Season Review: ARCC Womens Basketball

Anoka Ramsey Community College (ARCC) girls basketball team finished 3rd at the national tournament.

The ARCC girls basketball team has had a great season overall and were even able to go compete in the National Junior College Athlete Association (NJCAA) semi-finals hungry for first place. Fighting to advance to finals in the NJCAA championship, ARCC defeated Northland Community College 61-48. They moved on to go against Rochester Community College and had fallen short 71-48. Rochester moved on to win the NJCAA championship. Fighting for 3rd place, ARCC went against Minnesota West Community College and won that game with the final standing being 64-45, securing 3rd place at the national tournament. 

When talking about basketball, there’s one major difference between playing basketball at a four year college and a two year college. The difference is that at a two year community college, you’re only playing that desired sport for the two years that you are getting your associate's degree. At a four year university, you have the option to play for four years or sometimes more. So, sometimes when you’ve gotten your associates and you plan on moving on to a four year university. Our ARCC girls basketball sophomores have some plans in mind for their athletic and academic futures. 

“I’ve been playing basketball at [ARCC] for two years, but have been playing since I was four or five,” Sophomore Lynae Walker said. “[I plan on] going to a four year [university] to major in early childhood education.”

Sophomore Bella Kanz says, “I played at [ARCC] for two years but have been playing basketball for 14 years…[I plan to] go get my psychology degree at a university.”

“I’ve been playing basketball for as long as I can remember, but this is my first year playing at ARCC,” Sophomore Sydney Hazuga said. “I plan to transfer to a four year school to continue my academic and basketball career.” 

Of course, players and a team are not anything if they don’t have a great coach to lead them through wins and losses while still keeping their heads up no matter the turnout. Head coach Samantha Doucette has done just that. Doucette has been coaching here at ARCC for four years but she has always been coaching on and off for a long time. She’s coached high school teams, Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), and more. Her own path for her academic and athletic career took off when she attended The College of St. Scholastica in Duluth where she played basketball and a degree in Health Information Management and Computer Science. Apart from coaching at ARCC, Doucette works full time doing healthcare consultant work from home. Coaching for Doucette is seen as more than just “coaching a team” to her.

“A big word in my coaching style is trust. Getting my players to trust me and vice versa pairs along with my intensity,” Douchette said. “Of course, you will always need to make adjustments, coaching and knowing when you need to tone it down or up. Relationships with your players help me as a coach know when to do that. I also have a great assistant coach ShaRon Miller who is fantastic with young women and knows how to talk to young women.”

It’s key to have a good personal relationship with your players, it doesn’t matter if they’re coming in to play for one to two years or four to five years, you need to treat it all the same. Clearly, Doucette does just that as well as still staying up to date on some of her players that have gone on to play at other colleges. 

“I think the most successful notes and things that are the most important to me as a coach is the majority of my former players are now playing higher level basketball on scholarships and going to graduate with a 4 year degree,” says Doucette. “For example, Mikayla Kanenwisher was just Conference Champs at the University of Concordia Saint Paul playing big minutes on a successful team. Janea Arnoldi is at NCAAD2 Jessup University. Seeing the impact you make on these young women and helping them achieve their goals is the ultimate accomplishment.”

Undoubtedly, coach Doucette has built long lasting relationships with her players, both current and former. She has a great amount of commitment to these players, she’s still watching on the sidelines as they go forward to better opportunities and that says a lot about her as a person and a coach.

The girls basketball team has had a fantastic season and we congratulate them all as some move on to greater possibilities and others continue here at ARCC becoming even better with the help of coach Sam Doucette.