Women's Basketball | 10/31/2025 10:44:00 AM

The Cloud County Community College women's basketball team will open their 2025-2026 season on Saturday, November 1 at 2 pm against Concordia University JV in the first non-conference game of the season. The T-Birds will play five non-conference games, including three at home and two neutral site contests.

All 15 scheduled T-Bird home games this season can be streamed on the T-Bird Sports Network.

Cloud County is led by Brett Erkenbrack, the all-time career wins leader in the history of Region 6 women's basketball. Erkenbrack is entering his 37th year as the head coach of the T-Birds, during which time he has compiled a 756-385 (66.3 percent) overall career record with 21 seasons of 20 or more wins.

In 2025, coach Erkenbrack became one of ten head women's basketball coaches nationally, and one of only two Kansas junior college basketball coaches (Jay Herkelman, Coffevyille head men's basketball coach), to be recognized with the first ever NJCAA Coaches Legacy Award, recognizing the all-time winningest coaches in NJCAA history.

Concordia University is led by head coach Drew Olson. Under Olson, the program has made 16 national tournament trips with five national semifinal advancements, three national championship game appearances and a national title in 2019. He stands as the winningest coach in Concordia athletics history, regardless of sport. Olson has a new-look coaching staff as Katherine Benes fills the top assistant role formerly held by Tae'lor Purdy-Korell for the previous ten seasons. Vince Ongtangco serves as the staff's graduate assistant. The Bulldogs went 14-15 overall last year and placed eighth in the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC).

The T-Birds beat the Bulldogs in a game last November in Arley Bryant Gymnasium, 86-53. Cloud County outscored Concordia University JV 52-24 in points in the paint. The T-Birds also held a sizable advantage in second-chance points, finishing with 21 second-chance points off of 24 offensive rebounds, compared to just six second-chance points scored by the Bulldogs. Cloud County also collected 18 steals and forced the Bulldogs into committing 22 turnovers that led to 22 points off turnovers. Concordia University JV had just four points off turnovers.

Cloud County returns two players from its 2024-2025 team, which finished 17-13 overall. The T-Birds finished seventh in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference (KJCCC) with a 12-12 conference record and hosted a first round NJCAA Region 6 playoff game.

Cloud County returns 5-foot-10 forward Shea Wurtz from Clifton, Kansas. Wurtz made 14 starts last year where she led Cloud County in field-goal percentage at 48.8 percent, which ranked sixth best in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference. Wurtz also ranked third on the team in scoring, averaging 9.2 points per game while scoring in double-figures 13 times, with two games of 20-plus points.

Also returning is 5-foot-5 guard Lauren Marron of Kansas City, Kansas. Marron tied for fourth on the team in made three-pointers while averaging 2.7 points per game. She played a season-high 29 minutes against Cowley College on February 26, 2025, when she scored 13 points on 6-for-11 shooting from the field.

Erkenbrack has rounded out the lineup with an impressive recruiting class that includes one transfer and nine freshmen. Highlighting the list of newcomers is transfer Leila Washington, a 5-foot-10 forward from Garber, Oklahoma. Washington was a Second-Team All-NJCAA Region 2 selection last year at Northern Oklahoma College-Tonkawa, where she averaged a team-best 13.2 points per game on 41.6 percent shooting along with 6.6 rebounds per game and 1.1 blocks per game.

The freshman class consists of guards Sadie Cornell (Superior, NE), Jelena Jankovic (Belgrade, Serbia), Amanda Makela (Kotka, Finland), Camiah Muldrow (Fairburn, GA), Jazlene Ruiz (Las Cruces, NM), and Marilyn Soeken (Claiflin, KS), and forwards Kennedy Dodds (Manhattan, KS), Annika Moore (The Cayman Islands), and Sofija Todorovic (Cacak, Serbia).          

After the season opener, the T-Birds will be on the road for the BSN Tip-Off Classic at the Hutchinson Sports Arena in Hutchinson, Kansas on November 7 and 8. Cloud County will face Neosho County Community College at 1 pm on November 7, then follow with a game against Northeastern Oklahoma A&M on November 8 at 1 pm.