All-Americans lead ICC to NJCAA Division II second place finish
Cole Louderman, Harbinger
April 28, 2016
All-Americans Destiny Ramsey and Jemia Carpenter led Illinois Central College to a second place finish at the NJCAA Division II national tournament held on the campus of Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, Kansas. ICC finished the 2015-2016 season at 32-5.
The only other time Illinois Central has had two players earn first team All-American honors was back in 1999, when Marlena Williams and Beth Zeone led Hall-of-Fame coach Lorene Ramsey’s team to a national championship.
Ramsey and Carpenter’s sophomore season record of 32-5 was an improvement from the previous season’s record of 29-4.
The duo credits an early season trip to Florida as the sign that they needed to improve to be a top contender. ICC played the No. 1 ranked team in NJCAA D1, Chipola College, and the No. 5 Gulf Coast State College, and ended up losing both games.
“Playing against those two teams in Florida was the difference maker this season,” Ramsey said. “It was a completely different game of basketball, and playing those teams showed us what we needed to do to become as good as they were.”
The Normal graduate fell in love with Illinois Central College on her first visit during her senior year in high school.
“The facilities, the gym, and the campus was everything I was looking for,” she said. “I committed right then and there on my visit.”
Ramsey also said that the gym in the CougarPlex was the best that she has ever played in and wouldn’t trade the past two years at ICC for anything.
The 6-foot forward will continue her basketball career at NCAA Div II University of Illinois-Springfield.
Fellow All-American Jemia Carpenter had much success at the high school level earning first team all-conference and second team all-state in her senior season for Peoria High. Carpenter said this year’s team was the best team she was a part of.
“This year’s team was special because we had the talent to beat every team in the country,” Carpenter said, “With coach [Karrie] Redeker’s basketball IQ, anything was possible.”
Carpenter has yet to announce where she will continue her collegiate career but hopes to someday play professional basketball overseas.
After the trip to Florida, the team would go on a 16-game winning streak, the highest in Redeker’s college coaching career. The streak came to an end against fellow Region XXIV opponent Parkland College on Feb. 11. The two-point loss would be the last loss until the loss to Kansas City Kansas in the national championship game.
In other Cougar news, sophomore Hayley Reneau (Washington) will be attending Eureka College next fall to play basketball and work towards her degree. Also, sophomore Clarisa Martinez (Plano) will be playing basketball and working towards her degree at NCAA Div. II Wisconsin-Parkside.
Cover photo by Christian Harr. Along with her other accolades, Carpenter was named a WCBA first-team All-American.