East Peoria, Ill.---The ICC women's basketball team opens Region 24 Tournament play tonight (March 2) as the #2 seed hosting #7 seed Lewis and Clark in Ramsey Gym.  The two teams met a week ago in East Peoria, with the Cougars prevailing 71-56.

The Cougars have a 21-9 overall record and are led by 6'0 forwards Cierra McNamee and Kristyn Mitchell.  McNamee averages 13.6 ppg on 54% field goal shooting and pulls down 7.6 rpg while Mitchell contributes 10.5 ppg and 6.2 rpg.  Combo guard Kayla Gordon adds 9.6 ppg, 4.3 rpg, and 3.0 apg and is flanked on the perimeter by Courtney Jones, the team's Swiss Army knife who fills the stat sheet with 6.4 ppg, and a team-leading 4.0 apg and 2.5 assist/turnover ratio. Peyton Dearing and Derria Edwards serve as defensive dynamos who each chip in with over 6 ppg respectively.  

ICC has gotten strong play from their bench in 6'2 Keijah Gray (who leads the team in field goal percentage at 59.6%---5th in NJCAA DII) and 5'10 forward T'yana Lovelace (6.5 ppg and 5.0 rpg).  Dayja Evans, Kyleigh Block, and Laisha Armendariz-Lopez provide strong outside shooting as they have combined for 71 treys for head coach Karrie Redeker's squad.  

Lewis and Clark has a 9-12 overall record and is led by three talented guards in Mykel Mathews (19.1 ppg and 52 made three-pointers), Kataya Grissom (15.4 ppg) and Mary Penland-Holmes (13.8 ppg).  They are coming into the contest fresh off of Saturday's 87-58 drubbing of Spoon River as Mathews had 24 points, Grissom had 22 points, and Penland-Holmes added 13 points.   

Game time:  Wednesday's game will begin at 5:30 pm with live-stream available on the ICC Athletics' YouTube Channel. 

If the Cougars win, they will advance to the Region 24 semi-finals on Saturday, March 5 at 4:00 pm and play the winner of #3 Lake Land vs. #6 Spoon River at John Wood CC in Quincy.  The championship game will be on Sunday, March 6 at 2:00 pm in Quincy.  

For a complete tourney bracket, click here.