The Thunder women's basketball team would compete in the NCCAA Central Region Tournament in the friendly confines of the Howie's Activity Center. The Thunder would be the three seed in this tournament. The women's tournament would have four teams competing, so the Thunder would start with a semifinal game on Thursday against a familiar foe in the two seed Calvary University Warriors. The Thunder and Warriors played in the Midwest Christian College Conference Tournament Championship on February 21st where the Warriors would easily beat the Thunder, 70-44. On Thursday afternoon, these two teams would be in for an instant classic. After one quarter, the Warriors would lead 17-16, but the Thunder would win the second quarter 12-11 to take a 28-28 tie into halftime. In the first half, neither team would have a lead larger than eight. The Warriors would lead by as much as seven in the third, but the Thunder would battle back to take a one point lead head into the final 10 minutes. Each team would swap baskets for most of the fourth. The Thunder would have the ball with under 50 seconds left, down one and would get a put back basket to go with 19 seconds left. A steal by the Thunder would seal the deal and the Thunder would redeem themselves from just six days ago to earn the hard-fought, 65-64 win. It would be a balanced scoring attack by the Thunder as five would score in double-figures lead by sophomore, Elayna Wegner who had 13 points and seven rebounds. The Thunder would shoot 34.3% from the field, 27.6% from the three-point line, and 81.8% from the free throw line.

After a thrilling semifinal win, the Thunder would have another MCCC Tournament rematch this time against the Ozark Christian College Ambassadors. The Thunder and Ambassadors would be meeting for the fourth time this season. The Ambassadors won the two regular season meetings, while the Thunder won in the MCCC Tournament semifinal matchup less than a week ago. The Thunder would jump out all over the Ambassadors, but would trail 10-8 with 5:56 left in the first quarter. That would be the last time the Thunder would trail. A dominate effort by the Thunder would give them the 24-point victory over the defending national champions to earn the Central Region Tournament crown and an automatic bid to the NCCAA National Tournament. This is the women's basketball program's first region championship since the 2013-14 season. That team was led by the late Larry Olson, who won four region titles at MCC. The Thunder would hit 11 threes en route to a 70-44 victory. Redshirt-junior, Nekayla Williams would have a double-double with 20 points on 9-14 shooting, while grabbing 10 rebounds. Freshman, Jasmine Holloway would also have an efficient game scoring 18 points on 6-8 shooting from the field and 4-5 from three. They would shoot 43.9% from the field, 45.8% from the three-point line, and 60.0% from the free throw line. They would also hold the Ambassadors to 27.9% shooting from the field and 7.7% from the three-point line. With the two wins at the region tournament, the Thunder are now 17-13 headed into the NCCAA National Tournament.

The Thunder will now await their seeding for the NCCAA Division II Women's Basketball Tournament that will be hosted by Crown College in St. Bonifacius, Minnesota. More information on the tournament will be released in the coming weeks.

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.