Ozark Christian College is a “Jesus School” located about 90 miles south of Bates County in Joplin MO. OCC has ties to Bates County with Alumni inside of our county, as well as current athletes representing Bates County on Ozark squads! The Ambassadors are members of the National Christian College Athletic Association Division II (NCCAA DII).

The Ozark Lady Ambassadors entered the National Tournament as the 3 seed, with a record of 20-5 on the season. The Ambassadors faced off against Calvary University, out of Kansas City, for the opening round. Ozark would prove victorious over Calvary for a FOURTH TIME on the season, and would move on to face North Central University (Minneapolis, MN). After defeating North Central, the Lady Ambassadors would take on Simmons College of Kentucky who had just knocked off the top seeded Pensacola Christian to earn their shot at back-to-back National Titles.

At the end of it all, the Lady Ambassadors would cut down the nets, after knocking off the defending champs on their way to the schools first National Championship.

Coach Kyle Wicklund, who has been running the program 7 years now, tells Tailgate TV “at the beginning of the season I knew we had the pieces to do something special. With our one senior, Emmy Colin, the rest of our returning upper class-man, and our incoming student athletes I felt that we could make some moves in the tournament.”

This team has had its share of adversity, yet Coach Wick says that watching the bond grow and the players evolve into a true team has been so rewarding, “Watching them handle sickness, injury, players leaving, and just the difficulties of life made them become a team … that was truly special, and in return, gave them tenacity and grit to become national champions.”

Despite the success that Coach Wick has been able to bring to Ozark, he insists that the focus at Ozark is never on winning basketball games, but rather on representing Jesus, after all they are Ambassadors for Christ. Kyle tells Tailgate TV, “I have always said that once wins and loses become this programs focus I will stop coaching, and that rings true even now. I want this program to continue spreading the love of Jesus. Making Jesus known is our programs mission, and we get the opportunity to do that through playing basketball and will continue doing that.”

For any young athletes in the area that may be interested in being an Ambassador, Coach Wick says “For anyone considering Ozark, you have opportunity to play high-level/competitive basketball in an environment that understands basketball is not life, it is just an awesome piece that we get to add to our life.”

Congratulations to the Lady Ambassadors!