Nobody was going to keep Lindsay Ducey away from the basketball court last season.

The Hastings College junior missed the end of the 2007-08 season with a broken foot and was still first-team All-American and the Journal Star State College Women's Athlete of the Year.

This season, the Hastings center returned to lead the underestimated Broncos back to the NAIA Division II national championship game.

Ducey, a 6-foot-1 graduate of Omaha Duchesne, averaged 17.7 points, 9.1 rebounds, had 23 blocks and was named first-team All-American.

Ducey posted four double-doubles in the NAIA national tournament where the Broncos stunned the Nos. 2 and 3-ranked teams before falling to unbeaten and No. 1 Morningside in a 68-63 finale.