#4 Women’s Basketball wins Top 5 battle with #3 NIACC
10:30 PM – December 29th, 2018
East Peoria, Ill. – It wasn’t the championship, only a semifinal, but it created a championship-type buildup with two of the top five NJCAA Division II teams meeting at Illinois Central College’s Ramsey Gym on Saturday afternoon. The host and fourth-ranked ICC Cougars (13-1) would meet up with the third-ranked North Iowa Area Trojans (9-3).
NIACC Head Coach Todd Ciochetto had numerous good things to say about when these two meet.
“We’ve never beaten Illinois Central here. They’ve never beaten us at our place. I texted Karrie (Redeker) probably a month and a half ago when the polls came out again and we were three and four. I told her I think we’re one and two in the country talent-wise, and I still think that.”
The last time these two programs met was in Mason City, Iowa. Both teams were (0-0). That was November 2nd. Saturday was December 29th. Despite well over a month having passed between the first meeting and this one, it was still anticipated that it would be a quality game.
It started off that way. Although the score remained close, ICC seemed to have a slight edge in momentum. Marquitta Easley ran the show early on, scoring almost half of her 17 points in the opening quarter of play.
A factor being the three-point barrage that the Trojans can get into at times, it would come down to how ICC would respond to that, provided it did come up. That was not the biggest positive for NIACC in the first quarter. Rather, it was the free throw line. The Trojans hit eight out of 10 attempts. Meanwhile, the Cougars only attempted four.
Despite the differential at the charity stripe, the Cougars still held a slim 23-19 lead after one.
Now, the Trojans’ scoring tapered off in the second quarter. That normally would bode well for ICC. However, the Cougars also saw a drop-off in scoring. NIACC would hit four treys in the quarter, equating out to 12 of their 18 points in the quarter.
A key situation was down to the last couple of seconds. ICC lead the Trojans, 37-34, and it was NIACC ball. With not much time left, the Trojans’ Kelcie Hale fired up a three and it went in. That proved to be the opposite of how the Cougars would’ve liked to finish the half. That being said, it was tied at half, 37-37.
Coach Ciochetto was pleased with how his NIACC squad wrapped up the first half.
“Kelcie (Hale), our little point guard, she’s been playing great basketball. Probably her best basketball. She’s become a money player. She’s our energy leader and she’s been shooting the ball well. Didn’t surprise me that she hit it.”
ICC’s Abby Coates said that although it certainly wasn’t a good moment of the game, they had to move on.
“I don’t think it did much to us. We knew that we needed to come out even harder in the second half considering we just lost our lead. It was a good learning opportunity.”
After a slow start to second half action for ICC, they would eventually kick it into high gear. NIACC did not get going. Referring to the three-point barrage, that’s all they would make in the third quarter outside of a couple of free throws. Head Coach Karrie Redeker will tell you that what was said at halftime didn’t work. Well, it didn’t work right away at least.
“Whatever we said wasn’t too great, because we came out of the locker room and they went on their run.”
However, the sixth-year head coach was able to point out some positives from the first half.
“We were happy with our defense. They only had four offensive rebounds at halftime.”
Easley said there was a lot of frustration at the half.
“I was like ‘we’re still in it’, we’re still in it. It’s a long way to go, so we just keep our composure. I knew we had the game.”
A balanced scoring quarter was a major benefit of how things flowed for the Cougars in the third. Eight players scored. That takes on additional significance considering that by game’s end, ICC would use nine players.
Abby Coates solidified another high-scoring game, having reached 15 points before the fourth quarter. The Metamora native has been doing well in terms of a minutes to points ratio in recent games, scoring 19 points in 20 minutes against Sauk Valley, and 20 points in 23 minutes against NIACC. Do the math, and that’s 39 points in 43 minutes, or 0.9 points per minute played. Coach Redeker was pleased with her efforts.
“She really did a great job defensively. Locked in there, finished inside, got to the free throw line.”
Another aspect of the ICC game that Redeker appreciated was the play of her bench.
“I thought our bench did great. Emma (Henderson), Moriah (Ward), Josi (Becker), and Jordyn (Hare) did a great job. They maybe didn’t always score, but they at least gave the other kids a time to rest.”
After the Cougars sped up the scoring to an impressive 26-point third quarter, it would put them up 14 headed into the fourth. That’s when things got really interesting, as if they weren’t already. Coach Ciochetto says that there were multiple factors that led to ICC’s high-scoring frame.
“I think the worst thing that happened was we made our first two threes in that third quarter, and then we started taking some shots that we shouldn’t.”
ICC made six field goals in the fourth quarter. The aforementioned threes from the Trojans were the most alive they had been to that point of the game, making five of their 13 in the final ten minutes. Coach Redeker believes that how they went at a particular individual allowed them to make it through what threes did fall.
“I just thought our kids did a good job. We were locked in. We stayed out on the (Mandy) Willems kid, and she only had nine (points), when she’s averaging 25. Just really tried to run them off that three-point line a little bit.”
Coates said that they just needed to not go off course.
“We stuck to coach’s game play and played our game. We took our time and got the shots that were best for us. Transition buckets and just scoring in the paint helped us a lot this game.”
Coach Ciochetto was conservative with his timeouts early, and it paid off. He was able to use three of his five timeouts in the fourth, with the two latter timeouts coming within ten seconds of each other (37.4 to go and 31.3 to go). When it comes to a situation like Saturday’s, where little time goes off of the play clock in a larger amount of time, Coach Redeker says that for the most part, there’s not much she needs to do.
“I trust our kids. We obviously try to put them in a variety of situations in practice. We’ve got great players.”
Easley said any lead they could get was important.
“It was very important because when we were at their place, it was the same thing here. It was just a different result.”
Coates added that there wasn’t really any point where a particular lead was enough to say they had control of the game.
“I don’t think we ever felt like we were 100% in the clear. Some plays late in the third quarter definitely helped turn the momentum back around for us.”
In a game such as this one, you may anticipate a multitude of free throws. Well, you’re right. The Trojans only went 3-4, all of which came from Tahya Campbell. For the Cougars, intentionally fouling became a factor in the closing minutes, just in their favor. The fouls were aplenty late, and ICC took advantage. The Cougars went 9-12 from the stripe en route to a total of 16-24 for the game.
Despite not making a three in the fourth quarter against NIACC’s five, the Cougars were able to hold on for an 84-77 victory to advance to the tournament championship game. The win marked the 1,300th in program history. ICC will face #11 Kirkwood for the title on Sunday afternoon.
Coach Redeker says that the team is mentally prepared for Kirkwood, but there’s multiple things that still need to be checked off the list.
“We’ve circled this date (Sautrday) on our calendar when we lost to NIACC back on November 2nd. I am absolutely certain that Kirkwood has this date (Sunday) circled on their calendar, knowing what happened when we were here in November. We certainly are going to be in for a battle.”
Coates says that they, somewhat at least, have to put the earlier 45-point thrashing of Kirkwood behind them and realize that this is a different team on both sides.
“We can’t come in with any preconceived notions about this team because they are going to come fired up to beat us.”
The ICC-Kirkwood game is a rematch of last year’s tournament title game, won by Kirkwood.
#4 ICC Scoring: Abby Coates (20), Marquitta Easley (17), Kathy Pinnock-Branford (10), Emma Henderson (10), Madison Faulkner (9), Summer Stoewer (8), Jordyn Hare (6), Josi Becker (2), Moriah Ward (2)
#3 NIACC Scoring: Mendez (23), Campbell (12), Hale (10), Longs (10), Willems (9), Buford (7), Loftus (6)
#4 ICC Team Stats: Field Goals (33-72 / 45.8%), Three-Pointers (2-12 / 16.7%), Free Throws (16-24 / 66.7%), 62 rebounds, 21 assists, 7 steals, 4 blocks, 22 turnovers, 24 fouls
#3 NIACC Team Stats: Field Goals (23-66 / 34.8%), Three-Pointers (13-36 / 36.1%), Free Throws (18-25 / 72%), 32 rebounds, 12 assists, 11 steals, 2 blocks, 17 turnovers, 20 fouls
#4 ICC Individual Leaders: Field Goals (Abby Coates / 8-15), Three-Pointers (Emma Henderson / 2-5), Free Throws (Kathy Pinnock-Branford / 6-10), Rebounds (Josi Becker / 9 – career high), Assists (Summer Stoewer – 7), Blocks (Madison Faulkner – 2), Steals, Josi Becker (2)
#3 NIACC Individual Leaders: Field Goals (Autam Mendez / 7-19), Three-Pointers (Autam Mendez / 4-8), Free Throws (Tayha Campbell / 7-10), Rebounds (Tayha Campbell / 7), Assists (Tayha Campbell / 5), Blocks (Two with 1 each), Steals (Two with 1 each)