Women’s Basketball preparing for National Tournament opener against Ancilla

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The Cougars practice Monday afternoon in North Arkansas College’s Pioneer Pavilion. ICC plays Ancilla at 8:00 pm Tuesday to open national tournament play. PHOTO / ALEX STAAB

HARRISON, AR –  All season, the ICC women’s basketball team has used the hashtag #OAM, On A Mission. Tuesday, that “mission” becomes reality for the Cougars. The eighth-seeded Cougars (26-7) take on the ninth-seeded Chargers from Ancilla College (25-5) to open National Tournament play at North Arkansas College.

The Chargers and Cougars met once back on October 7th, just part of a exhibition jamboree, so no official score was kept. However, these two teams do have similar opponents. Danville Area, a team that ICC beat by 48, the Chargers won by 39. Another even more frequent opponent are the Lake Michigan Redhawks. Ancilla split with the Redhawks, losing by 4 on the road, then winning by 5 at home. ICC beat Lake Michigan by 9 on the road, snapping the Redhawks’ 23-game home winning streak.

Both teams haven’t lost in awhile. In fact, the last loss for ICC and Ancilla is on Valentine’s Day, with the Chargers on an eight-game win streak since a loss to Mid-Michigan, and the Cougars are on a seven-game win streak since a loss to Parkland in Champaign.

Ancilla is making history along the way for their trip to Nationals. According to Head Coach Tom Robbins, not only have these girls never made it this far, neither has the program.

“Ancilla College has never been to the semifinals of the Regional Championship until a couple of years ago. It’s a great situation to be a part of. We’re one of sixteen teams still playing, so that’s an awesome thing for us.”

Robbins is in his fourth season with the Chargers. He says that when he took the program over, they had only won six games in three years. He says it has to do with how the program’s been “built” as to how far the program has come since Robbins took over. The fourth-year head coach also added that “more and more players have wanted to come” to Ancilla as a result of the progression made by his program.

For the Cougars, the program has been here before. The program, but not these players. Head Coach Karrie Redeker believes that her coaching staff’s experience put together with the team’s inexperience at this level will work out in the end.

“This is a new experience for our players. Our staff has been here before. So we’re hoping to mix some of that. That thinking like a rookie that they (players) have, that excitement, that enthusiasm, to give them some veteran leadership from our coaching staff, hopefully that’ll be a good mix.”

On paper, the Chargers have the edge. They lead the Cougars in field goals attempted, threes made and attempted, free throws made and attempted, turnovers, and steals, and total points scored. The Chargers are paced scoring-wise by freshman LaRae Roscoe, who is averaging 16.4 points per game (493 total points). Sophomore Brynda Krueger is also averaging double figures, dropping 12.1 points per game (363 total points).

“Both of them were all-tournament team in the region. LaRae was tournament MVP. She’s (Roscoe) a point guard. She does a great job. Really attacks the basket well. Really good on-ball defender. Krueger is a small forward, 5-foot-10. She’s very good at driving as well. Very powerful around the basket with good athleticism and a nice touch, and she’s also our second-leading rebounder.”

The Cougars and Chargers both have a few players with 10 or just near 10 points per game, for the Cougars, those being Madison Faulkner (team-high 10.4 ppg) and Bailey Larsen (9.1 ppg), and freshman Abby Coates (291 pts / 8.8 ppg) is also approaching 300 points. On the Ancilla side, Roscoe and Krueger are the 300+ point scorers. Coach Redeker thinks this team is in the right spot.

“You want your kids to really play their A game. The problem I had in the region tournament were kids were playing so well, I could’ve played them more minutes. Our team this year is built on balance. Abby can have 16, Bailey can have 16, and Jas (Jasmine Levy) can have 16 any given night.”

Redeker went on to discuss the looseness of this group on a stage such as Nationals.

“We’ll definitely get a little more business-like tomorrow. They’re a fun group. Our chemistry has also gotten us this far, because they enjoy being around each other. They’re always taking pictures and Snapchats and singing. I think that’s helped us. They understand winning is fun. The more competitive we are, the more fun we have.”

Tuesday’s game features two quality rebounding players. For the Chargers, Roscoe, who on paper is practically a do-it-all type of player, leads Ancilla with 264 rebounds (8.8 per game). Coates is bringing in a team-high 224 rebounds (6.8 per game). Coates is also the game’s leading blocker, swatting 44 shots on the year to Ancilla sophomore Karson Williams’ 34 blocks.

The game will be broadcasted live on NJCAA TV. Tipoff from the Pioneer Pavilion on the campus of North Arkansas College is scheduled for 8:00 pm central.

 

 

Click HERE to view the NJCAA D2 Women’s Basketball Tournament Bracket.

Click HERE to view the audio broadcast of ICC – Ancilla (free)

Click HERE to view the video broadcast of ICC- Ancilla (NJCAA TV – paid)

Click HERE or HERE to get live updates on Twitter for ICC – Ancilla.

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