KC BASKETBALL READY FOR RXIV TOURNEY | Men start Tuesday, ladies Wed., brackets set
Both Kilgore College basketball teams know their seeds now for next week’s Region XIV Basketball Tournaments, both being played at Tyler Junior College’s Floyd Wagstaff Gymnasium.
The men’s tournament begins on Tuesday; the women’s tournament begins Wednesday. Championship games for both are on Saturday – the women’s title game is Saturday at 4 p.m., and the men’s will follow at 7.
General admission single-game tickets for adults are $8, for students or kids under 12, $5, and are purchased online here: Apache Ticketing – Tyler Junior College (apacheathletics.com). Tournament passes are a great deal and are $40 and can also be purchased at that link. According to the tournament site (NJCAA Region XIV Basketball Tournament 2024 – Region 14 Athletics), parking is best in the lots north of the Pat Hartley Field Complex located on the corner of Palmer Avenue and Fifth Street.
If you can’t go, but would like to watch, do so on the streaming broadcast on the TJC athletics channel on YouTube here: TJCApacheAthletics – YouTube.
Coach Robert Byrd’s Rangers are seeded fifth, and will take on 12th-seeded Bossier Parish at 3 p.m. Tuesday, the second game of the first round. Round one tips off at 1 p.m. Tuesday at Wagstaff with No. 8 Paris facing the host team, No. 9 TJC.
After KC-Bossier, there will be a brief break, and then No. 7 Navarro will face No. 10 Lamar State at 6 p.m., and Tuesday’s nightcap will have sixth-seeded Angelina College taking on No. 11 Coastal Bend.
Wednesday belongs to the ladies, where No. 1 seed Angelina starts things off facing eight seed Coastal Bend at 1 p.m. Home-team Tyler, seeded No. 5, plays No. 4 Blinn at 3 p.m.
The prime-time games have No. 2 Trinity Valley – the No. 1 seed for so many consecutive years, but No. 2 this year – facing Paris at 6 p.m., then Kilgore College’s Lady Rangers, coached by Stephanie Williams, seeded third, taking on No. 6 Panola in the final game Wednesday, around 8 p.m.
The men’s tournament takes Wednesday off and resumes Thursday at 1 p.m., with top-seeded Lee facing the Paris/Tyler winner, and fourth seed Blinn facing either KC or Bossier Parish at 3 p.m., or after the first game is finished.
Thursday night, second-seed Panola will take on either Navarro or Lamar State at 6, and No. 3 Trinity Valley will take on the Angelina/Coastal Bend winner at 8.
The women’s and men’s semifinals are both Friday – the women’s games are at 1 and 3, the men’s at 6 and 8. Championship Saturday, again, has the women’s title game at 4 p.m. and the men’s to follow at 7.
For the record, KC’s ladies lost at Tyler on Saturday, 78-68, but still wound up seeded third, anyway. Nyla Inmon led KC with 15 points, 20 rebounds, and an assist; BryKayla Hampton had 14 points, four rebounds and an assist; Tylissa Henderson had 11, five rebounds, two assists, a steal and a blocked shot; Nakiyah Allen also had 11 points, three rebounds, and two assists; Perina Lieme had seven points, four rebounds and a steal; Jordan Wright had six points and an assist; Jarahle Daniels had two points and a steal; and Erin Love had two points.
Kiana Bennett led TJC with 23 points.