Marching Towards the Madness

EAST PEORIA — With the regular season in the bag, the 27-3 record and overall number three-ranked team in NJCAA Division 2, the Illinois Central College women’s basketball team is on fire and streaking towards the Region 24 tournament. The Cougars went unblemished the entire month of February by winning all eight games. The streak was capped off on Feb. 26 in their final regular season home game by defeating Robert Morris 81-55, on sophomore night. However, what was more impressive than the Cougars home play was their away game success, five of those eight victories during February came on the road. 

The first of those five road victories began with a three-game road trip beginning on Feb. 6, first stop Region rival Lincoln College. The Cougars suffocated Lincoln on the defensive side of the court forcing 39 turnovers and holding them to 29% shooting from the field. The Cougars defeated Lincoln by a score of 64-33.

Their next stop on the road trip was on Feb. 10 against Lewis & Clark Community College. The aggressive defense carried over by forcing Lewis & Clark to take poor shots, and holding them to 24% shooting from the field. The Cougars easily defeated Lewis & Clark 71-41.

Lastly on their road trip was Parkland College, a familiar place for Coach Karrie Redeker playing for the first time against her previous team. But Parkland was not going to go down without a fight.

“In the first half they came out with a lot of fire and we ended up having to match their intensity. But in the second half we got things going by getting out in transition more,” said Coach Redeker.

Sophomore guard Chanta Wright played a huge role in getting things together in the second half leading all scorers with 22 points.  Redeker’s girls made her proud by dishing out 26 assists and holding off Parkland 72-63.

The Cougars road-trip was supposed to end on Feb. 17 with a home game against Three Lakes Community College, who handed the Cougars their last defeat on Jan 20. 81-67. But Mother Nature would not allow the Cougars to seek their revenge against Three Lakes and the game was cancelled. So the road trip continued for the Cougars with a difficult road test against number eight ranked Kankakee Community College. The Cougars passed that test with flying colors, defeating Kankakee 76-56 and emphasizing that they truly are a force to be reckoned with.

“We’ve been battle-tested with every situation, every type of team and we want to continue to do what we do well, but we still can work on those weaknesses. We look at it as hopefully we have a couple more weeks in our season where we can continue to get better,” said Coach Redeker.

11 straight victories for the Cougars heading into the post-season has the team confident and prepared to face any opponent they could be matched against. The Region 24 Quarter-Finals will tip-off for the Cougars March 5 at the ICC CougarPlex.  The Cougars are currently 5-0 against Region 24 teams this season. If the Cougars can handle the pressure of March and win the Region 24 Tournament, they will advance to the NJCAA National Tournament beginning March 18.