CHAMPIONSHIP SATURDAY | Lady Rangers face TJC in title game today at 4

By SHAWN CHRISTOPHER

Special to ETBLITZ.COM

BAYTOWN – It’s championship time.

And the opponent is a bit familiar.

After knocking off No. 1 seed Trinity Valley on Friday afternoon, Kilgore College’s Lady Rangers will face Tyler Junior College today at 4 p.m. in Baytown, on the campus of Lee College, in the championship game of the Region XIV Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament.

At stake: the conference title, of course, and a trip to the NJCAA Women’s National Tournament.

Saturday’s championship game will be streamed live here: Kilgore vs. Tyler – TSBN Sports. There has been no cost to stream any of the games this week; the live stream today should be free, as well.

The men’s championship game to follow, at around 7 p.m. That game will have top-seeded Trinity Valley (yes, Trinity Valley had the No. 1 seed in both the men’s and women’s tournaments) against Panola College. For those interested, here’s a link to that streaming broadcast: Panola vs. Trinity Valley – TSBN Sports.

Before they could think about playing for the championship, KC had to go through Trinity Valley’s Lady Cardinals, the rulers of the roost, so to speak, in this conference for many years now, with numerous conference titles and NJCAA tournament appearances to show for it.

Kilgore College’s Lady Rangers saw both ends of the spectrum in their two regular season matchups against conference-leading Trinity Valley this season, a 54-52 win at home back on Jan. 15, and then a 20-point loss, 83-63, in the rematch in Athens on Feb. 12.

In the rubber match, so to speak, the third meeting of the year on Friday in the semifinals, KC rose to the occasion.

Jarahle Daniels scored 20 points and Madison Bob and Nakiyah Allen each had 15, as the Lady Rangers derailed the locomotive that is Trinity Valley women’s basketball, knocking them from the tournament,79-73, and advancing to the title game against TJC this afternoon.

KC trailed by two, 16-14, after a back-and-forth first quarter, bearing much resemblance to the game at Kilgore’s Masters Gym in January.

The Lady Rangers kept it that way, but outscored TVCC by 10 in the third quarter, in what would be the difference in the game.

KC was KILLING it from three-point range, as they hit half of their three’s (6-of-12), and Bob and Daniels combined to hit five of them. Daniels, who finished with the 20 points, six rebounds, four assists and six steals, also went 8-of-8 from the free throw line.

Bob hit three three-pointers, had four assists, two steals and a rebound, and only played 29 of the game’s 40 minutes.

Allen had seven rebounds, two steals and an assist to go with her 15 points. Anlya Herbert had 11 points and five rebounds; Ja’Sani Green hit for eight points and had three rebounds; and Brooklyn King scored four, grabbing three rebounds, as well as four steals, and contributed with two assists. Tylissa Henderson scored four for KC, and had eight rebounds.

Trinity Valley was led by Monica Marsh’s 17 points and Kynnedi Davis, who had 15.