Cards, Lady Cards Both Play At National Tournament Today

By Benny Rogers/TVCC Sports Information

A busy day ahead here in The Sunflower State.

Both the Lady Cards and Cardinals are scheduled to be in action later today. At stake are the right to advance to the national quarterfinals — the Elite 8.

While the Lady Cards, who drew the No. 3 seed, will finally play their tournament opener today at 5 p.m. against No. 19 seed Wallace State, the Cardinals face the difficult task of taking on No. 6 Hutchinson on the Blue Dragons’ homecourt in front of a crowd that will probably be near capacity (7,600) at 8 p.m.

By the time the Lady Cards (29-3) take to the Bicentennial Floor for the 74th national tournament game, 14 — yes, 14 — teams will already have been eliminated from the single-elimination tournament.

Wallace State (28-5) earned the right to face the three-time defending national champion Lady Cards in a convincing way, rolling to an 87-59 win against 14th-seeded Eastern Arizona.

With a win over Wallace State, the Lady Cards would advance to face the No. 6 Iowa Western vs. No. 11 Salt Lake winner at 7 p.m. Thursday.

Today’s game will be the Lady Cards’ first in 11 days since defeating Tyler, 65-55, in the Region XIV Tournament title game on March 7.

The Lady Cards carry a 57-16 national tournament record into the game. They have won 12 straight national tournament games and 15 of their last 16.

Meanwhile in Hutchinson, the Cardinals (28-4) were the top stories of the day Tuesday with their 78-70 come-from-behind win against Monroe College. The improved the college’s national tournament record to 11-5.

The Cardinals found themselves in an early 20-6 hole and were down 31-14 around the nine-minute mark. They trailed 45-31 at halftime and continued to chip away until finally taking the lead in the final six minutes.

Sophomores Sheldon Hagigal and Dedrick Basile led the Cardinals with 26 and 20 points, respectively. The dynamic duo combined for 10 three-pointers, hitting five each. They both also had six assists each.

Freshman Melvin Swift stole the show late in the game, finishing with 11 points, including a long-range three-pointer and monster slam on back-to-back possessions that gave the Cardinals the burst of energy needed to finish the comeback.

With a win over Hutchinson (27-6), which had a bye in the first round, the Cardinals would advance to face the No. 3 Southern Idaho vs. No. 19 Georgia Highlands winner at 8 p.m. Thursday.

All Lady Cardinal tournament games will be available for viewing online at www.njcaatv.ihigh.com. In fact, all tournament games will be webcast. Also, for audio only, you can hear the games at www.KSAL.com.

You can follow updates on the Lady Cards and Cardinals on Twitter at @TVCCsports.

It was 46 and cloudy in Salina this morning. The high today is expected to be 50 and there is a 60 percent chance of rain.

To our family and friends back home, wear red and make it a great day!