MT. CARMEL, ILL. – Wabash Valley is headed back to Lubbock, Texas – for real this time.
Friday night, the Lady Warriors defeated Rend Lake, 94-84, to win their fifth straight NJCAA Midwest District championship and earn an automatic berth in the national tournament in Lubbock.
Unlike last year, when the entire national tournament was cancelled because of the burgeoning COVID crisis, the 2021 affair has the green light for an Apr. 19 start.
For sophomore Jazmyn Turner, the lone returnee from last year, this trip has thus been two years in the making.
"Since our experience got messed up with COVID last year, I'm really excited to go this year," said Turner, the Player of the Year in both the Great Rivers Athletic Conference and Region 24.
"We've come a long way. We worked hard for this. We practiced for eight months before we even played a game. I just feel we got it done from the first time we set foot on the floor until now. We played together as a team."
Je'Naiya Davis, who transferred in from Alabama A & M for her sophomore season, said this will be a first for her as well.
"I've never been to a national or state (tournament), nothing like this, even in high school. This is my first time making it this far," said Davis, who scored 31 points to earn MVP honors for the tournament.
Though 12th-ranked Wabash Valley (20-3) jumped to a 40-20 lead by midway into the second quarter Rend Lake (14-6) counterpunched its way back into contention by halftime. The visitors finished the second quarter on an 18-6 run to slice the deficit to 46-38 at the break.
It happened again when WVC built a 16-point lead late in the third quarter, 69-53, on two Davis free throws. Rend Lake reeled off nine straight points to get back into it.
The Warrior game plan was to keep the damage to a minimum: "We knew they would have their runs but not to fold and come back with a run," outlined Turner.
A decisive fourth quarter run of 10 points by Wabash Valley finally put the game away. Cierra Christian and Mariah Jones both made 3-point plays via the and-1, while Je'Naiya Davis and Deja Davis made shots as well.
All this in a two-minute time span that mushroomed the lead to 87-72 with only four minutes left.
"I knew it was win or go home, and I didn't want to go home. So, I had to step up big for my team," Je'Naiya Davis said.
Kennadi Harris finished with 15 points, the third player in double figures for the champions.
The starting five scored all but six of Rend Lake's points. Niya Danfort led with 26 points, followed by 20 from Makayla Marshall.
The Lady Warriors will gather on Sunday at 4:30 p.m. to watch the release of the tournament brackets on the NJCAA Network.