The North Central women’s basketball team has a new head coach, former Loyola Rambler Maggie McCloskey-Bax. Hopefully, some of Sister Jean’s magic rubs off on the Cardinals this year.
McCloskey-Bax takes the reins on the women’s basketball program as their 11th head coach in history. A three-year captain at Loyola, she participated in ESPN’s three-point contest as one of the top shooters in the country. She currently holds the NCAA record for most consecutive games with a three-point field goal. McCloskey-Bax recently left her assistant coaching job at Carthage to take her first head coaching job here at NCC.
She is looking to re-energize a winning culture back to the program.
“I’m looking to bring some excitement to the program…I’m a very positive coach and a very excited coach that’s very motivated and hopefully that carries over into my teams,” McCloskey-Bax said.
The CCIW has also expanded their conference tournament from four to six teams, offering new opportunities and goals for the Cardinals.
“That’s one of our goals right away is to be one of those six teams,” she said. “This is a top-notch conference in the country so we are really hoping to compete with the talent we have.”
When it comes to X’s and O’s, players are going to see a big change to their game plans as well.
“I’m planning on running a pretty traditional offense and defense. I still like high scoring and a lot of three-point shooting, but it’s going to be a little different when it comes to subbing and defensive principles,” McCloskey-Bax said.
McCloskey-Bax already feels welcome at NCC and is looking forward to this season.
“So far [North Central] has been amazing,” she said, “This coaching staff, this athletic department has really made it a cool experience to get to know everyone and they’ve been very welcoming.”
