East Peoria, Ill. – The #17 Illinois Central College women's basketball team closed out the regular season with an 82-52 win over John Wood on Saturday afternoon on Sophomore Day at Ramsey Gym. The Cougars dished out 23 assists and held John Wood to 32% field goal shooting as four players notched double figures: Cierra McNamee (15 points), Kyleigh Block (13 points), Peyton Dearing (13 points), T'yana Lovelace (10 points), and Paris Wilson (10 points). Following the game (per Region 24 rules) a coin flip was used to determine that the Cougars, who finished in a 3rd place tie in Region 24 play with Danville, will be the #4 seed in this week's upcoming Region 24 tournament so will host #5 Lincoln Land on Wednesday, March 8 in Ramsey Gym. Game time is yet to be determined.
ICC got off to a slow start, allowing the Blazers to take an 8-3 lead before Lovelace and Elena Redgate combined for scores and cut the deficit to 14-8. Halie Gilbert nailed a free throw jumper (assist Block) but John Wood held a 20-16 advantage after one.
Cierra McNamee, seeing her first action since sustaining an injury on February 11, finished on two nice post moves (assist Gilbert & Miya Webb) to draw ICC to within 22-21. The Cougars used a 9-0 run to close the half thanks to a Redgate putback, a Laisha Armendariz Lopez jumper, Paris Wilson layup, and Naomi Elliott steal and assist to Webb for a trey at the buzzer to put ICC ahead 36-26.
The Cougars slowly stretched their lead to 50-33 as they began to wear down JWCC as Block hit a jumper, McNamee had a steal and layup, and Lovelace scored inside (assist Dearing). Block hit a three-pointer on the last possession of the third quarter (assist Elliott) to go up 58-40 at the end of the third period. Block and Dearing each hit two treys in the fourth quarter while McNamee added three baskets and the Cougars subbed liberally to close the game.
Leaders
Cierra McNamee | 15 points, 10 rebounds
Peyton Dearing | 13 points, 3 assists
Kyleigh Block | 13 points, 4 assists
Paris Wilson | 10 points, 4 assists, & "I BEAT THE DEAN"
T'yana Lovelace | 10 points, 4 rebounds
Halie Gilbert | 9 rebounds
Next up:
Wednesday, March 8 - host Lincoln Land in Region 24 Quarter-Finals at 5:30 in Ramsey Gym
Livestream on ICC Athletics' YouTube
Audio only with Alex Staab: icc-womens-basketball.mixlr.com
Final Region 24 Standings
1 Lake Land (11-1)
2 Parkland (9-3)
3 Danville (7-5 - won coin toss)
4 Illinois Central (7-5)
5 Lincoln Land (5-7)
6 John Wood (3-9)
7 Spoon River (0-12)
Region 24 Tournament Pairings/Schedule
Wednesday, March 8 Quarter-finals - played at highest seed - game times TBD
#1 Lake Land - 1st round bye
#5 Lincoln Land at #4 Illinois Central in East Peoria
#7 Spoon River at #2 Parkland in Champaign
#6 John Wood at #3 Danville in Danville
Saturday, March 9 Semi-finals - played at Lake Land College, Mattoon, IL
2pm: Game 1: #1 Lake Land vs. Winner of Lincoln Land/Illinois Central
4pm: Game 2: Winner of Spoon River/Parkland vs. Winner of John Wood/Danville
Sunday, March 10 Championship - at Lake Land College, Mattoon, IL
2pm: Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 2
***Champion advances to NJCAA DII National Tourney in Port Huron, MI on March 21-25
