Peru State College Women's Basketball

  Mike Sybrant will begin his third year as head coach here at Peru State College. In the 25-26 season, Sybrant led the Bobcats to a (15-13) season record which was the best program season record in 15 years. The team finished with a (12-8) conference record, which was the best conference record finish in 25 years. These records helped the Bobcats to reach the Heart of America Conference playoffs as the #6 seed. Along with the team’s success they had many individual honors. Kylie Diaz was named NAIA Second Team All-American. She was also the Heart of America Conference player of the year as well as the defensive player of the year. She also joined the 1,000 point club. Diaz earned multiple conference and national recognition awards through out the season. Erison Vonderschmidt was placed on the All Conference 2nd team. MaKinley Tobey was named to the All Conference 3rd team. During the 2024-25 season, the Bobcats achieved an (8-20) record. Under Sybrant’s leadership, Diaz was named to the Heart of America All Conference 3rd team and Hailey Ingram joined the 1,000 point club. Mike Spent the 23-24 season as an assistant coach with Peru State,, helping lead them to the Heart of America Conference playoffs as the #7 seed. This was the first time in eleven years that the women’s basketball team had reached the playoffs. Coach Sybrant spent four seasons at Division II South Dakota School of Mines in Rapid City, he was at the program from 2019-2023, where he helped lead the Hardrockers to the playoffs in the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons. While at South Dakota Mines eight players were named to the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference teams. Ryan Weiss was named the RMAC Academic player of the year in 2021-22. Three players joined the 1,000 point club. Prior to South Dakota Mines, Coach was an assistant coach at Northeastern Junior College in Sterling, Colorado from 2017-2019. In the 2017-18 season, NJC won 14 games and were able to improve to 22 wins in the 2018-2019 season. While there Coach Sybrant helped build a culture of great basketball and great academics. In the 2017-2018 season, NJC was named #4 in the nation on the WBCA list for top junior college team grade point averages. In 2018-19 they were named #10 in the nation on the WBCA list. Coach Sybrant spent one season at Division II Upper Iowa University in Fayette, Iowa for the 2015-16 season. While at Upper Iowa the team was named the #1 team in the nation by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association in Division II having the highest team grade point average of all teams. Sybrant was the assistant coach at Northeastern Junior College from 2003-2006. Coach helped moved on eleven players to the next level of college basketball. Three players moved on to Division 1, seven players to Division II and one player to NAIA. In 2003, Coach Sybrant was the graduate assistant for the men’s basketball program at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. That year UNK ended with a (30-3) record winning the North Central Region title and advanced to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight. Sybrant earned his Bachelor of Arts in Education and Masters of Arts in Education from the University of Nebraska at Kearney in Kearney, Neb.

After serving as a graduate assistant last season, Molly Jones has been moved to assistant basketball coach for the Peru State Women's Basketball program In the 25-26 season, Jones served as the graduate assistant coach for the Bobcats and helped lead them to a (15-13) season record, which was the best program season record in 15 years. The Bobcats finished with a (12-8) conference record, which was the best conference record finish in 25 years.  These records helped the Bobcats to reach the Heart of America Conference playoffs as the #6 seed.  Along with the team’s success they had many individual honors. Kylie Diaz was named NAIA Second Team All-American.  She was also the Heart of America Conference player of the year as well as the defensive player of the year.  She also joined the 1,000 point club.  Diaz earned multiple conference and national recognition awards through out the season.  Erison Vonderschmidt was placed on the All Conference 2nd team.  MaKinley Tobey was named to the All Conference 3rd team. As the graduate assistant, Jones helped develop the weights and conditioning program for the Bobcats.  She also specialized in developing the guards for the team.  Coach Jones was an assistant coach for the varsity reserve program as well, which develops those athletes to have the chance to grow and work toward the goal of being on varsity.   Coach Sybrant commented, “Coach Jones did a great job for us as an graduate assistant coach.  It was an easy decision for us to move her up to be the assistant coach in our program.  She knows our program and our expectations and is eager to learn more about college basketball.” Jones comes to Peru State from Oklahoma Panhandle State located in Goodwell, Oklahoma.  While at OPSU, Jones was a member of the women’s basketball team from 2021-2025.  Jones was named to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Women’s Basketball team for the 25-26 season. Jones was the Housing Director Assistant at OPSU from May 2022 until May 2025.  She was a leader for fellow RA’s and students, led meetings with her residents and staff and helped with all of the office work in the housing office.  Jones graduated from Oklahoma Panhandle State with a Bachelor of Science in Health and Physical Education.  Jones is currently working on her Master’s degree in Sports and Recreational Management through Wayne State College.