Meet the players who
make magic happen
By BRAXTYN TURNER
Catyn Graham: Guard
Junior Catyn Graham (5-foot-9 guard, No. 33) credits team chemistry to be the reason behind the Lady Rangers’ success this season.
“We have a lot of pieces and talent that work really well together, and everyone understands their role,” Graham said.
Graham is from McAlester and has played basketball her whole life. She currently plays shooting guard for the Lady Rangers, but before that, she played for the Oklahoma Baptist University Bison. Graham said transferring to Northwestern has been one of the best decisions she has ever made.
“It has been a blast,” Graham said. “I’ve just really enjoyed being a part of this program. It’s been such a great experience, and I’m really grateful to be here.”
Majoring in health and sports science, Graham spoke about the high standards within the Lady Ranger basketball program. She explained how the team has maintained the same preparation and focus since the start of the season, consistently meeting the expectations set by their coaches while continuing to work hard and stay true to their core values.
After opening the season with eight straight wins, Graham said the team quickly learned how to handle the expectations. The Lady Rangers faced pressure to maintain their unbeaten record, and a brief losing streak tested them mentally.
Graham said the experience strengthened the team, encouraging players to trust each other, the coaches and even themselves.
“This season has helped me gain a lot more confidence in myself because I know my coaches have confidence in me,” Graham said.
She added that each game throughout the season has carried significance. According to Graham, every game, win or loss, contributed to the team’s growth and prepared the Lady Rangers for what postseason play has in store for them.
By JOHN STOWERS
Kennedy Hight: Guard
Kennedy Hight, a 5-foot-8 guard, has been taking her season one game at a time.
Hight, a sophomore health and sports science education major from Perry, spent her first semester this season going through one of the toughest adversities an athlete can face: being sidelined by an injury. Her injury, however, hasn’t daunted or deterred her.
“Coming back has been exciting.” Hight said. “It’s been a blessing. It hasn’t been easy just because this is my second ACL that I’ve torn and then having another surgery on top of that, it was a struggle. But I like to work and I like and enjoy fighting through adversity.”
Since she came back onto the court, Hight has been steadily reclaiming her role as a starter. At her most recent game, NWOSU vs. SNU, she scored 17 of the team’s 48 total points, the second most points scored on either side of the ball.
Hight said her time on the bench helped her to get to where she is now.
“It really made me see things from a different perspective,” Hight said. “At the beginning of the year I was on the bench and my job was to be my teammates biggest fan, and to help them with whatever I could and coach them when I saw things that I thought they needed help with. I think getting to sit back and watch has really helped me grow as a player, because I got to see the little things that matter.”
Jaida Shipp: Center
By ALLISON RUWALDT
Jaida Shipp (6-foot-2 center, No. 34) is a senior who is majoring in psychology at NWOSU and is the starting center on the Lady Rangers basketball team.
When Shipp first started playing basketball, she was a sophomore who had just moved to a new school and wanted to make friends. She hated it at first but decided to stick with it, and eventually she grew to love the sport.
Shipp has connected well with her team at NWOSU, especially this season. She spoke about how her teammates push each other, and all try their best to help improve the team.
The team worked hard in practice to fix small things, prepare for what other teams were going to do and mentally prepared to do their best. Shipp said she feels everyone worked hard to step up and do more little things to grow.
“I would say we probably work the hardest,” Shipp said. “We’ve had girls transfer over from other schools in our conference, and they have said our practices are probably one of the hardest practices they’ve done, from their former teams to now.”
Shipp talked about how she has become more reliable despite the challenges she has had with senioritis. With it being so close to her being done with school, she opened up about the struggle she has staying focused, yet how it has helped her learn about priorities.
She talked about how she felt her best game was at Monticello in January or the first games of the season at Winona. At Monticello, she felt like she let loose and became a different person, but at Winona, she got to help her teammate, and it helped the team grow stronger.
“I really felt like I had to step up and help my team get the W and help us by doing my job,” Shipp said.
Kira Bass: Center
By SHEALYN PRATT
Kira Bass’ record setting season and national honors highlight her growth as a confident leader and shapes the Lady Rangers’ identity, on and off the court.
Bass (6-foot-1, No. 21) is the Lady Rangers’ center guard. She is a senior from Killeen, Texas, and has been playing basketball for 10 years.
This semester, Bass has been recognized three times as the Great American Conference’s Player of the Week and was recently named as WBCA/D2CIDA National Player of the Week for Week 14.
After playing since the seventh grade, Bass said she never predicted her college career would reach this level and credits Ranger coach Tasha Diesselhorst.
“I didn’t think that my skills would have elevated this much,” Bass said. “I give props to Coach D because she has honestly turned me into the player that I am. I feel like if I wasn’t here, I wouldn’t be as good as I am.”
What makes this team different from others she has played on? Bass said the respect and love runs deep.
“It is very different because of how much we respect and love each other on and off the court,” she said. “It shows when we play. This team is family-oriented. Our root and identity is that we are family-oriented.”
Bass said there is no “secret” to the team’s success.
“We put in a lot of work,” she said. “I have put in a lot of hard work myself, and I have seen that that has paid off. It is just dedication to the sport and trusting in each other to play hard. We have a lot of hard workers, people who do little things on the court that help us in general and in the grand scheme of things. Remembering our identity, like I said, is what helps us play Lady Ranger Basketball.”
Bass said the Lady Rangers are focused on the details as they prepare for the Great American Conference this weekend..
“We are putting in a lot of hard work,” she said. “Just doing all that we can, we are doing all of the little things that are going to help us in the end.”
Personally for Bass, making it to the Great American Conference has come with adversity.
“I’ve definitely experienced some adversity this year from last year,” Bass said. “The difference is how I’ve been able to push through. With the losing streak, we were struggling a little bit to find who we are on the court again. I feel like the journey has been up and down, but it has been good.”
Northwestern’s Lady Rangers clinched their spot in the GAC Tournament last week after Bass averaged 24.7 points, 12 rebounds and 2.3 assists. She season high was 32 points in a 75-68 win against Southern Arkansas on Feb. 19.
Bass said she thinks back to the home game against Southern Nazarene University as her best when it comes the mindset.
“I was just showcasing my skills,” Bass said. “It was just a really good game for me overall.”
She led that Dec. 18 win 67-55 with 28 points and 11 rebounds.
Bass said this season has changed her as a player.
“I feel like this season has definitely given me a bigger role than last year,” she said. “I feel like I have a bigger role as a leader and just as a scorer and an overall person on the court. Like, I would say I’m very important, and it has changed me to have more confidence and do the best that I can — not for just me but for my team.”
Madison Denison: Forward
By EMILY WRIGHT
The Lady Rangers basketball team is attending the Great American Conference Basketball Tournament this week.
Madison Denison (5-foot-11 forward, No. 15) is one of the players who made that opportunity possible.
Denison is an agriculture major from Minneola, Kansas. She has been playing basketball since she was in the third grade and played for Western Kansas Elite in high school.
She began her time at Northwestern last fall, Denison had originally wanted to attend NWOSU immediately after graduating high school, but was encouraged by Coach Tasha Diesselhorst to wait for a spot on the team to open. After attending a junior college, NWOSU was able to offer Denison a place on the basketball team as well as her desired major, something she said other colleges could not do for her.
Northwestern was also able to offer an environment that felt familiar for Dennison.
“Talking to Coach Diesselhorst and some of the other girls, it just felt like family here,” she said. “Just the camaraderie between everybody sounded really nice.”
She also went on to talk about the community’s support of the basketball team. Dennison said the team members have been able to achieve success by playing their roles on the team. Dennison said the team’s coach discusses the importance of understanding each person’s role on the team and this has framed how the team plays.
“We know what it takes to score and what it takes to get a stop on defense,” she said, “and I think that’s really helped us, you know, get to where we have this season. We’re able to play together.”
The team’s friendship has helped them in achieving all that they have this season, she said. Dennison said the women’s team members enjoy being around one other being their own biggest fans, which could be a factor in the team’s success.
“I know I’ve come from teams where that team camaraderie isn’t there, and we weren’t as successful,” she said, “and I think that’s what’s also really helped us is we just play for each other.”
Summya Adigun: Guard
By KENNEDY MCGEE
Junior guard Summya Adigun (5-foot-9, No. 12)of Hugoton, Kansas, shines this season along with her team as they begin the Great American Conference Tournament Thursday.
A Hugoton High School graduate, Adigun has played basketball since she was 5 years old. She credits the sport for shaping who she is, both on and off the court.
One of her favorite memories came when her team advanced to the second round of the GAC playoffs after two overtimes. This season, she said, has been the best she could ask for — full of growth, fun and self-discovery.
Her career-best performance came at home against Southeastern, where she knocked down six three-pointers and finished with 27 points.
“Basketball has always been a huge part of my life, and growing up I fell in love with the moments and opportunities this sport has given me,” she said.