By By Marty Stamper / EMG sports assistant
March 19, 2004
SALINA, Kan. There must be something about players wearing black and gold uniforms with the No. 33 in the NJCAA Division I Women's National Basketball Tournament.
On Tuesday, it was Three Rivers (Mo.) sophomore guard Jessica Wilson who did against East Central as she scored 23 points to lead the Lady Raiders to a 76-64 win.
Three years ago, it was Cloud County (Kan.) sophomore guard Miklannet Tennal who scored 30 points to lead the Lady Thunderbirds to a one-point win over ECCC.
Both winning teams wore black and gold and both standout players wore the No. 33.
The Final Four
The last remaining unbeaten teams in the tournament following Thursday's games are the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith, Gulf Coast (Fla.), Central Arizona, and Trinity Valley (Texas).
In today's games, Arkansas-Fort Smith (31-3) takes on Gulf Coast (33-1) at 6 p.m. with Central Arizona (32-2) playing Trinity Valley (34-0) at 8 p.m.
Impressive win
In Tuesday night's late game, the top-seeded Trinity Valley Lady Cardinals mauled Gadsden (Ala.) State 90-58 to improve to 33-0. Daiane Packer led TVCC with 18 points with Yolanda Jones scoring 16 and Vanessa Clementino 15.
A big comeback
Western Nebraska outscored Vincennes (Ind.) 38-25 in the second half to take a 58-54 first-round win in Wednesday's action.
Tatiana Conceicao from Brazil had 10 points and 10 rebounds for Western Nebraska.
Highly overrated
Southeastern Illinois was seeded fifth coming into the tournament, but the Falcons were trounced 84-61 by 12th-seeded Central Arizona College in first-round action on Wednesday.
Rashidat Sadiq from Nigeria had 26 points and Shaquina Mosley had 24 to lead the Vaqueras to the win.
Southeastern Illinois went on to lose its next game, 73-46 to the College of Southern Idaho on Thursday.
No Hurricane warnings
The Louisburg (N.C.) Hurricanes were the first team eliminated from the 16-team tournament with an 84-68 loss to Weatherford (Texas) College on Wednesday.
Sandra Viksryte led Weatherford with 22 points. Laura Kizyte had 16 and Karolina Sokalska added 13.