Local Talent Helps Thunder Women To First Win In Program History

Nov 19, 2012

Wes Vork-NSO

It has been a while in the making; 70 games to be exact, but the Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College women’s basketball team picked up the first win in program history on Saturday by beating Itasca Community College by a score of 56-50.

The Thunder opened play in the 2008-2009 season and went 0-21. The 2009-2010 campaign ended with an 0-22 record. The program hit a low in 2010-2011 when the season was cancelled due to a lack of players. The Thunder re-grouped in 2011-2012 and were able to field a team but went 0-23 and this year they were 0-3 before the milestone win.

Now with local talent including former Moose Lake-Willow River standout Natasha Dragicevich; Kami Diver, a former 1000 point scorer from Cloquet; and Samantha Johnson from Floodwood, the program appears to be turned around and headed in the right direction.

Other local additions to the program include Shelby Halverson (ML-WR), Shauna Goodman (Carlton) and MaKayleigh Cahoon (Cromwell). Other local talent could be joining the team shortly.

This season, the Thunder were competitive in the three season opening losses, all of which were on the road. They opened with a 69-51 loss to Rainey River, followed by a 78-54 loss to Mesabi Range and an 80-59 loss to Vermilion on Friday.

In their 56-50 win over Itasca the Thunder picked up 24 points from Dragicevich, who also had eight rebounds to lead FDLTCC to the victory. Diver also pitched in with 12 points and 11 rebounds, while Johnson added 10 points and four assists.

In the 80-59 to Vermilion, Dragicevich led all scorers with 34 points and 10 rebounds. Diver chipped in with 12 points and 11 blocks, while Johnson recorded five points and seven assists.

According to Sports Information Director Tom Urbanski it is believed the Thunder were awarded a forfeit victory in their first season. “Apparently in the first season (2008-08) the Thunder were awarded a forfeit victory over Rainy River after the season was over because Rainy River used an ineligible player in the game. But we could find no record of that; and since we lost the game on the scoreboard, it isn’t considered a win.”

The closest score in previous years was a 48-40 loss at home to Rainy River at the end of the schedule in the first season. The Thunder are now 1-3 on the season and will have their home opener on Wednesday against Gogebic Community College. Tipoff is slated for 5:00pm.

Wes Vork can be reached at wes@northlandsportsonline.com