A View of the Past  
A Glance at Lady Cougar History

     Under Coach Welch's direction the Women's Basketball program has shown steady, if not remarkable, improvement.   The 16 wins during the 1998-99 campaign marked the most victories in a season ever and during the 1999-2000 season, the Lady Cougars surpassed all expectations with a third place finish in the conference and an exciting run in the post season as they won the first ever MCCAA State Championship in women's basketball at the school and ended the season with an outstanding  23-6 record, the first 20 win season in school history.  
     The tradition of excellence continued in the 2000-2001 season with the Lady Cougars winning the conference championship with an unblemished 14-0 mark,  finishing runner-up in the State Tournament and earning an inaugural trip to the NJCAA Division II National Tournament in Hagerstown, Maryland by winning their first ever Region XII Championship.  They entered the national tournament as the #1 ranked team in the nation in the final regular season poll with a 30-2  record and finished fifth in the tournament.  Their final record of 33-3 was the best record in the nation among Division II NJCAA teams.  
     In the second game of the 2001-2002 season (his 7th at KVCC), Coach Welch quietly recorded his 100th win while at Valley with a win over St Clair County C.C. in the East West classic hosted by Kalamazoo Valley. That was just the beginning.  The Lady Cougars went on to again capture the Western Conference title with a 13-1 mark and end the regular season ranked 4th in the National Poll.  For the third year in a row the Cougars made an appearance in the MCCAA State Championship game only to be turned away by a very good Schoolcraft College team and finish as runners up again.  That disappointment would be short lived as the following week the Ladies would win their second consecutive Region XII, District "G" title and earn a return visit to Hagerstown for the National Tournament.  They advanced to the national Semi-Final game only to lose a heartbreaker to a very strong Penn Valley team by a 77-70 score.  As much as it hurt at the moment,  they could hold their heads high as they again finished the season with over 30 wins at 31-4.  The group of graduating sophomores had a combined two year record of 64 wins and 7 losses.
     With the loss of eight sophomores from the 01/02 team, and only returning one player,  the 2002-2003 season was to be a "re-loading" year,  but one with great expectations with the arrival of a very talented group of thirteen freshmen.  With some strong wins along the way and some disappointing losses as the "rookies" learned how to play the college game, it was a roller coaster season.  After losing three out of their first four conference games,  the Lady Cougars battled back and the next to last game of the regular season they played at Grand Rapids in what turned out to be the conference championship game - losing an overtime heart breaker to the talented Lady Raiders and finishing the league season as conference runners up.  The final season record of 16 wins and 11 losses contained many valuable "learning experiences" and the returning members of next year's team will benefit greatly from them.
      The beginning of the 2003-04 year again brought great promise from a very determined group of ten returning sophomores and a fine incoming recruiting class.  That promise would be fulfilled, as the Cougars won their first three games of the year, lost a game at Owens in Toledo, and then went on a fantastic 29 game winning streak that would propel them to a third conference championship (14-0) in four years and also a second MCCAA State Championship. 
       Fresh from their State Championship win they traveled to Toledo and swept thru the tournament for their third Regional championship in four years - returning them to the National Tournament held in Overland Park,  Kansas.  They finished the regular season ranked 4th in the Final NJCAA Poll at 25-1 (best record in the division) and earned a first round "Bye" at the National tournament.  In their first game of the tournament they would be matched against the team that had administered their only loss of the season and that was more than enough motivation for this special group as they rolled into the National Semi-final game with a solid 13 point win over Owens CC from Toledo.  They would lose the next night in a hard fought 5 point loss to perennial power Kirkwood CC from Iowa - and the dream of a National Championship was ended.  They finished the year with a rather gaudy 32-3 record, second most wins in school history. 

      Please click on the links below for articles and pictures from some of the recent past.
 

98/99 State Semi final                                 98/99 Semi

98/99 State Championship                           98/99 Championship

1st National tournament game ever -  press release (March 2001)

NJCAA 2001-2002 Rankings

NJCAA 2003-2004 Rankings

2004 Regional Championship Team                             2004 State Champions

One Shining Moment