INA, Ill. (March 2, 2020) —The Rend Lake College women’s basketball wrapped up the regular season in February with a remarkable turnaround from the past year. But the postseason starts this week, and the Lady Warriors are hungry for more success.
RLC takes on John A. Logan at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in Waugh Gymnasium on the Rend Lake College Ina Campus in the first round of the National Junior College Athletic Association’s Division I Basketball District Championships for the Midwest District.
The first-round matchup against John A. Logan (10-17) poses a familiar foe for the Lady Warriors. RLC played, and beat, the Lady Vols twice during the regular season at scores of 82-79 and 85-73 in January and February, respectively. But RLC isn’t going to underestimate its opponent.
“It’s tough to beat a team three times in one season, especially a program like John A. (Logan). We have a group that is ready to bring the heat and get it done,” said head coach Dave Brown.
The Lady Warriors hope to carry the momentum over from a successful regular season that saw them finish 12-6 in conference play and 16-14 overall. The record shows a marked improvement over last year when RLC finished with a 4-23 record. Brown said this is one of the first winning seasons in the past 12 years for the Lady Warriors and helped garner respect for the program.
“We have had one main goal all season and that is to earn everyone’s respect,” Brown said. “Hanging a banner should be every team’s goal.”
Freshman guard Madison Buford leads the charge for the Lady Warriors into the postseason. Buford led the way in scoring for RLC during the regular season at 20.6 points per game, which also ranked her 11th in the nation for NJCAA Division I. Buford has committed to Mercer University next season following her successful freshman year at RLC. A strong supporting cast of freshmen Dais’Ja Trotter, Haleigh Keeling and Niya Danfort, along with the lone sophomore Megan Beery, round out a squad that averaged 78.6 points per game during the regular season.
“All of these girls have brought toughness to the team and that’s what we stand for,” Brown said.
With a win on Tuesday, the Lady Warriors would advance to the semifinal on Thursday, March 5 at Rend Lake College. RLC is the host site for the Midwest District tournament.