CONCORDIA – As Cloud County Community College head women’s basketball coach Brett Erkenbrack gets set to embark on his 32nd year at the helm of the Lady T-Birds, this season is likely to set a few firsts for him for a variety of reasons.
Most notably, 2020-21 will set the latest start date to a season for Erkenbrack and CCCC while almost certainly set a record for the fewest non-conference games as CCCC will have their season opener on Thursday night serve as their lone non-conference game.
“This year will be different to say the least as normally by the point that we are opening the season this year we would be 20 games into the season,” said Erkenbrack. “How we prepare for this season is something that I’m not quite sure how to go about other than getting better each day to become the best team that we can be.” We’ll have to learn to adjust to the different things that will be thrown at us this year but everyone who plays this year will be faced to deal with the same potential issues.” “Normally at this point in the season we would have a good idea of our personality, chemistry, and rotations but that is something that will be pushed back due to the simple fact that the season hasn’t started yet.”
Trying to prepare and plan for the unexpected and last-minute changes that are bound to happen this season, Cloud County will look to navigate through their first few weeks of the season with a shortened roster of nine girls. Three additional bodies will become available towards the end of January or early February as a trio of incoming transfers await final grades from ASA College in Brooklyn, NY after the Avengers decided to opt-out of competition this season. The T-Birds are bringing back just two sophomores from last year’s campaign in Alyssa Castilleja and Isabella Vazquez but will look for transfers Sydni Keys and Le’Yanna McGinnis to provide some immediate help on the court. Keys makes her way to Concordia after spending last year at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M while McGinnis will be able to provide Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference experience after spending last year at Johnson County Community College.
One thing that CCCC will look to build on was the opportunity to practice this past fall while taking part in three scrimmages against outside competition since October. The last two scrimmages happened to come this past week after postponements in the fall opened up the possibility of getting the opportunity to scrimmage ahead of the regular season which the T-Birds were more than happy to take advantage of.
“It was extremely valuable for us to have two scrimmages against outside competition last week, but at the end of the day no one really knows what to expect from this year so the approach for us will be to get better and ready for the end of March for what will be the postseason this year.” “We haven’t played a game that’s counted towards our win-loss record since the end of last February and it definitely feels different, but the ladies that we have here this year are ready to go and play and get the season started so we’re looking forward to it.”
Following Cloud County’s season opener against the Bethany College JV team on Thursday night, CCCC will then open KJCCC play at home against Northwest Kansas Tech on Wednesday, January 27th. Five of CCCC’s first seven games of the season will take place inside Arley Bryant Gymnasium, as the T-Birds will look towards a strong start in KJCCC cross-division play before opening up KJCCC East action on Monday, February 22nd against division favorite Butler. The full 2020-21 schedule for Cloud County can be viewed online at www.cloudtbirds.com
Due to KJCCC rules, no fans will be allowed to any KJCCC athletic event through Feb. 5. All CCCC home basketball games this season will be streamed live at www.cloudtbirds.com/video/tbirdsportsnetwork.
--cloudtbirds.com--