East Peoria, Ill.----The #5 ICC women's basketball team controlled the boards and played strong team defense to snag a 73-68 win over Rend Lake in the semi-finals of the 40th annual Cougar Holiday Tournament in Ramsey Gym on Wednesday night.  Cierra McNamee (15 rebounds), T'yana Lovelace (11), and Kristyn Mitchell (8) helped ICC to a 50-35 rebounding edge while the defense limited RLC to 34% shooting, holding them 21 points below their season average  The victory avenged an earlier season loss to the Warriors and moves the Cougars into the championship game against #1 Kirkwood at 4 pm on Thursday.

The Cougars' focus was to slow down the Rend Lake offense and they did just that; RLC hit three's on their first two possessions but scored only five points the rest of the quarter as ICC took a 17-11 lead.  Peyton Dearing's pair of three-pointers (assists Kayla Gordon) sparked the outside attack while Lovelace, McNamee, and Mitchell battled in the paint to keep the offense on track.  ICC held a 30-21 lead with :36 seconds to play in the first half but turned the ball over on consecutive possessions, which RLC cashed in for points to trim ICC's lead to 30-25 at the break. 

McNamee hit a trey on the opening third quarter possession to spark a three-point barrage as Dearing, Derria Edwards, and Kyleigh Block each connected on long-range bombs, giving ICC their biggest lead of the night at 46-35.  Gordon added another trifecta however, the turnover bug hit the Cougars which allowed the Warriors to close their deficit to 53-48 heading into the final stanza.

Lovelace scored on a nice pass from Dearing on an out-of-bounds play to put ICC up 55-49, but RLC kept the pressure on.  With ICC up 59-55, Rend Lake scored an incredible seven points in just :21 seconds as they hit two free throws, a three-pointer, and a steal and layup to grab a 62-59 lead with just over 5:00 to play.  The Cougars responded as Gordon found McNamee for a transition layup and Edwards added two free throws to give ICC a brief 63-62 lead but RLC hit a layup to go back up 64-63.  Dearing took a huge charge on the defensive end followed by a Courtney Jones put-back for a score, giving the Cougars the lead at 65-64.  Jones snagged a steal on the next possession to hit Edwards for a layup to put ICC up 67-64 with 1:18 left.  The defense tightened and Jones and Gordon finished out the game with key free throws to give ICC the win.

Leaders:
Kayla Gordon 14 pts, 6 asts, 6 reb, 1 chg taken
Cierra McNamee 15 reb, 13 pts
T'yana Lovelace 12 pts, 11 reb
Peyton Dearing 9 pts, 5 reb, 2 chgs taken
Kristyn Mitchell 8 pts, 8 reb
Courtney Jones 7 pts, 5 asts

Next up:  The Cougars (7-6) will look to avenge another early season loss (a 64-60 setback on Nov. 13) as they face #1 Kirkwood in the championship game at 4pm in Ramsey Gym.

Thurs, Dec. 30 Tourney Schedule - all games will be live-streamed on ICC Athletics' YouTube Channel
10 am:  Palm Beach State vs. Lake Land (Lake Land is a last-minute replacement)  
12pm:   Black Hawk vs. McHenry County  (5th place)
  2pm:   #10 Bryant & Stratton vs. Rend Lake  (3rd place)
  4pm:   #1 Kirkwood vs. #5 Illinois Central  (Championship)

Wed, Dec. 29 Results:
Black Hawk 92, Palm Beach State 75
McHenry 88, Eureka College 64
Kirkwood 84, Bryant & Stratton 58
Illinois Central 73, Rend Lake 68