SALINA, Kan. — After falling short last season, the Trinity Valley Community College Lady Cardinals made it their goal to not only return to the national basketball tournament, but to win it all this season.

An upset loss in the NJCAA women’s national championship game last year to North Idaho sparked the offseason workouts, but a tragedy in November inspired them even more to return to Salina.

After Oklahoma State women’s basketball coach Kurt Budke and his assistant coach Miranda Serna perished in a plane crash in November, the team wanted to make sure they were present in Budke’s hometown of Salina to honor his and Serna’s memory.

Budke coached TVCC to four national championships and played in six consecutive title games. Serna helped the Lady Cardinals to the 1996 national crown.

The court at Bicentennial Center, where the tournament is held, is scheduled to be renamed in his honor on Saturday. The ceremony is slated for 6:40 p.m. between the third-place and national championship game. The Budke family is expected to be in attendance.

“I’m not sure what it is going to be like,” said Michael Landers, who is co-coach of the Lady Cardinals with his wife Kenya. “… It was such a sad day the day we lost him.

“His imprint is all around us, every single day. Dedicating the court to him is well deserved and it will be a special moment for our program; and at the same time it will be a difficult moment for a lot of people involved. He was such a towering presence in this program and the basketball world.”

TVCC would like more than anything to be in the championship game following the dedication.

The Lady Cardinals (32-0) won the Region XIV Tournament championship with a hard-fought 75-67 win over Tyler Junior College on March 11.

TVCC, which averages 90.8 points per game and allows just 62.6, enters as the top seed. The Lady Cardinals will play No. 16 Malcolm X (Ill.) in a first round game at 4 p.m. today.

Two-time Region XIV Most Valuable Player Sha’Kayla Caples leads TVCC with an average of 20.2 points per game and 6.3 rebounds. She is a 5-11 guard from Vicksburg, Miss.

Keuna Flaux, a 5-11 sophomore forward from Fort Worth, is next at 16 ppg. The Oklahoma State transfer averages 7.4 rebounds.

Other expected starters are 5-6 freshman guard Starr Breedlove of Teaneck, N.J.; 5-8 freshman guard Brittney Gill of Pine Bluff, Ark.; and 6-0 sophomore center Alice Robinson of Bossier City, La.

Two players off the bench average in double figures — 5-7 sophomore guard Breanna Lewis of Greenville, Miss., and 5-11 sophomore guard Jenea Barrett of Toronto.

“I just know we are going to win it this year,” said Caples, who hasn’t decided where she will play next season.

Malcolm X (16-15) has five players averaging in double figures, led by 5-8 freshman guard Ariana Novak (14.9). Deangela Eaton, a 6-0 sophomore forward, averages 12.7.

This is the third appearance for the Hawks in the national tournament and they are looking for their first-ever win after going 0-2 last year and in 2003.

The winner of the game advances to the quarterfinals to face the winner of No. 8 Snow (Utah) and No. 9 Shelton (Ala.). Those two teams play at 8:30 p.m. tonight. The quarterfinals game is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday.

Perhaps TVCC’s toughest competition is from Hutchinson (Kan.), which is 33-0. The Blue Dragons are led by All-American Jackie Patterson, a 6-1 forward who averages 12 ppg and 7.9 rpg.

NOTES: Pilot Olin Branstetter, and his wife, Paula, also were killed in the plane crash with Budke and Serna. The four were on a recruiting trip and the plane crashed west of Little Rock, Ark. … Salina is hosting the tournament for the 15th consecutive season. The central Kansas city has the tournament through at least 2015. It’s in the 37th season for the NJCAA to conduct a women’s national championship. The tournament was previously in Tyler from 1989 through 1997. This is TVCC’s 17th trip to the national tournament. The Athens school has won five titles — 1994, 1996, 1997, 1999 and 2004. … This is the fourth time TVCC has qualified for the national tournament with an unbeaten record — 1998, 1999, 2004 and 2012. … Trinity Valley has finished runner-up three times — 1995, 1998 and 2011. The previous two times the Lady Cardinals finished second they won the national title the next season. … All TVCC games will be broadcast on KYYK 98.3-FM, Palestine.

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Women’s NJCAA National Basketball Championship

At Bicentennial Center, Salina, Kan.

Tuesday-Saturday

2012 Seedings (Compiled by NJCAA DI Women’s Basketball Committee)

#1 Seed: District L (Region 14): Trinity Valley Community College, Texas (32-0)

#2 Seed: District F (Region 6): Hutchinson Community College, Kan. (33-0)

#3 Seed: District A (Region 1): Central Arizona College (29-1)

#4 Seed: District H (Region 8): Pensacola State College, Fla. (26-4)

#5 Seed: District K (Region 11, 16): Jefferson College, Mo. (28-4)

#6 Seed: District E (Region 5): New Mexico Junior College (29-4)

#7 Seed: District I (Region 9): Otero Junior College, Colo. (31-1)

#8 Seed: District M (Region 18): Snow College, Utah (20-12)

#9 Seed: District N (Region 22): Shelton State Community College, Ala. (31-2)

#10 Seed: District G (Region 7): Walters State Community College, Tenn. (27-2)

#11 Seed: District B (Region 2): Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College (22-9)

#12 Seed: District J (Region 10, 17): Georgia Perimeter College (22-9)

#13 Seed: District C (Region 3, 12, 15, 20): Monroe Community College, N.Y. (25-4)

#14 Seed: District P (Region 24): Southwestern Illinois College (27-6)

#15 Seed: District O (Region 23): Meridian Community College, Miss. (22-10)

#16 Seed: District D (Region 4, 13): Malcolm X College, Ill. (16-15)

Tuesday’s Games

Game 1: No. 3 Central Arizona College vs. No. 14 Southwestern Illinois College, 10 a.m.

Game 2: No. 6 New Mexico Junior College vs. No. 11 Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College, noon

Game 3: No. 7 Otero (Colo.) Junior College vs. No. 10 Walters State (Tenn.) Community College, 2 p.m.

Game 4: No. 2 Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College vs. No. 15 Meridian (Miss.) Community College, 6:30 p.m.

Game 5: No. 1 Trinity Valley (Texas) Community College vs. No. 16 Malcolm X (Ill.) College, 4 p.m.

Game 6: No. 8 Snow (Utah) College vs. No. 9 Shelton (Ala.) Community College, 8:30 p.m.

Wednesday’s Games

Game 7: No. 5 Jefferson (Mo.) College vs. No. 12 Georgia Perimeter College, noon

Game 8: No. 4 Pensacola (Fla.) Junior College vs. No. 13 Monroe (N.Y) Community College, 2 p.m.

Game 9: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 4 p.m.

Game 10: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 6 p.m.

Game 11: Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4, 8 p.m.

Thursday’s Games

Game 12: Loser Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4, 10 a.m.

Game 13: Loser Game 5 vs. Loser Game 6, noon

Game 14: Loser Game 7 vs. Loser Game 8, 2 p.m.

Game 15: Loser Game 10 vs. Loser Game 11, 4 p.m.

Game 16: Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6, 6 p.m.

Game 17: Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8, 8 p.m.

Friday’s Games

Game 18: Winner Game 9 vs. Winner Game 12, noon

Game 19: Winner Game 13 vs. Winner Game 14, 2 p.m.

Game 20: Loser Game 16 vs. Loser Game 17, 4 p.m.

Game 21: Semifinals, Winner Game 10 vs. Winner Game 11, 6 p.m.

Game 22: Semifinals, Winner Game 16 vs. Winner Game 17, 8 p.m.

Saturday’s Games

Game 23: Seventh-Place, Winner Game 18 vs. Winner Game 19, 1 p.m.

Game 24: Fifth-Place, Winner Game 15 vs. Winner Game 20, 3 p.m.

Game 25: Third-Place, Loser Game 21 vs. Loser Game 22, 5 p.m.

Game 26: Championship, Winner Game 21 vs. Winner Game 22, 7 p.m.