Lady Indians No. 22 seed in NJCAA National Tournament

Lady Indians No. 22 seed in NJCAA National Tournament
Adam Gore/LetsGoICC.com

FULTON, MS -- For the first time since 1975 the Itawamba Community College women's basketball team will participate in the National Junior College Athletic Associate (NJCAA) National Tournament after defeating Baton Rouge Community College on Saturday to earn the program's second NJCAA Region 23 championship.

The Lady Indians (19-9) will be the 22nd seed in the 24-team field and will face 11th seeded Northwest Florida State Lady Raiders (24-4) at noon on Tuesday, March 19 at the Salina Bicentennial Center in Salina, Kansas >>> click here for entire bracket. 

The No. 5 ranked Lady Raiders earned a spot in the tournament as an at-large big as a member of the Panhandle Conference after falling to rival No. 10 Chipola Community College in the Region 8 semifinals.

The winner between ICC and Northwest Florida State will advance to take on 6th seeded Walters State Community College (29-1), who is ranked sixth by the NJCAA, after dominating the Tennessee Community College Athletic Association and NJCAA Region 7 Tournament.

The Road to Salina

ICC's road to Salina started in the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges (MACJC) State Basketball Tournament at Pearl River Community College with a 50-41 win over Southwest Mississippi Community College, but the Lady Indians dreams of back-to-back state titles came to a heartbreaking end in a 61-60 semifinal loss to Copiah-Lincoln Community College.

The Lady Indians redeemed themselves throughout their three-game stretch to the NJCAA Region 23 Championship.

In the opening round of the tournament at Mississippi College, the Lady Indians redeemed themselves from a regular season sweep that ultimately cost the team back-to-back North Division championships with a 70-51 victory over Northwest Mississippi Community College behind 20 points from Ty-Nita Baker (Houston) along with 16 points and eight rebounds by Jasmine Hampton (Bruce) followed up with a near triple-double performance by Ayanna Lynn (Gentry) with 18 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.

The semifinal round saw a rematch from the MACJC State Tournament as the Lady Indians redeemed themselves once against with a 62-56 victory behind another 20-point effort by Baker with Hampton scoring 10 points in the win.

The Lady Indians reached the Region 23 championship for the second-straight season, but once again continued the theme of redemption by defeating Baton Rouge Community College in thrilling fashion with freshman point guard Leslie Robinson (Belmont) hitting a pair of free throws with 0.5 seconds left in the game to send ICC to the National Tournament with a 58-57 win.

Hampton, Lynn and Tia Coleman (Memphis, TN) each scored a team-high 11 points with Hampton recording a double-double by grabbing 11 rebounds along with Lynn also turning in a double-double performance by dishing out 11 assists. 

For more information on ICC basketball, follow the Lady Indians on Twitter (@LetsGoICC)