Women’s basketball team ends season with a winning 27-1 record
First national title since 2009
By Piper Fuller
The stakes were high during their final game, but the Yellowjacket women’s basketball team brought the heat! They ended the season with 27 victories and just one loss, collecting their first national title since 2009.
In addition to being named national champions of the Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division III, four Yellowjackets made the All-Tournament team: Jada James, Ravyn Miles, Myia Ruzek and Olivia Christianson, who also was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.
Coach Jason Bonde was named Coach of the Tournament.
The tournament’s high scoring and buzzer-beating excitement was evident throughout the season, said Ruzek, who was named NJCAA Player of the Week earlier this season.
“We compete just as hard [each game],” said Ruzek, who graduates this spring with a business management certificate.“We don’t play down to any competitor’s level.”
Ruzek averaged 28 points per game for the Yellowjackets. The Lewiston, Minn., native credits genuine friendships among team members and many years of playing together for their success.
Below, the team in 2023, and at its beginning in 1927
Coach Bonde agrees.
“The experience this team has is special,” said Bonde in an earlier email interview. “I have six players who have been with me for three years; because of Covid, they all got an extra year to play. We finished third at the national tournament last year and they built off that experience.”
The fans noticed, too.
“We have had great crowds the past two years,” Bonde said. “Winning does that but, also, these players are all from southeast Minnesota for the most part … within an hour of RCTC … We have great sports teams at RCTC and young athletes who work hard.”
“The games are so exciting,” said RCTC student Margaret Tescher. “It’s always fun watching and I feel like I’m part of the team’s success by following their season.”
Bonde is already thinking about next season, as seven players will be graduating.
“I plan to bring in another great recruiting class to go along with some great players who will be returning,” he said. “As coaches, we put a lot of time and effort into finding players who want to play this way and who want to come to our great school. As coaches, we spend time not only coaching our players and preparing for games, but recruiting young athletes we feel would be great fits into our programs.”
But he emphasized that the Yellowjackets, while winners on the court, are equally impressive off the court. The team GPA is 3.0, he said.
“We have a great group of young ladies who are talented and driven to be successful not only on the court but in the classroom,” Bonde said. “They work hard every day in practice, in the weight room, in the classroom, and they work hard for each other.”
Echo staff writers Jordyn Oie, Mathew Clemons, Jessica Cormican, Erik Benson and Alexis Ofilas contributed to this report.