To assemble a team of the all-time best athletes in the history of KCKCC women’s basketball, you need to go no farther than KCKCC’s impressive list of All-Americans - Aneta Kausaite, point guard, Jurgita Kausaite and Cheyenne North, forwards, Nija Collier, power forward and Stephanie Brown, center. All five have also been inducted into the KCKCC Athletic Hall of Fame.
ANETA KAUSAITE (1994-96) – Unmatched as a point guard, Aneta still holds the record for
assists in a season (207) and a game (13), is second career-wise (352) and fourth in career steals (190). More than a playmaker, she averaged 18.7 and 17.5 points in her two seasons and is third in career scoring (17.5). In her two years, KCKCC was 56-9 and nationally ranked. She continued at Emporia State University where she helped the Hornets (33-1) to second in the national tournament. She also played a partial season with the WNBA’s Detroit Shock before returning to Europe where she played and coached professionally in Finland.
JURGITA KAUSAITE (1995-97) – KCKCC’s best pure shooter, Jurgita led the nation in field goal percentage (.633) and was seventh in scoring (23.1) while leading KCKCC to a 35-2 record and fifth place in NJCAA DI national tournament. Her KCKCC record 44 points came in triple overtime win at Independence, 108-106. She still holds 13 records - points in season (777), career (1,517) and average 23.1); rebounds in season (393), career (721) and average (10.
and single game (.929) and career field goal accuracy (.608). KCKCC was 63-6 in her two years. Equally outstanding are her two years at Emporia State after which she played professionally and coached in Sweden.
STEPHANIE BROWN (2003-05) – Stephanie led the Jayhawk Conference in both scoring (22.4) and rebounding (11.7) as a freshman, winning every possible award including Freshman of Year, All-Jayhawk, All-Region VI and honorable mention All-American. She averaged 21.2 points and 10.6 rebounds as a sophomore and finished her KCKCC career second in scoring averages (21.7) and rebounding (692. She continued her career at UMKC where she set records for rebounds, field goal and free throw percentages. Stephanie led in rebounding and was second in scoring her first season, was second in scoring and rebounding as sophomore and was Female Athlete of Year.
CHEYENNE NORTH (2014-16) – Cheyenne was the driveshaft in KCKCC’s first NJCAA DII national championship. As a freshman, she led the Blue Devils to Coach Valerie Stambersky’s best season (29-3) and a No. 8 national ranking, leading the team in rebounding and second in scoring. As a sophomore, she led Region VI in rebounding (10.9) and was fourth in scoring (15.4) and is KCKCC’s all-time leader in blocked shots in a game (9), season ((91) and career (156). Cheyene was also chosen MVP of the national tournament after averaging in double figures in scoring and. Following her time at KCKCC, she went on to play at Arkansas Tech, where she was named MVP of the Great American Conference, leading the Golden Suns to the conference championship and a berth in the NCAA DII national tournament. She then played professionally for two years in Australia before retiring from basketball.
NIJA COLLIER (2017-19) – Nija was selected the NJCAA DII Player of the Year despite not being a starter for McKinstry’s second national championship team. It was her dramatic 3-point goal with 1.8 seconds remaining that got KCKCC past Johnson County 79-76 in overtime and into the national tournament. In the tournament, the Blue Devils (28-4) won every game by an average of 18 points. A six-time KJCCC Player of the Week, Nija averaged 17.3 points, 9.7 rebounds and was good on 58.5 percent of her shots. She was at her best against the best teams in the conference and nation. In three games vs. ranked JCCC, she averaged 21.6 points and 10.3 rebounds. Nija finished here college career at the University of Central Missouri and then signed to play overseas in 2024.
HONORABLE MENTION (With averages if available) - Rhonda Spears, 1978-80 (17.1 and 16.9); Marilyn Drew, 1978-79 (17.0); Lori Zych, 1985-87 (262 steals); Stacey McElroy, 1993-95 (21.3 and 12.9); Kesia Houston, 1993-95 (15.4 and 15.3); Rima Petronyte, 1996-98 (13.3, career); Erin Anderson, 2014-16 (15.5) and Lillie Moore, 2017-19 (14.1 career, 539 rebounds).
GREATEST GAMES
1. A game for the ages was March 2, 2019 against JCCC. Trailing the Cavaliers 65-61 with 18 seconds left in the Region VI semifinal playoffs, KCKCC pulled even on a free throw and Caitlin Stewart’s banked-in 3-pointer with 10 seconds left. The Blue Devils went on to win 79-76 in overtime on Nija Collier’s dramatic 3-pointer with 1.8 seconds to go. KCKCC rode the win to the 2019 national championship.
2. Beaten by 30 points at Johnson County 22 days earlier, the Blue Devils held the unbeaten and defending national champion Cavaliers to one free throw the final five minutes for a 63-56 win in the Region VI title game March 6, 2016. The win sent the Blue Devils to the national tournament where they swept four games by an average of 19 points.
3. To reach the finals of the 2016 Region VI championship game, the Blue Devils had to come from 11 points behind in the fourth quarter to eliminate Highland 54-50. They did it by holding the Scotties to one field goal and three free throws in a 20-5 fourth quarter finish. KCKCC was never seriously tested in the NJCAA DII national tournament.
4. In a game called the best ever in Jayhawk Conference DI play, KCKCC defeated Independence108-106 in three overtimes Jan. 13, 1997. Jurgita Kausaite scored a KCKCC record 44 points against an Independence team that had finished second in the nation in 1996.
