 2024-25 season in Head Coach Dalton Miller's return to Manhattan, the Thunder start their 2025-26 season at home against Southwestern (KS) College. The Thunder went 13-15 last season, 6-6 in the Midwest Christian College Conference, and 7-3 in the NCCAA Central Region. After a Central Region Tournament championship appearance, the Thunder are looking to get back there and win their first region championship since 2013-14.

The Thunder return five women from last year's team led by All-Conference and All-Region selection, redshirt-senior, Nekayla Williams. Along with Williams, sophomore, Macayla Hines, who was an All-Conference and All-Region player herself, returns as the point guard of the Thunder. Sophomore, Elayna Wegner, who earned honorable mention All-Region honors, returns, while redshirt-sophomore, Madison Ellis, and sophomore, Ca'Mya Burns, round out the returners. Williams would lead the team in scoring and rebounding in 2024-25 averaging 14.3 points and 8.1 rebounds, respectively. Hines would average 10.4 points and a team-leading 2.8 assists last season, while Wegner would hit 39 three pointers and shoot 28.3% from three to lead the Thunder in those statistical categories.

Also, the Thunder add a mixture of freshmen and transfers to the team. The transfers are senior, Atira Davis, junior, Elayna Spilker, and redshirt-junior, Cortnea Wagner. Wagner was the only transfer to play last season as she averaged 6.0 points and 3.6 rebounds in seven games. Freshmen for the Thunder are Tatum Milenski, Mackenzie Lovett, Tahlia Morris, and Jasmine Holloway.

Coach Miller, who starts his second season at the helm, had this to say about starting the 2025-26 season, "I’m excited to start the season with this group. They’ve had a really good Fall and I’ve seen a lot of improvement since the beginning. We made a lot of progress last season and our returners have stepped up and led in big ways, our transfers and freshman have all been great additions to the program, so this is a big moment for us. We are ready and we just want to take it one day at a time and enjoy every step in this process."

The Thunder open their season at home on Monday, October 27th at the Howie's Activity Center. They will host Southwestern (KS) College at 5:00PM. This game will be considered an exhibition game for the Thunder.

Tickets for the 2025-26 season are now available on the SidelineTix app and website. To purchase tickets, fans can visit www.mccthunder.com and click the "Get Tickets" tab.

How to Follow the Thunder: For complete information and to stay up-to-date with Manhattan Christian College Women's Basketball, visit www.mccthunder.com and follow the team's social media pages on X and Instagram.