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March 17, 2010

NJCAA WOMEN'S NATIONAL BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT: Working overtime

Lady Cards go to work on 'off day' in preparation for No. 1 JeffCo

Jayson Larson The Athens Review

SALINA, Kan. — So much for an off day.

The Trinity Valley Community College Lady Cardinals had no such luxury Wednesday. Following their 70-53 win over the Walters State (Tenn.) Lady Senators in the first round of the NJCAA Women’s National Basketball Tournament Tuesday, the Lady Cards went back to work despite not having a game Wednesday.

They hit the gym to get more work under their belts in preparation for their biggest game of the season Thursday against Jefferson County (Mo.). Jefferson County is the tournament’s top seed and entered the postseason ranked No. 1 in the country. It has held that mark since Feb. 10.

The Lady Vikings (30-1) have earned the ranking.

They enter Thursday’s second-round matchup against TVCC riding a 25-game winning streak. Coached by Kevin Emerick – reportedly a finalist for TVCC’s head women’s basketball job last year before withdrawing his name – the Lady Vikings were the national runners-up a year ago. They lost to Central Arizona, which posted a perfect 35-0 run to the national championship.

The Lady Vikings, who held last season’s national No. 1 ranking most of the season, finished 34-1. Emerick is 128-10 in four seasons at JeffCo.

An upset win by the eighth-seeded Lady Cardinals would send ripples throughout the tournament and propel them to the status among its favorites to win the national title.

“I think it would definitely be a huge confidence boost if we could pull something like that off,” said TVCC Interim Head Coach Elena Lovato, who is now 8-0 since taking the team over last month. “I think we’d think we could conquer the world.”

To do that, the Lady Cardinals (29-5) are going to have to play effective pressure defense on a Lady Viking starting five in which each player averages in double figures. Porsha Porter entered the national tournament as JeffCo’s leading scorer at 14.3 points per game, but ShaQuanda Wiggins led the way in the Lady Vikings’ 77-56 opening-round win over Williston (N.D.). Wiggins, a Cincinnati signee, scored 20 points and pulled down eight rebounds.

Work around the basket was an area of strength for the Lady Vikings. They outrebounded Williston, 44-24, scoring 11 points on second-chance shots (the Lady Tetons had no such points) and won the points in the paint battle, 28-18.

That means the Lady Cardinals will have to play tough down low if they are to upset JeffCo. That fight begins with Gloria Brown.

TVCC’s 6-2 sophomore post has shown she can dominate games – in a week’s span in December, she scored 28 points and pulled down 20 rebounds in a win over Panola, and followed it with a 27 and 16 night in a win over Paris to earn National Player of the Week honors.

Brown turned in a 16-point, 13-rebound performance in Tuesday’s win, and she got a lot of help from 6-1 freshman post Marcisa McMillan, who had 11 points and 11 rebounds.

A surprise among TVCC’s near-tournament-high 50 rebounds against Walters State? Guard Michelle White, at 5-7, had seven of those boards.

Lovato will need a big game in the paint from her team, on both ends of the court, to shock the JUCO world Thursday.

 

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