SALINA, Kan. — Fatima Adams scored 19 points, while Audrisa Harrison and Jazzmin Parker added 16 each as Blinn College defeated Kaskaskia College 72-63 on Tuesday in the second round of the NJCAA women’s national basketball tournament.
Blinn led 48-30 at the half. Kaskaskia tried to come back, but Blinn had a 71-48 rebounding edge, with Harrison pulling down 18 boards and Adams 13. Blinn had 18 second-chance points to just 2 second-chance points for Kaskaskia.
Adrina Lavern led Kaskaskia with 20 points. Alex Stanford and Makeba Elliott added 11 points each.
Blinn’s opponent in Thursday’s 1 p.m. quarterfinal game will be defending national champion Trinity Valley, which beat Blinn on March 9 for the Region XIV championship. All three of Blinn’s losses this season were to TVCC.
Blinn made 25-of-65 two-point field goals and only 3-of-16 three-point attempts, and just 13-of-21 free throws.
Kankaskia made 17-of-45 from the field, 7-of -30 three-pointers and 8-of-15 free throws.
SALINA, Kan. – Defending national champion Trinity Valley defeated Weatherford College 75-70 in the NJCAA women’s tournament on Tuesday as Adut Bulgak pulled down 15 rebounds and blocked six shots.
Weatherford led at the half 39-37, but couldn’t hold off the Lady Cards, who won by 20 points in an earlier game on their home court in Athens, Texas.
Trinity Valley’s win sets up a game at 1 p.m. Thursday in the quarterfinals against Blinn College, which beat Darton State 79-72. All three of Blinn’s defeats this season have come to Trinity Valley, including the championship game of the Region XIV tournament a week and a half ago.
Shannon Smith was Trinity Valley’s leading scorer with 20 points. Krystle Henderson added 13 points, Bulgak and Roddricka Patton 10 points each, and Shlonte Allen 9 points.
Itiana Taylor led Weatherford with 20 points and 9 rebounds. Cleyder Blanco had 17 points and Bre Brooks 13 points. But the trio each had five turnovers.
For the game, Weatherford was charged with 26 turnovers to 19 for Trinity Valley. Savannah Carter had 6 of TVCC’s turnovers, and Smith had four.
Weatherford controlled the rebounds 49-41, with JohVonna Darrington getting 13 of the rebounds.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. – New Mexico Junior College blew an 11-point lead in the final two minutes of regulation at the NJCAA men’s tournament Tuesday and lost 88-87 in overtime to Northwest Florida.
New Mexico led 42-25 at the half, but Northwest Florida won the second half 50-33 to produce a 75-75 tie, then outbattled New Mexico 13-12 in the overtime.
Chris Jones led Northwest Florida with 27 points, and Elgin Cook added 23 points.
Desmond Lee led New Mexico with 23 points and 11 rebounds. Dekabriean Eldridge added 18 points and 8 rebounds.
New Mexico took its 17-point halftime length behind 7-of-15 three-pointers to just 2-of-11 for Northwest Florida. The second half, New Mexico made 4-of-10 three-pointers while Northwest Florida was knocking down 9-of-21.
New Mexico committed 19 turnovers – six of them by Lee — to 11 for NW Florida, whose Lamin Fulton was credited with five steals. Jones committed 6 of NW Florida’s turnovers.
New Mexico lost despite winning the rebound battle 58-48.
Under the new single-elimination format, New Mexico now heads home. Half of the 24 teams in the field have been eliminated after two days.
Lynn Nabi
She replaces Lynn Nabi, who was named as the school’s academic dean earlier this month. She is a native of Claremore, Okla.
By LARRY MORITZ
Salina Journal
Prior to Monday afternoon, this simple, two-word phrase — “Blinn wins!” — had never been uttered at the NJCAA Women’s Championship basketball tournament.
Blinn College out of Brenham, Texas, picked up the first national tourney victory in the program’s history when the Buccaneers downed Kaskaskia (Ill.) College 72-63 in the opening round at the Bicentennial Center.
It was a 19-0 run in the first half that put Blinn in front for good, and the nine-point final margin was as close as Kaskaskia ever got in the second half.
“This is only the second time Blinn has been at the national tournament and the first was in 1989,” Blinn coach Jeff Jenkins said. “This is also the first time we’ve won a game here.
“Our school record for wins had been 26, and now we’ve won 31.”
Blinn will take its 31-3 record into today’s second-round contest and face Darton State (Ga.) at 4:30 p.m. The winner of that game advances to Thursday’s quarterfinals. Kaskaskia ended its season at 24-9. Blinn’s only three losses have come to No. 1 seed Trinity Valley CC.
A 3-pointer from reserve Makeba Elliott put the Blue Angels up 15-14, which proved to be Kaskaskia’s only lead in the game. Blinn held its opponent scoreless over the next 13 possessions, while freshman Fatima Adams had 13 points in the Buccaneers’ run of 19 unanswered.
Up 33-15, Blinn maintained that 18-point advantage into halftime. Not only did the Buccaneers lead 48-30 at the break, they also owned a 38-15 rebounding advantage.
“For us to score 48 points at halftime, we had to make some shots,” Jenkins said. “Fatima Adams was just spectacular the first half.
“The second half we had trouble making those shots. We’ve played better, but so have they I’m sure.”
The teams had two points each in the first four minutes of the second half. After Kaskaskia was down by as many as 20, the Blue Aces cut that margin in half, trailing 52-42 with more than 12 minutes to play.
Blinn was able to stretch its lead back to 17 points on buckets from Jazzmin Parker, Audrisa Harrison and Moe Bedford. Only a 14-6 run to close the game enabled Kaskaskia to move the deficit below 10 for the first time in the second half.
Adams had all 19 of her points in the first half and finished with a double-double, grabbing 13 rebounds. Harrison had 16 points and 18 boards, while Parker also finished with 16 points. Adrina LaVern’s 20 points led the way for the Blue Angels.
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