After Albion’s women’s basketball team was voted sixth in the MIAA Women’s Basketball Coaches Preseason Poll, Muskegon sophomore, shooting guard and co-captain Khaleeya Cook said the team “had something to prove to everybody.” She said the ranking provided “the drive and fire” to get the team going. At the end of the season, Albion finished third in the MIAA tournament.
This was just one of the team’s accomplishments of the 2025-26 season. Their record was 19-8, their most wins in a season since 2019-20. For the first time since 2005, the MIAA’s two individual postseason awards for women’s basketball both went to Albion players. Portland, Michigan, senior, point guard and co-captain Ava Guilford was awarded Defensive Player of the Year, and Houghton junior, small forward and co-captain Meghan Trewhella was awarded Most Valuable Player. They were presented with their awards on Feb. 27 at Trine University after the MIAA tournament semifinals.
“We were really unified this year, and I think that helped with a lot of our success,” Cook said. “We all wanted one goal and we all wanted to play to win.”
Posting Up Against Assumptions
Women’s basketball head coach Doreen Carden, who reached 400 career wins this season, said the team culture this year has been “a huge strength” and is one of the reasons the team “had such success” this season.
“Nobody’s really counted us to be a top team this year,” Carden said. “We got voted sixth, so for us to finish third, I think a lot of it is because of the strength and the relationships and the team chemistry.”
Trewhella said the team’s record at the end of the season was “awesome.”
“We showed our conference that we were not supposed to be ranked that low,” Trewhella said.
Trewhella added that winning games against Hope and Calvin was “a big accomplishment” this season. The team’s 60-54 win on Jan. 28 at home against Hope College was their first win against Hope since 2017. Guilford said the win kept the team “pushing.”
“It was 99% chance to one of winning,” Guilford said. “Being able to do that with the community, with the school, all the students there supporting us – that was a big part of our season.”
In addition to the team’s culture, another strength, Carden said, was the team’s resilience. There were “a lot of games” where Albion was trailing in the final minutes but didn’t give in, Carden said.
“We’ve come back in a lot of games that we might have had no business winning,” Carden said. “There was no quit.”
According to Trewhella, the Feb. 14 game against Kalamazoo was one of those victories. Albion was down 9 points with 1:34 left on the clock, but came back and won 79-75.
“We won games we weren’t supposed to win,” Trewhella said. “We always dug deep and won and had each other’s backs.”
Cook said the team’s success this season shows them they can “compete with people.”
“We can be way better than we expected, no matter what, as long as we stick together, trust the process, trust the coaches and just play all out. We can really do big things,” Cook said.
‘Instrumental’ Players Earn Recognition
Trewhella said she sees her new title as “a team award,” adding that her teammates push her at every practice and are always supportive of her.
“It’s my teammates that got me there,” Trewhella said. “At the end of the day, it was something I did, but they were a part of it.”
Guilford said it was “really meaningful” to her to be named Defensive Player of the Year. When she was being recruited to play at the collegiate level, Guilford said a lot of coaches didn’t want her, worrying she couldn’t defend because she’s 5’1”. Being the MIAA’s Defensive Player of the Year around four years later made her “feel good, for sure,” she said.
According to Carden, Guilford is “the heart and soul” of the team, and she and Trewhella were “instrumental” in the team’s success this year.
For Trewhella, earning her award had extra significance.
“I also got to do it by the side of my best friend Ava,” Trewhella said. “To me that’s special, and I’m going to always remember this season.”
Sisters On and Off the Court
Trewhella said the team culture this year has been “amazing,” and they did a lot of team bonding at the beginning of the year to get to know each other better.
“I love everyone on our team; we all get along,” Trewhella said. “It’s like we’re all sisters.”
However, it wasn’t always this way, according to Guilford. When she joined the team as a first-year, she said the culture was “terrible.”
“There was like eight senior captains, they were all power-hungry, nobody really listened to each other and it was definitely very divided,” Guilford said. “Being a freshman and being able to observe that, I knew that in my four years that’s not how I wanted to leave it.”
Guilford and East Lansing senior, power forward and co-captain Payton Baker knew team culture was something they wanted to work on this year, Guilford said.
“We did a lot of team bonding; people probably started to get annoyed by it, but at the end of the day, this was by far my closest team,” Guilford said.
For Trewhella, it’s “super sad” to see Guilford and Baker, the team’s only two seniors, go. Baker welcomed her and was there for her when she joined the team, Trewhella said, and Guilford’s been her roommate for two years.
“Both of them are hustlers on the court,” Trewhella said. “We’re going to hurt without them for sure.”
Cook said she thinks the team will be “overlooked” again next year, especially with the seniors graduating – but she’s optimistic.
“We’re losing two big players, but I think if everybody works hard, trust the coaches, we’ll be fine,” Cook said.
Leave a Reply