East Peoria, Ill. - The ICC women's basketball team earned the #4 seed in next week's NJCAA Division II Women's Basketball Championship Tournament and will take on #13 seeded Muskegon (MI) on Wednesday, March 16 at 10:00 am CST at SC4 Fieldhouse in Port Huron, MI. Seeds were announced on Tuesday afternoon on a Selection Show on the NJCAA Network.
ICC, 24-9 overall, is riding an eight-game win streak after defeating Lincoln Land 76-69 in the Region 24 championship game on Sunday in Quincy. The Cougars began the season with just a 2-5 record but have played one of the toughest schedules in the nation with twelve games against Top 20 NJCAA DII ranked teams (going 7-5), while five other contests were against DI junior colleges (going 2-3). This is ICC's 31st National Tourney appearance overall and fifth in the last seven years.
The Jayhawks, 24-4, won the Great Lakes District A Championship with a 70-50 win over Grand Rapids. MCC is on a 13-game winning streak and will be making their second consecutive national tournament appearance and third in school history.
The tournament will start on Tuesday with six first round games being played before the Cougars/Jayhawks' tip-off on Wednesday morning. The ICC/Muskegon winner will play the winner of #5 Bryant & Stratton/#12 Edison State on Thursday, March 17 at 7pm CST with the loser going to the consolation bracket for a Thursday, March 17 game at 12 pm CST.
"It was a thrill to see our name come up on the screen as the #4 seed," head coach
Karrie Redeker said. "We thought we had a solid enough resume to get a strong seed but because there's so many great teams in the field, we just didn't know for sure."
"We affectionately refer to this week as 'Basketball Christmas' because there's so much excitement and anticipation associated with it all. Our team and staff are looking forward to preparing for a strong showing while we enjoy the ride," Redeker said.
The Cougars will bus to Port Huron on Sunday, have an official practice on Monday at SC4 Fieldhouse and then attend a welcome event where they will participate in a team-bonding activity assembling bikes for a local children's shelter before taking the court on Wednesday morning.
LIVE-STREAM
Access for viewing games is available through the NJCAA Digital Network through a variety of pay-per-view pricing options: a Day Pass for $10, Tournament Pass for $30, or All-Access Pass (all 2021-22 NJCAA Championship events) for $100.
Click Here to purchase.
AUDIO ACCESS
Alex Staab will provide free audio broadcasts of ICC's games on Mixlr at
this link. Wednesday's pregame show will start at 9:30am.
TICKETS
Online Ticket Prices • Daily Pass $10 + service fee • Weekly Pass $32 + service fee • Tickets can be purchased by
clicking here.
At the Door Ticket Prices • Daily Pass $15 *Seniors 60 and up are free, and children 8 and under are free*
TOURNEY BRACKET
A complete tourney bracket can be found
here (PDF).
PARTICIPATING 16 TEAMS & RECORD:
#1 | Kirkwood (IA) | (32-1)
#2 | Johnson County (KS) | (31-1)
#3 | CCBC Essex (MD) | (32-0)
#4 | ICC COUGARS | (24-9)
#5 | Bryant & Stratton (WI) | (25-3)
#6 | Mesa (AZ) | (22-7)
#7 | Morton College (IL) | (27-2)
#8 | North Central Missouri | (24-5)
#9 | Niagara County (NY) | (28-3)
#10 | Union County (NJ) | (25-4)
#11 | Wake Tech (NC) | (25-2)
#12 | Edison State (OH) | (29-0)
#13 | Muskegon (MI) | (24-4)
#14 | Oakland (MI) | (22-8)
#15 | Cape Fear (NC) | (18-5)
#16 | Dakota (ND) | (21-12)
