East Peoria, Ill. - The #2-seeded Illinois Central College women's basketball team suffered a disappointing 78-59 loss to #3 seeded Lake Land in the Region 24 semi-finals on Thursday night in Ramsey Gym.  The Lakers got things going early and often, hitting 53% of their shots (including nine treys) and outrebounding the Cougars 31-18.  

ICC, with an overall record of 25-7, will now have to play the waiting game and hope things can fall into place to get one of the four at-large bid to the NJCAA National Tournament for the privilege to hit the hardwood again this season. The selection show is Tuesday, March 11 at 12pm CST (free) on the NJCAA Network.

"Lake Land took control from the start and had an answer for every run we had," coach Karrie Redeker said.  "Just when we would get a little momentum, they would come up with a big basket or force us into a turnover."

ICC took a 2-0 lead in the opening minute on two Addi Swadinsky free throws but unfortunately that would be their only lead of the night as Lake Land went on an 11-0 run (courtesy of three Cougar turnovers) for an 11-2 lead.  Addy Engel scored on a layup, Cora DeSutter scored inside, and Kamryn Heider splashed in a trey (assist Savannah Orgeron) to pull the Cougars to within 14-9 but two more ICC turnovers allowed Lake Land to take an 18-9 first quarter lead.

Swadinsky opened the second period with a layup and free throws as ICC trailed just 18-14 but the Lakers answered with a 5-0 run for a 23-14 score.  A Heider trey (assist Engel) and assist to Larissa Taylor pulled ICC back to within 25-19, but two Cougar miscues allowed Lake Land to open up a 31-21 advantage with 3:18 to play.  Engel hit Lauren Maas for a backdoor layup and Madison Jobe nailed a trey from the right wing (assist Swadinsky) but LLC turned three Cougar turnovers into a 39-26 halftime advantage.

Engel had an offensive putback and a steal that led to a Lily Luczkowiak layup but the Lakers still held a 42-30 lead.  A Luczkowiak score, Engel old-fashioned three-point play (assists Swadinsky), and Engel layup in transition trimmed the Laker lead to 45-37 with 6:00 minutes to play in the third, but that was as close as ICC would get as the Lakers went on a 19-4 over the next several minutes to stay in control.  The Cougars kept fighting through the fourth quarter, but the deficit was too big to overcome.

Unofficial box score
Swadinsky (10 pts, 5 asts, 3 reb), White (1 reb), Engel (11 pts, 6 reb, 3 stl), Luczkowiak (9 pts), Taylor (4 pts, 2 reb), Maas (4 pts, 4 reb), Heider (6 pts), Orgeron (7pts), Jobe (6 pts), DeSutter (2 pts)

WHAT'S NEXT FOR THE COUGARS?
The waiting game...District & Region Tournaments will finish up this weekend across the nation with the champions earning automatic bids (16 in all) to the National Tournament in Joplin, MO on March 17-22. Four at-large bids will be awarded to teams with the strongest resumes.  The selection show will reveal the seeds and at-large bids on Tuesday, March 11 at 12pm CST on the NJCAA Network. 

Link for NJCAA Network:  https://www.njcaa.org/network/live