Quincy, Ill. - Tough defense and a resilient mindset were the keys to the ICC women's basketball team (23-9) defeating defending National Champion Lake Land (22-10) in the Region 24 semi-finals on Saturday night in Quincy, 58-53. The Cougars held the Lakers to 33% field goal shooting and made just enough plays on both ends of the court down the stretch to get the victory and advance to Sunday's region championship vs. Lincoln Land. It will be the 8th consecutive year that the Cougars have played in the region/district tournament championship game since 2015.

"This was a battle the entire forty minutes," ICC head coach Karrie Redeker said. "It wasn't the prettiest, but we made just enough plays down the stretch to get the win. We're very proud of our kids for their resilience and poise and are happy to be playing on Sunday."

The game looked like it would be a high-scoring affair as ICC had three three-pointers (Peyton Dearing, Kristyn Mitchell, and Kayla Gordon) in the first five minutes to grab an 11-6 lead but that was short-lived as the Lakers got on track to pull to within 19-17 after one.

Gordon and Dayja Evans connected on treys and T'yana Lovelace scored inside to put ICC up 27-21 midway through the second but then the defense turned up for both teams during the last half of the quarter. The lineup of Laisha Armendariz-Lopez, Kyleigh Block, Evans, Lovelace, and Mitchell worked the Cougars' zone defense to near perfection to help preserve the lead at 29-24 heading into halftime.

Both teams continued their stingy defense in the third, with each team struggling to get quality looks. Gordon got loose for a finish in the paint, Dearing splashed in another three (assist Keijah Gray) while Derria Edwards and Mitchell added scores to keep ICC up 40-36 after three quarters.

Lake Land kept on the attack to pull to within 40-39, but a trey by Edwards and five points from Cierra McNamee kept the Lakers at bay.  After Gordon and Lovelace scores, the Cougars held a 52-46 lead with 3:16 remaining but LLC went on a run to draw to within 52-51 with :37 seconds left. The Cougars didn't have anything going offensively so called a timeout with :06 left on the shot clock, ran an inbounds play and Courtney Jones found McNamee for an inside score to put ICC up 54-51 with :35 seconds. Lake Land scored quickly on the other end to draw to within 54-53 and fouled Mitchell on the inbounds play, and she calmly hit two free throws to make it 56-53.  The Cougars held tough defensively and finished the game out with enough free throws to get the win advance to Sunday's championship.

The win also marked the 400th career NJCAA win for Coach Karrie Redeker. In her ninth year at ICC, Redeker had collected 158 wins at Parkland College before her now-242 wins at Illinois Central College. 

Lincoln Land edged Danville Area in the other Semifinal, 72-70.

The winner of Sunday's Loggers-Cougars matchup advances to the 2022 NJCAA Division II National Tournament in Port Huron, Michigan, taking place March 15th-19th. 

Statistical Leaders:
Scoring | Kayla Gordon (12), Kristyn Mitchell (12)
Field Goals Made | Gordon (5-14)
Three-Pointers Made | Gordon (2), Peyton Dearing (2)
Rebounds | Cierra McNamee (9)
Assists | Kayla Gordon (6)
Steals | Courtney Jones (2), Kyleigh Block (2)

Next Game Up:
2022 Region 24 Tournament Championship Game
#2 ICC COUGARS (23-9)
#1 Lincoln Land Loggers (28-4)
Sunday, March 6th, 2022
2:00 PM Tipoff
John Wood Live Video
ICC Live Video
ICC Live Audio (1:30pm pregame show)