Category: Sports

Trinity Valley press release

The Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) announced today the finalists for the 2014 WBCA Junior/Community College Player of the Year award. They are:

•  6’4”, Sophomore, Forward, Trinity Valley Community College
• Capree Garner, 5’7” Sophomore, Guard, Harford Community College
• Itiana Taylor, 6’0”, Sophomore, Forward, Weatherford College

The WBCA presents the player of the year award annually to the top player in each of the six WBCA membership divisions (NCAA Divisions II, III, NAIA, junior/community college and high school). The winner will be announced during the fourth annual WBCA Awards Show on Monday, April 7, in the Omni Nashville Hotel’s Broadway Ballroom. This event is part of the WBCA National Convention and is held in conjunction with the NCAA® Women’s Final Four® in Nashville.

“The WBCA congratulates these student-athletes on being named finalists for the 2014 WBCA Junior/Community College Player of the Year award,” said WBCA CEO Beth Bass. “These players have helped guide their teams to exceptional seasons and are seeing their hard work and dedication to the game pay off. I wish each of these women good luck at the WBCA Awards Show in Nashville.”

The 10-member Junior/Community College Coaches’ All-America Team was selected by a vote of the selection committee. The committee is composed of one representative from each of the nine geographical regions and a chairperson.

You can see the members of the 2014 WBCA Junior/Community College Coaches’ All-America Team here.

By Benny Rogers/TVCC Sports Information

After a day off, it’s back to the business at hand for the Lady Cardinals and Cardinals today.

The stakes are high as the NJCAA tournaments reach the quarterfinal round. At stake are berths in the Final Four.

The top-seeded Lady Cardinals (33-1) are scheduled to take on No. 9 seed Northwest Florida State at 1 p.m.Northwest Florida State is 26-6 after opening the tournament with wins against Denmark Tech and South Georgia Tech.

The TVCC-Northwest Florida State winner advances to the semifinals Friday at 6 p.m. to face the Central Arizona-Blinn winner. Central Arizona is the No. 5 seed and Blinn is the No. 13 seed.

On the other side of the bracket, No. 2 Chipola plays No. 10 Butler and No. 3 Hutchinson takes on No. 11 Tyler. Hutchinson is the lone unbeaten team left in the tournament.

The Cardinals (29-6) are scheduled to battle Harcum (31-3) at 2 p.m. The Cardinals are the No. 12 seed and Harcum is the No. 13 seed.

Both the Cardinals and Harcum were at-large entries into the tournament. Through Wednesday’s action, at-large teams were a combined 8-0 in the event.

The TVCC-Harcum winner moves into the semifinalsFriday at 6 p.m. against the Indian Hills-South Plains winner. Indian Hills is the No. 1 seed and South Plains the No. 9 seed.

On the other side of the bracket, No. 2 Vincennes plays No. 10 Columbia State and No. 3 Chipola takes on No. 11 Jones County.

The championship game is on tap Saturday at 7 p.m. after the 5 p.m. third-place game.

All Lady Cardinal and 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.

It’s 32 and clear in Salina this morning. The high is expected to reach a very nice 74 today.

With the stakes increasingly higher today, make sure to keep those positive thoughts and vibes in the directions of the Lady Cardinals and Cardinals. Wear RED!!!

By Benny Rogers/TVCC Sports Information

It’s on to the quarterfinals for the Cardinals and Lady Cardinals!

Both teams scored wins yesterday in the second rounds of the NJCAA tournaments. The 12th-seeded Cardinals rallied from a 16-point deficit in the first half to nab an 88-85 win against No. 5-seeded and 31-3 Northeastern. The top-seeded Lady Cardinals took care of 17th-seeded Western Nebraska in 77-48 fashion.

The Cardinals’ game was originally scheduled to tip off at 8:30 p.m. Instead, due to a pair of overtime games earlier in the day, it began at 10:10 p.m. and didn’t finish until 12:10 a.m.

Midway through the first half, the Cardinals trailed 27-11. By halftime they had pulled within five, 42-37.

Dedrick Basile led the Cardinals with 18 points. Malcolm Riley had 14, Octavius Ellis 14, Patrick Ingram 12, Josh Robinson 11 and Aldonis Foote 10.

The Cardinals were 9 of 14 from three-point range and 23 of 30 from the free throw line.

Next up for the Cardinals is 13th-seeded Harcum 2 p.m. Thursday in the quarterfinals. Harcum scored a 92-74 win against South Georgia Tech to improve to 31-3.

The Cardinals, who are now 10-4 in national tournament games, will carry a 29-6 record into Thursday’s game. The 29 wins is the third most in a season in school history, trailing only 33 in 1982 and 30 in 1995.

In their 70th national tournament game in 19 national tournament appearances, the Lady Cardinals hit midway through the first half and build a 40-20 lead en route to improving to 33-1 on the year. Western Nebraska closed with a 31-5 record.

Adut Bulgak topped the Lady Cardinal scoring with 15 points. She also had 12 rebounds. Also scoring in double figures were LeeLee Grant with 14, Jazmine Spears 12, Deborah Meeks 11 and Shlonte’ Allen 11.

The Lady Cardinals are now 54-16 in national tournament games and have won 26 straight games and nine straight national tournament games.

Next up for the Lady Cardinals is ninth-seeded Northwest Florida State (26-6) at 1 p.m. Thursday. Northwest Florida State advance with an 81-80 overtime win over eighth-seed South Georgia Tech.

TVCC is one of two NJCAA Division 1 schools with both its teams still alive in the tournaments. Chipola is the other.

On hand for the Lady Cardinals’ game were John and Mary Margaret Budke, the parents of Kurt Budke, the former Lady Cardinal, Louisiana Tech and Oklahoma State coach, who was killed in a plane crash in November of 2011. The Budkes are regulars at the tournament, which has been played in their hometown of Salina since 1998.

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

By Benny Rogers/TVCC Sports Information

Here we go!

The 2014 NJCAA Women’s and Men’s National Basketball Tournaments begins this morning at 10 a.m. The women’s tournament is being played at the Bicentennial Center here in Salina, Kan.. and the men’s tournament in at The Sports Arena in Hutchinson, which is about 50 miles southwest of Salina.

TVCC has double representation this year with both the Lady Cardinals, who have won the past two national titles and have played in the last three national title games, and Cardinals on hand.

The Lady Cardinals qualified for a seventh straight year by winning the Region XIV Tournament championship. The Cardinals, who received an at-large berth after finishing runner-up in the Region XIV Tournament, are playing in the national tournament for the first time since 1999. Continue reading “AT THE NJCAA TOURNAMENT: Monday morning”