Women’s Basketball prevails against Ancilla

HARRISON, AR – The banquet was Monday night, shoot-around was Tuesday afternoon, and all that was left for the ICC Cougars (27-7) was to tip off the NJCAA Division II Women’s Basketball Championship at Pioneer Pavilion on the campus of North Arkansas College. Their eighth seed pitted them against the Ancilla Chargers (25-6).

Back-and-forth seemed to be the theme in this one, as neither team could truly grab momentum at the start. Ancilla would have the edge in the first ten minutes, out-scoring the Cougars, 21-15.

From there, ICC played their best ball. In fact, a good stretch towards halftime by ICC freshman Abby Coates keyed the Cougars to a halftime lead. Coates got a three-point play, a block, and a steal in just about one minute, with the three-point play tying the game at 40. The Cougars would outscore Ancilla 3-2 the rest of the quarter and lead 43-42 at halftime, as an Aubrey Magro buzzer-beating three wrapped up the first half.

Ancilla would not back down. The Chargers would get back within five on multiple occasions. Chargers Head Coach Tom Robbins thinks that Ancilla “just ran out of time”. The third quarter was another 20-point quarter for ICC, propelling them to a 64-59 lead with just a quarter to go.

The fourth quarter saw the game get even closer than it already had been. With under a minute to go, Ancilla was within four, but as Robbins mentioned, there wasn’t enough time left in this one. In the end, the Cougars would win their first game at the national tournament by a score of 87-81. Bailey Larsen led four Cougars in double figures with 17 points. Kathy Pinnock-Branford also drew three charges.

ICC plays top-seeded Monroe on Thursday at 6:00 pm