NJCAA Names Seward’s Ortega to the Hall of Fame

Kim Ortega is one of just a few basketball players to twice earn first-team NJCAA All-American honors when she achieved the feat following the 2001 and 2002 seasons. In two seasons at Seward County, she led the Lady Saints to a 71-1 overall record and a perfect 32-0 record in Jayhawk West play. During this time the SCCC Lady Saints won back-to-back Kansas Jayhawk West Division titles as well as the program’s first-ever Region 6 tournament championship in 2002. The Lady Saints captured the NJCAA Division I Women’s Championship in 2002 with a perfect 38-0 record and she earned Tournament MVP and Player of the Year honors. For her two-year career at Seward County, she averaged 17.6 points, 3.6 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 4.7 steals per game.

After SCCC, Ortega excelled on the court at Texas Christian University, helping the Lady Horned Frogs to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances and the 2003 Conference USA Tournament Championship. After one season of professional basketball, she returned to Seward County as an assistant coach in 2005. She most recently was an assistant women’s basketball coach at UNLV.