Lady Lancers Basketball Team finished the 2024 season by making it to the national tournament for the first time in CLC history.
The Lady Lancers’ head coach Tanner Morris led the team to nationals with a record of 27 wins and 5 losses. By defeating Kankakee Community College 75-56 the Lady Lancers punched their ticket to the NJCAA National Tournament. The team secured both the Illinois Skyway Collegiate Conference Championship and the Region 4/Midwest District B Championship.
Kennedy Clark, guard/forward for the Lady Lancers, said that even though they worked hard to make it to the finals, the moment still felt unreal.
“It didn’t really set in until we actually got to nationals and were able to experience it for the first time,” Clark said.
Chloe Sisco, guard for the Lady lancers, said she didn’t realize they were going to Nationals until the end of their game against Kankakee.
“Toward the end of the game, when we had the lead, it was exciting realizing that we really were about to win and go to nationals,” Chloe said.
Sister Mariya Sisco and teammate Maren McCallister said that, even though it was an impressive feat, they were not shocked by their team’s success.
“When we were recruited, he [Morris] told us that we were going to win games,” McCallister said.
Cisco, who was with the team for the 2023 losing record, offered the perspective of a Lady Lancer who had seen failure and success.
“We did quite a bit of good things, too,” she said. “So, I just feel like it wasn’t a surprise. It was just an addition, which was another one of my goals for this past year. It was a good feeling, knowing we added to our success.”
Morris gave the team confidence to make it to Nationals.
“That first year, three wins were no fun,” Morris said, “Building a team, a culture, an environment people wanted to be in was the biggest difference.”
Sisco added that the lessons learned in 2023 helped lead to the success of 2024
“A lot of credit to last year’s team,” Sisco said. “If we didn’t have such a good season last year, then we probably wouldn’t have gotten Maren or anyone else to come and play first.”
The Lady Lancers Basketball team played two games at the national tournament. Game one was against St. Cloud Technical and Community College of Missouri where they lost 75-70. Game two was against Bryant and Stratton college where they lost 67-57 which eliminated them from the tournament. .
Through their hardships, they have made a new name for the College of Lake County with their amazing teamwork, and exciting plays. With last season being a success, Morris said the upcoming season will be even better.
“It’s going to be a totally new looking team,” Morris said. “We will have at least 10-12 new faces. We have a mixture of high school kids and transfers coming in. On paper we have a lot of talent but our season will come down to how well they mesh as a team. The goal will be to win conference, win regionals and go to nationals.”
The Lady Lancers will face the Illinois Central Colleges The Cougars on October fourth to start the next season.
