Basketball

Basketball: A year in review

#40 Niko Gosnell, sophomore, slam dunks the ball during the quarterfinals of the NJCAA regional tournament against Little Priest Tribal College on March 3.
#40 Niko Gosnell, sophomore, slam dunks the ball during the quarterfinals of the NJCAA regional tournament against Little Priest Tribal College on March 3. Photo by Juana Jones.

Starting in the fall of 2019 both the men’s and women’s basketball teams have been hard at work practicing and competing. This hard work brought the men’s team to win 24 games and the women’s team to win 29. Both teams made it to the semifinals to the regional tournament before losing to North Iowa Area Community College. 

On March 9, the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference recognized multiple Kirkwood athletes for their and dedication to basketball.   

On the women’s team sophomores Paige Bradford and Ju Gaston received First Team All-Conference.  Freshmen Tatiana  Hodges-Johnson, sophomore Amara Lipsey and sophomore Kemara Watson earned Second Team All-Conference. Lastly, sophomore Natalie Tomaszewski received Third Team All-Conference. 

Following Kirkwood Tomaszewski said, “I have no idea where I’m going to play next year and I’m thinking about doing something like exercise science.”  

For the men’s team sophomore Luke Appel earned the Division 2 Player of the Year Award as well as First Team All-Conference alongside sophomore Devonte’ Thedford. For Second Team All-Conference Sophomores DJ Purnell and Seybian Sims were recognized. 

This year marked the first season for new Head Coach Tim Sandquist at Kirkwood.  Sandquist was hired in May to replace Bryan Peterson, who is now coaching at South Dakota State. Before Kirkwood Sandquist was at Northwest Kansas Tech where he coached for eight years. 

This season also celebrated women’s basketball Head Coach Kim Muhl who reached and surpassed his 900th game as a coach for Kirkwood. This season also concluded Muhl’s 31st season coaching basketball.

Image courtesy of Juana Jones | Kirkwood Communiqué

Categories: Basketball, Sports