Centralia College sophomore Selena Cudney has signed to continue her basketball career with the University of Colorado Colorado Springs.
Centralia College sophomore Selena Cudney was named the Northwest Athletic Conference's West Region MVP for the 2019-20 season.
Selena Cudney averaged 13.7 points and 8.7 rebounds for Centralia College during the 2019-20 season. She was named the to the West Region All-Defensive Team.
Centralia women’s basketball standout Selena Cudney is heading east after signing a Letter of Intent in late April to play for the University of Colorado Colorado Springs.
Cudney, a Wyoming native, spent one season with the Trailblazers, earning West Region MVP in the Northwest Athletic Conference after averaging 13.7 points and 8.7 rebounds per game for the West Region champs.
The sophomore’s decision to sign with Division-II UCCS came down to being closer to her family in Rock Springs, Wyoming, which is about a five-hour drive from her hometown. Plus, she has family in Colorado, as well.
“And they gave me a full-ride (scholarship),” Cudney said. “Can’t pass that up.”
The 5-foot-10 forward was a multisport star and 2018 graduate at Rock Springs High School. She helped the basketball team advance to the state tournament two consecutive seasons and was varsity basketball and volleyball for three years. Cudney averaged 10 points and nine rebounds per game as a senior, earning first-team all-state honors.
She earned four letters in track and field, winning the Class 4A state long jump title her senior year while breaking the school record and helping the Tigers win the conference title. She was the regional champion in the 200-meter dash, the medley relay and the long jump. She was also an all-conference pick in basketball and track as a junior and senior, including all-state in track as a senior.
Cudney had two full-ride offers in basketball coming out of high school and zero full-rides for track and field, so she ended up going with the former, even though she had a partial Division-I offer for track.
“I do enjoy basketball a lot,” Cudney said. “I was better at track, honestly, but I’m glad I didn’t pick that route.”
She signed and played for Northwest College in Powell, Wyoming for one season, 2018-19, but it wasn’t the right fit for her. So she transferred to Centralia College for the 2019-20 season.
“I’m glad Caleb (Sells) gave me the opportunity to play for him,” Cudney said.
Cudney was an instant boost to Centralia this past winter, helping the Trailblazers improve from 15-15 overall and 8-6 in league play to 21-7 overall and 14-0 in league. The Trailblazers ended the season on a 14-game win streak, the second longest active streak in the conference, earning one of four No. 1 seeds at the conference tourney. The season was canceled in March just before the start of the tournament, cutting short a season where the Trailblazers were one of the title favorites.
“It sucks we didn’t get to go to the tournament after all the work we put in,” Cudney said. “But everything happens for a reason.”
Cudney both improved dramatically at both an athletic and academic level in her one year at Centralia. The conditioning and workout programs at Centralia were far superior than they were at Northwest College, Cudney said, and it helped her in all aspects of her game.
“We were just not putting in the work we needed to,” Cudney said.
Centralia’s training program has paid off. Cudney shot 59.7 percent from the field, good for second highest in the NWAC, and in addition to her MVP she was also named to the conference’s All-Defensive Team after swiping 1.9 steals per game.
Academically, she’s also raised the bar for herself, earning a 3.67 GPA this past school year.
“Coming here, my grades are the best they’ve ever been in college,” Cudney said. “I just realized how important it really is. Some of these kids don’t care. That just made me step it up more.”
Cudney had five universities to choose from this spring, two each in Washington and Oregon and two in Colorado. Ultimately, UCCS was the best fit for her. Now she’ll join a Mountain Lion program that is coming off an 11-15 overall season, going 10-12 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. She plans to head back to Wyoming next week to spend the summer with her family before moving to Colorado Springs and continuing her athletic and academic career.
“I’m excited to get to the next level and better myself in basketball,” Cudney said. “It’s a lot closer to home.”
