TVCC comes up short in final, finishes second in nation

The Lone Star State was 1-1 in NJCAA national basketball championship games on Saturday night.

In Lubbock, No. 11 seed Tallahassee (Florida) Community College won its first title with a 69-51 win over No. 20 Trinity Valley Community College in the women’s national championship game at Lubbock Christian University’s Rip Griffin Center.

In Hutchinson, Kansas, No. 13 seed South Plains College, of Levell-and, Texas, defeated No. 10 College of Southern Idaho, 98-95, in the men’s tournament final at Hutchinson Sports Arena.

WOMEN

After starting its conference season at 4-5, the Tallahassee team rebounded and appeared in its first championship game, winning 25 of its last 26 games.

The Lady Eagles (29-6) outscored TVCC (32-6) 37-19 in the second half to pull away after the teams were tied at 32-32 at halftime.

Trinity Valley, which has won eight national titles, lost in the title game for the third consecutive season. The Lady Cardinals have appeared in seven of the last eight championship games.

Tallahassee held TVCC to 31.7 percent shooting and outrebounded the Athens school 48-38.

The Lady Eagles used a balanced scoring attack with Nakiah Black leading with 13 points. Others in double figures were Jamyra McChristine (12) and Japonica James (10).

Mercedes Brooks led the Lady Cardinals with 17 points with Michal Miller adding 10. Dajah Daniel had eight rebounds with Brooks and Tra’dayja Smith grabbing six

boards each.

Tallahassee had as much as a 20-point lead with TVCC’s largest lead at 2.

No. 1 Shelton State (Alabama) finished its season at 36-1 by capturing the third-place game in a 98-64 win over No. 2 Gulf Coast State (Florida).

Trinity Valley defeated Shelton State, 65-63 in overtime, on Friday in the semifinals.

Tallahassee defeated Gulf Coast State (28-4) in the other semifinal, 78-68.

MEN

With neither team ahead by more than seven points, the game was tight throughout.

Deshawn Corprew led South Plains (28-8) with 21 points, while Keith McGee and Isaiah Maurice added 20 points apiece. Maurice added 11 boards.

Christopher Orlina also had a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds.

Charles Jones Jr. led CSI (31-5) with 27 points. Khalid Thomas added 20 points.

South Plains shot 50 percent (29 of 58) from the field, while the Golden Eagles from Twin Falls, Idaho, shot 38 percent (32 of 84).

No. 8 seed Eastern Florida State captured third place with an 87-74 win over No. 3 Vincennes (Indiana).