Ortmeier One Win Away From Leading Iowa Central Women To National Tournament In 1st Season
When Coach Kelly Kruger resigned at the end of the 2019-2020 season, there was uncertainty around the Iowa Central Women’s Basketball program. Kruger led Iowa Central to a 17-14 finish in his last season and .500 finish in league play. It was a solid coaching performance given that Kruger’s squad was dealing with injuries to key players for most of the conference slate.
Triton AD Kevin Twait had to go back to the drawing board and conduct a search for a new coach. Iowa Central hired Brian Ortmeier as its new Head Coach. Ortmeier came in from Laramie County Community College in Wyoming, where he had led them to back to back winning seasons before departing. He had previous head coaching experience at Colorado Northwestern, he also served as an assistant at Dakota State and Mcpherson. Ortmeier worked as a GA with the Women’s hoop program at The University Of Richmond as well.
Kelly Kruger had laid a solid foundation for the program and Ortemeier inherited some experienced players. Most notably, he inherited Isabell West. She has had a monster season as a Sophomore, her 19 points per game is 11th in the NJCAA D-II ranks and her over 13 boards per game is 5th. West has signed to play at the D-1 level next season at Murray State.
Ortemier has hit the ground running and has his squad playing their best basketball. The Tritons have won 8 of their last 9 games. They opened postseason play by rolling Southeastern 68-46 on Tuesday night. Coach Ortmeier and his staff had Iowa Central ready to play as they came out clicking, taking an early lead and never looked back.
This weekend, Iowa Centra l will travel to take on DMACC in Boone. The winner will punch their ticket to the NJCAA National Tournament. The game will tip at 1 PM on Saturday. Ortmeier has his team in position to achieve a “milestone” accomplishment in his inaugural campaign at Iowa Central. Saturday, will tell the story of whether they can take the next step?