By By Marty Stamper / EMG sports assistant
March 17, 2004
SALINA, Kan. If the East Central Community College Lady Warriors are to get their first win in the NJCAA Division I Women's National Basketball Championship since 1994 any time soon, they'll have to do it bright and early Thursday morning.
ECCC, a 76-64 first-round loser to Three Rivers (Mo.) Community College Tuesday afternoon, will face Lake Region State College of Devils Lake, N.D., Thursday at 10 a.m.
Lake Region lost 87-54 to defending national champion Gulf Coast (Fla.) Community College on Tuesday. Five-foot-11 freshman Olga Sevim from Turkey had 11 points for the Lady Royals. Jan Streifel, a 5-foot-9 sophomore, and Shonna Soeby, a 6-foot freshman, both had eight. Taryn Runck, a 5-foot-11 freshman, scored seven. Michelle Halvorson, a 5-foot-6 freshman; Jen Conely, a 5-foot-10 freshman, and Babette Noah Ndjandjo, a 6-foot-2 freshman from Cameroon; each had six.
Ballhandling could be one of those areas as Lake Region had 23 turnovers in its loss to Gulf Coast.
Snapping Region 23's anemic showing in the national tournament is something that weighs on Hodge's mind. Region 23 is 1-7 over the last four years. ECCC went 0-2 in 2001, Copiah-Lincoln was 0-2 in 2002, and Pearl River went 1-2 last year.