Lady Indians to face Wabash Valley in opening round of NJCAA Tourney

Lady Indians to face Wabash Valley in opening round of NJCAA Tourney
Adam Gore/LetsGoICC.com

FULTON, MS – The women's basketball team will face Wabash Valley College in the opening round of the NJCAA Division I national tournament in Salina, Kansas. The 20-seed Lady Indians (23-4) takes on 13-seed Lady Warriors (27-6) at 2:00 p.m. on Monday, March 16 at the Bicentennial Center.

ICC punched its ticket to its second trip to Kansas in the three years after defeating Jones County Junior College, 84-64, for the Region 23 Championship at Mississippi College. Wabash Valley knocked off Vincennes University, 63-60, in the finals of the Region 24 Tournament to earn its spot in the single-elimination tournament.

The Lady Warriors are led in scoring by 5'10 sophomore guard Tyshee Towner with 16.9 points per game while 6'3 sophomore forward Desiree Rhodes leads the team in rebounding 7.9 boards per outing.

Coach Zach Loll is in his third season as head coach of the Lady Warriors. Before taking over the program in 2010, he coached the Kaskaskia College Blue Angels to a fourth place finish in the 2009 NJCAA national tournament.

Wabash Valley College is located in Mount Carmel, Illinois and is member of the Great Rivers Athletic Conference. Like the Lady Indians, the Lady Warriors are making their third appearance in the tournament after making back-to-back trips in 2002 and 2003.

Despite being nearly 400 miles apart, the two teams have faced a common opponent this season.

In January, the Lady Warriors dropped an 88-67 road decision to Shelton State Community College while the Lady Indians split with the nationally-ranked Lady Buccaneers winning 84-66 in Fulton and falling 69-68 in Tuscaloosa.

The winner of Monday's game will face the 4-seed Thunderbirds of New Mexico Junior College (28-3) at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 17.

Last year's national runner-up Hutchinson Community College (KS) earned the top seed in the field of 24 with 2-seed Chipola College (FL), 3-seed and defending national champion Trinity Valley Community College (AZ), and 5-seed Walters State Community College (TN) joining New Mexico Junior College to round out the Top 5 seeds in this year's tournament.

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ICC advanced to the national tournament in 2013 as the No. 22 seed. It was the first tournament appearance for the women's program since 1975, when current Lady Indians' head coach Nanci Gray was a member of the squad as a player.

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