#1 Women’s Basketball ready for Nationals
Thursday, March 14th, 2019 – 10:00 am – Story and Photos by Alex Staab
East Peoria, IL – Coming into the season, the ICC Women’s Basketball team (31-1) only had four returning players to go with a sophomore transfer. Add nine new players to the mix and you aren’t quite sure how the season is going to turn out, when the team is going to mesh, situations like that.
Well, hindsight 20-20, it’s mid-March and it’s been 132 days since the last ICC loss. The Cougars are going to the National Tournament in Harrison, Arkansas as the #1-ranked team, top-seeded team, and a (31-1) record. It seems flashy and all to have that kind of numbers attached to your team, but head coach Karrie Redeker says they don’t let that carry too much weight.
“The seed only determines what color uniforms you wear and what time you play. We’re going into the tournament as one of the 16 that can have a chance to win it, and that’s our thinking.”
Perhaps one of the more credible parts of ICC’s resume is their strength of schedule. Even within their own Region, Region 24, it sees a very tough opponent in the #5-ranked Lincoln Land Loggers. For those not familiar with that series, ICC swept it, 3-0, but the second game came down to a Summer Stoewer last-second shot and the Region Championship was a 20-point victory.
It is certainly worth keeping in mind that this is no easy (31-1). Coach Redeker thinks that’s a big testament as to where this team is at right now.
“Our schedule has been brutal. We’ve played Pima, we’ve played Cochise, we’ve played Kirkwood twice, we’ve played NIACC twice, we’ve played Moberly. We’ve really been tested, so I’ll give our kids credit, because they haven’t looked ahead. They’ve just gone one day at a time.”
So how does one deal with all of this attention that comes with being a team like the #1 Cougars are? Sophomore Marquitta Easley says it’s become easier as the streak has gotten longer.
“It has definitely become a lot easier. It’s like ‘oh, we’re just 31-1’, we still got another game to play.”
It was a team back in 2002-2003 that won 28 consecutive games that was the single season win streak record. The Cougars broke that with the aforementioned 71-70 thriller of a win over Lincoln Land on March 2nd. Now, ICC could also break the all-time win streak record, not just single season. That 02-03 team’s streak was extended into the 03-04 season, and ended at 33 games. Two more wins, and this year’s ICC team has tied it.
Let’s go back a season. ICC entered the tournament as the 8 seed, taking on Ancilla in the first round. They won that one before falling to top-seeded Monroe in round two, eventually beating host North Arkansas in the Fifth Place Game. Sophomore and All-American Abby Coates thinks it’s unique to see a team at a two-year college make the difficult happen in consecutive trips to the National Tournament.
“It’s been really cool to see all the hard work pay off. It was cool as a freshman, but I think as a freshman you don’t really know how big going to Nationals is. As a sophomore, it’s really cool to look back and see how far we’ve come.”
Coach Redeker believes that with as little returning as the Cougars had, to get back to the national stage gives a ton of props to those that did come back, while also touting the efforts of Easley as a transfer.
“I definitely want to give Kathy, Abby, Emma, Madison, credit for really driving our team, and then Marquitta was an awesome addition. She just really fit right in.”
Coates goes on to say how being the #1 team certainly puts a lot of eyes on you, but it’s nothing they can’t handle, all the while not overlooking their opponents throughout the tournament.
“We can’t take any team lightly, especially at Nationals. Everyone’s going to be good competition. We just have to go in and focus on what we’re going to do for that game to get the W and not look too far ahead.”
Sophomore Kathy Pinnock-Branford probably won’t be the first one to tell you that this group works well together. She adds that trips like the one next week to Arkansas and the regular season trip to Arizona allow that chemistry to blossom even further.
“Since the beginning of the season, I thought we had a really talented group. I feel like we have shown that so far. We like to compete and we don’t give up.”
For ICC fans that have been following the team for most if not all of this 2018-2019 season, and perhaps planning to make the trip to North Arkansas College as well, you’re going to see quite a few familiar faces, and it’s not just the Cougars.
Entering the 2019 National Tournament, counting ICC, five of the sixteen teams are on ICC’s schedule. Those being (by seed) #2 North Iowa Area, #6 Pima (AZ), #8 South Suburban (IL), and #11 Lake Michigan. However, that is just more of a fun stat than anything meaningful, as this is the ‘second season’.
At this point, the only thing for the Cougars left is waiting until it’s officially late Sunday morning when they start making the drive down to the tournament. Pinnock-Branford says that it’s exciting waiting for that travel day to come, but adds there’s a bit of a new feel to it.
“I’m just ready to go. I feel like it’s a bit different, because everyone knows we were there last year.”
The anticipation sure is exciting, but the sophomore from Costa Rica says that they’re just getting started.
“It’s hard to get there. We’ve won the region, but we still haven’t done anything yet.”
Meanwhile, Easley says that it’s not a process that should be sped up.
“No rush, we’re still working.”
The #1 ICC Cougars will kick off the 2019 National Tournament against #16 North Platte (8-22). That game is scheduled to tip off at 6:00 pm from North Arkansas College. Fans can either view a video webcast of the game via NJCAA TV ($), or you can listen to a free audio-only broadcast via (mixlr.com/AlexStaab).
ICC officially departs for Harrison from the CougarPlex on Sunday morning, just before 11 o’clock, and kicks the festivities off with the Tournament Banquet on Monday night at the Durand Center in Harrison.