It was only 11 months ago that Colby Darragh was named the AA Female Basketball Player of the Year for the Warren Wildcats.
Providence’s Colby Darragh pulls up for a shot against the CMU Blazers. The freshman guard has posted per game averages of 6.1 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 1.7 assists this season for the MCAC Champion Pilots
Since then, she has joined the Providence University College Pilots, where the shots have continued to fall as a freshman guard averaging 6.1 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game.
Her play has helped the undefeated Pilots capture the Manitoba Colleges Athletic Conference championship title.
The MCAC has taken notice of the young star’s resume and officially named her MCAC Rookie of the Year last week.
“It was really nice be acknowledged in that way – it was kind of unexpected,” said Darragh last Thursday.
She is one of eight freshmen on the Pilots this season, including former Wildcat Lauren Voth.
On Nov. 14, Darragh made her Pilots debut against the Canadian Mennonite University Blazers, scoring 13 points in 16 minutes of floor time.
She then leveraged her strong debut into her first career start on Dec. 5.
As the season has gone on, Darragh has continued to start for coach Kendall Perpall’s team, even playing 40 minutes in a 79-75 win over CMU on Jan. 31.
“It was a big shift from high school to college and just playing on a larger team, and being kind of the younger one and trying to find my role on the team,” said Darragh. “Part of that was figuring out that maybe my role on the team wouldn’t be as big as it was in high school because we had more girls, and so the scoring and opportunities and stuff were more spread out. Just through practice and playing, I kind of figured out where I fit in, and contributed offensively and defensively wherever I could, and just trying to help the team out.”
Darragh credits Providence captains Adrian Alley and Faith LaRocque for taking her, and the other freshmen, under their wing this season.
The club went 8-0 in the MCAC regular season, which features only three teams — Providence, CMU and Université de Saint-Boniface.
They also mixed in Northern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference games against small college and university programs in North Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa, where they were still very successful.
On Sunday, Feb. 15, Providence defeated CMU 69-58 for its second MCAC championship in three years.
The winning this season has made their locker room all the more fun.
“I’m really enjoying the basketball side of things and just all the girls on the team. Even off the court, the bus trips and stuff like that, it’s been a really good environment and I’ve made lots of really good friends because of it. Especially the other rookies, as we’re kind of coming from the same place, these are people that I’ve played against and now we’re playing together and it’s just been a really fun experience. I’m glad that we were able to go undefeated this year, because I feel like we’ve worked really hard, and so it’s nice that we were able to win all our games like that, and give our coach in his first year an undefeated record,” said Darragh.
The Pilots still have trips south where they will need to perform well to reach their next goal, the National Christian College Athletic Association Nationals from March 11-14.
Until then, the Pilots will look to win both the NIAC championship and the NCCAA regionals.
