Women’s basketball winds down successful season

KYLE SCHECK
PHOTOGRAPHER

KATELYN THOMAS
STAFF WRITER

2/17/2025

Alma College’s Women’s Basketball team is wrapping up a successful year. They have two games remaining in conference play and are 7-6 in the conference and 10-13 overall.

On Saturday, Feb. 15, Alma fought a tough battle against Saint Mary’s College. The Scots came up just short losing, 62-66. The Scots were gritty throughout the matchup, despite struggling to close the gap.

Impactful players for this conference game were Molly Deurloo (‘27), Candence Kaminske (‘27) and Brooke LeRoux (‘25).  Duerloo had 15 points and 6 rebounds, Kaminske had 13 points and LeRoux had 9 points and 12 rebounds. 

The Women’s Basketball team will be back in action against Kalamazoo College at Art Smith Arena on Feb. 19 at 5:30 p.m. and will travel to take on nationally ranked Hope College Feb. 22.

The Scots won their previous matchup with Kalamazoo College in late January, 75-64. This early season win sparked a four-game winning streak, including wins over Adrian, Olivet and Albion.

Earlier in the season against the Hope Dutch, the Scots fought hard, ultimately coming up short, 67-80. The Dutch are ranked second in the MIAA conference and have a 12-2 record.

This past week, the Scots faced some tough competition, falling short to both Calvin College, 40-58, and Trine University, 61-80.

Against the Calvin Knights, LeRoux put up 8 points with 4 rebounds and 2 steals. Following behind her, Deurloo scored 7 points and had an impressive 7 rebounds.

Against the nationally ranked Trine Thunder, Alma grappled to close the gap. Game leaders were LeRoux with 21 points and 5 rebounds, Madelyn Weber (‘27) with 15 points and 6 rebounds, Deurloo with 7 points and 5 rebounds, and Sarah Ebel (‘26) with 5 points and 4 rebounds.

They began the season at the JCU Tip-off Tournament, where they walked away with a 2-1 record for the weekend, including an overtime win against Grove City College.

The following weekend, they competed at the Lauren Hill Tip-off hosted at Mount St. Joseph University in Cincinnati, Ohio. They walked away with a weekend record of 0-2.

In early December, the Women’s basketball team began their regular season schedule, defeating Adrian College, 70-58, and The University of Olivet, 62-51.

The Scots came up short in the first matchup with Calvin College, suffering defeat by only 4 points, 50-54.

In late December, the Women’s team attended the Baldwin Wallace Holiday tournament, held from December 29th to the 30th. They came up short with a 0-2 record. 

Much of the team’s success was due to the powerful leadership on the court and the sidelines, including Sami Stormont, Women’s Basketball Head Coach. 

Stormont is in her sixth year with the Scots and has brought a lot of success to the Women’s Basketball program. That year, two new assistant coaches, Josh Bouchard and DeQuan Powell (’24), implemented a new approach to further develop players.

“Their experiences as players and/or coaches for different programs brought a different outlook on everything we did,” said Stormont.

Another vital factor in the team’s success was their chemistry. Through injury and illness, the team persisted and found ways to overcome obstacles.

“Our ability to push forward despite these setbacks spoke volumes about our character and commitment,” said LeRoux.

The top six teams within the conference will make it into playoffs; currently, Alma is ranked fifth in the conference. Albion College is ranked above Alma with an 8-7 record and Adrian College is ranked below Alma with a 5-9 record.