FAIRFIELD — Consider for a moment where Kennebec Valley Community College students Ella Minihan and Yangel Mapica were at this time a year ago.

Minihan was a senior at nearby Lawrence High and had just wrapped up her final season of high school basketball. Mapica? He was at Gateway High School in Kissimmee, Florida — a different universe than Maine in the wintertime.

“The weather here is different; it’s hard to get used to,” Mapica said. “It was too cold for me — I’ve never seen anything like it — but I like it here (at KVCC); it’s a great school.”

Although their backgrounds are polar opposites, both Mapica and Minihan donned KVCC basketball uniforms in 2025-26. The men’s and women’s teams came together under much different circumstances in their inaugural seasons.

After Lawrence High’s 2024-25 season ended, Minihan thought her basketball playing days were finished. A major in early childhood education was the only thing on her mind at the time, but a conversation with Lawrence teacher and girls basketball assistant Rusty Mercier changed that.

“He told me that KVCC was going to be starting a team and that he was going to be the coach, and he asked me if I wanted to play,” Minihan said. “I said I’d think about it because I wasn’t planning to play further than high school, and I eventually just said, ‘Why not? Let’s see how it goes.’”

Women’s basketball was initially supposed to begin at KVCC in 2026-27, but a late decision was made to start it this winter. That meant Mercier, who didn’t really have time to recruit, contacted women with basketball backgrounds, such as Minihan, who he knew would be at the school.

“We started with Ella and Kaylee (Elkins) from Lawrence, and from there, we just started to go down the line with who we knew was at the school,” Mercier said. “Then, I also sent out an email to the school talking about the idea of the program, and we had a lot of responses from people who were interested.”

The result? A team built heavily on names familiar to local high school basketball fans. KVCC’s top-six scorers were Minihan and Elkins, Cony graduates Cale Barajas (2024) and Cassie LaCroix (2025), Winslow’s Harly Pomerleau (2022) and Waterville’s Denelle Eldridge (2022).

That proved to be a winning group for KVCC. The Lynx, independents this season, finished 11-3 against a makeshift schedule that included games against many of their future Yankee Small College Conference opponents.

“Like Ella, I didn’t think I’d be playing anymore after high school, but I’ve really liked it,” Barajas said. “I’d say (NJCAA games are) less competitive than high school was; it’s more fun and relaxed and a lot more chill.”

Unlike the women, the KVCC men had been slated to start in 2025-26 from the start. The Lynx had a coach with experience recruiting the conference in Matt Kenna, formerly the coach at Washington County Community College in Calais.

Kenna assembled a nationwide team. Mapica was one of nine players from Florida on this year’s team. Kenna also brought in two international players (Heyber Leal of Venezuela and Ruben Menchero of Spain) and one from Alaska (James Curry). Only one KVCC men’s player, 2024 Lawrence grad Dane Zawistowski, was from Maine.

“If you’re looking for somewhere to go for the weather, we’re probably not the place, but as I say (to recruits), ‘Our rim is 10 feet, our court is brand new, and we keep the score,’” Kenna said. “At that point, inside these walls, there is no Florida, and there is no Maine, there’s just a chance to compete and win.”

KVCC showed it could do that. In its first game, the Lynx pulled off a stunning upset of perennial YSCC contender Central Maine Community College in Auburn. That spearheaded a 14-11 campaign that concluded March 8 with the Lynx winning the Central Maine Invitational.

It could be a springboard for something more. Like the KVCC women, the men will gain full YSCC membership in 2026-27, meaning a group that already enjoyed success as a fledgling program has a chance to compete for something more.

“It’s been up and down, but that’s what you expect with a group this young,” Kenna said. “Early on in the season, we had to learn how to win, and we’ve kept working and trying to get better. It’s only up from here.”