TOURNAMENT TIME FOR KC | Rangers, Lady Rangers in RXIV Tourneys at Lee College in Baytown (brackets, tourney ticket prices, streaming info inside)
Neither Kilgore College Rangers basketball nor the KC Lady Rangers set records for wins this season.
Neither heads into the Region XIV Conference Men’s or Women’s Basketball Tournament this week at Lee College in Baytown as the No. 1 seed, or the favorite.
But both have an opportunity at conference tournament titles, and as such, a chance to make the NJCAA National Tournament later this month.
And that’s ton of motivation.
Both conference tournaments relocate this season from Tyler Junior College to Lee College, and games begin on Tuesday.
In fact, the games begin with coach Robert Byrd’s Rangers, who are in the very first game of the men’s tournament on Tuesday: a 1 p.m. tip-off against Paris Junior College.
The Lady Rangers, coached by Stephanie Williams, won’t begin their run until Wednesday in the women’s first round. They’ll face Panola College Wednesday at 3 p.m.
Of course, both tournaments are a single-elimination deal, as if there were any doubt: win and you advance to play another day. Lose – and the season is over.
For those planning to attend this week, some notes:
- The address for Lee College is 200 Lee Drive, Baytown, TX 77520.
- Tickets are $12 each for adults, $8 each for students (with your student ID) and those are good for a session, not a game. Sessions are two games. For instance, the 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. games each day are one “session.” The second session of each day are the 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. games. So one ticket would admit someone for both a 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. game, or the 6/8 block.
- Also available for purchase is the tournament pass for $40, which admits someone for the entire tournament.
- Tickets are only available at the door, but cash and cards are both excepted. There are no passes for the event other than the tournament pass mentioned above.
- Parking for the tournament should in the Sports Arena & Wellness Center parking lot off South Whiting Street.
- All tournament games will be broadcast live on the Texas Sports Broadcasting Network.
Here is a link to the KC-Paris men’s first-round game: Paris vs. Kilgore – TSBN Sports. And here’s a link to the KC-Panola ladies game: Panola vs. Kilgore – TSBN Sports.
Men’s tournament
With all of that out of the way, let’s talk basketball. Here’s the men’s tournament bracket.
As mentioned, KC and Paris meet Tuesday at 1 p.m. The Rangers are the No. 8 seed, Paris the ninth. That’s the very first game of the tournament. Game two is host-team Lee, seeded No. 5, against 12-seed Lamar State-Port Arthur.
Game three has 7-seed Tyler Junior College facing Bossier Parish, the 10 seed, at 6 p.m. Tuesday night, and the late game is an 8 p.m. tip-off, and has No. 6 seed Navarro against 11-seed Coastal Bend.
The women’s tournament is Wednesday (see below), and then the men resume on Thursday.
Thursday’s games are the men’s quarterfinals, and the first game will have the Kilgore College-Paris winner facing top seed Trinity Valley at 1 p.m.
Thursday’s 3 p.m. game will have fourth seed Blinn taking on the winner of Lee and Lamar-Port Arthur.
No. 2 seed Angelina will meet the Tyler-BP winner at 6 p.m. Thursday, and third seed Panola will face with Navarro or Coastal Bend.
The men’s semifinals are Friday night, at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m., and the championship game is at 7 p.m. Saturday night, following the women’s title game (at 4).
Kilgore College comes into the tournament with a 14-16 overall record, and n 8-14 record in conference play. The Rangers, though, are on a three-game losing streak.
This season, they were 9-7 at home, 5-9 in true road games and haven’t played a neutral-site game.
KC has averaged 66.4 points a game this season; that’s the 10th-best in the conference. Their shooting percentage is 40.7; the men’s team with the highest shooting percentage among conference teams is third-seed Blinn, whose Bucs shoot 49 percent.
The Rangers are 65 percent from the free throw line.
KC’s leading scorer has been freshman Kaiden Myers, of Allen. Myers is averaging right at 18 points per game, and has played in every game this season.
Sophomore Cahmai Crosby of Kansas City, Kan., is second in scoring; Crosby is averaging 15.3 points a game, in 28 appearances. KC’s tournament roster:
| PLAYER | HT/CLASS/POSITION | HOMETOWN | HIGH SCHOOL |
| 1 Jonathan Byrd | 5-10 fresh. point guard | Lancaster, PA | J.P. McCaskey |
| 2 Cahmai Crosby | 6-3 soph. point guard | Kansas City, Kan. | Park Hill South |
| 4 Kaiden Myers | 6-3 fresh. point guard | Allen, TX | Allen High |
| 5 Bryson Holmes | 6-6 fresh. wing | Klein Oak | Klein Oak High |
| 10 Chidi Umeh | 6-8 RS sophomore guard | Dallas, TX | Lake Highlands |
| 21 Joshua Olatayo | 6-7 fresh. forward | Abuja, Nigeria | Good Vision Academy |
| 22 Nekabari Mii | 6-4 fresh. forward | Houston, TX | Travis High |
| 23 Ty Hurndon | 6-4 fresh. forward | Crandall, TX | Crandall High |
| 24 Savod Godwin | 6-5 fresh. forward | Newark, N.J. | Arts High |
Paris Junior College, the Rangers’ first tournament opponent, has the exact same record as KC – they’re also 14-16 on the season and 8-14 in conference play.
The Dragons are also similar in that they haven’t played a neutral-site game all season, and went 6-9 in true road games.
Paris lost three of its last four regular season games, and split with KC. Paris lost at KC, 74-69, back on Jan. 8, then beat KC by four, 56-52, in the rematch in Paris on Jan. 29.
The Dragons averaged 66.9 points a game, very close to KC’s average per game, and shot 45 percent on the season per game average, and is a 73-percent free throw shooting team.
Anthony Breland and Amari Brown are the leading scorers: Breland averages right at 11 points a game, and Brown, 10.7.
For the record, since the winner gets a shot at knocking off top seed Trinity Valley, Trinity Valley went 28-2 on the season and 20-2 in conference play. The Cardinals come into the tournament on a seven-game winning streak, and are 5-0 in games played at neutral sites this year.
The Cardinals average 73.5 points, 38 rebounds and 15 assists per game, and are a 72-percent free throw shooting team.
In 30 games, their leading scorers are Tyler Smith, who averages 10.5 points a game, and Cameron Williams, who averages 10.3, but they have several players who average right around that: M.J. Wardlow (9.1), Garrett Nuckolls (9.7), and Zati Loubaki (9.4).
Women’s tournament
Here’s the women’s tournament bracket.
Coach Williams’ Lady Rangers aren’t the first game on Wednesday; they’re in the second.
The women’s first tournament game has top-seeded Trinity Valley (yes, TVCC has the top seed in both tournaments) facing No. 8 seed Coastal Bend at 1 p.m.
KC, the fourth seed, faces five-seed Panola College at 3 p.m.
Wednesday evening, second-seeded TJC meets seventh-seed Paris at 6 p.m., and No. 3 Blinn faces No. 6 Angelina at 8 p.m.
The women’s teams skip Thursday and won’t be in action again until the semifinals on Friday, for the semifinals.
On Friday, the Trinity Valley-Coastal Bend winner will face either KC or Panola at 1 p.m., and the TJC-Paris winner will meet either Blinn or Angelina in the other semifinal.
The two semifinal winners meet Saturday in the championship game at 4 p.m.
KC’s tournament roster:
| PLAYER | HT/CLASS/POSITION | HOMETOWN | HIGH SCHOOL |
| 0 Deyna Topia | 5-7 fresh. guard | New Zealand | Takapuna High |
| 1 Madison Bob | 5-11 fresh. guard | Missouri City, TX | Hightower High |
| 3 Jarahle Daniels | 5-7 soph. shooting guard | Fairfield, TX | Fairfield High |
| 4 Rhyeli Hendrick | 5-7 fresh. guard | Houston | Westside High |
| 5 Rhianna Battles | 5-5 fresh. point guard | Alexandria, LA. | Northwood High |
| 10 Camryn Beck | 5-11 fresh. forward | Houston, TX | Klein Cain High |
| 12 Tylissa Henderson | 6-0 soph. forward | Bossier City, LA | Parkway High |
| 13 Brooklyn King | 5-7 fresh, guard | Wylie, TX | Wylie High |
| 15 Taylor Younger | 5-11 fresh. forward | Manvel, TX | Manvel High |
| 20 Anyla Herbert | 6-0 fresh. forward | Grand Prairie, TX | South Grand Prairie High |
| 21 Kamari Forrest | 5-10 soph. guard | Saginaw, Mich. | Saginaw High |
| 23 Nakiyah Allen | 5-10 soph. forward | Boyce, LA | Northwood High |
| 25 Ja’Sani Green | 6-1 fresh, forward | Omaha, Neb. | Benson High |
Williams’ Lady Rangers finished up the season with a 20-9 overall record, and 9-5 in conference play. They had won three straight games in the final couple of weeks of the regular season before a double-overtime loss at home to TJC, 82-77, back on March 5 ended that streak.
The Lady Rangers average 78 points, 37 rebounds and right at 16 assists per game, and are averaging 45.3 percent shooting, 65 percent from the free throw line in 29 games played this season.
Their first-round opponent on Wednesday, Panola, averages 70.1 points, 39 rebounds and 14 assists per game, and is 19-10 overall this year, 8-6 in conference play. Panola did win its last game before this tournament, a 71-60 win at Angelina College in Lufkin.
Panola and KC split the season series, with Panola winning on its home court in Carthage, 69-64, on Jan. 18, and the Lady Rangers winning the rematch, an 82-70 score at Masters Gym on Feb. 22.
Looking ahead, with top seed Trinity Valley in the next bracket, TVCC went 24-4 on the season, 12-2 in conference and comes in on a five-game winning streak.
