by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
As expected, Kansas City Kansas Community College and Johnson County Community College will collide Saturday for the right to advance to the NJCAA DII Region VI championship game.
The 4 p.m. clash at KCKCC will be the third meeting of the two teams, the Lady Blue Devils winning 69-64 at JCCC and 64-60 in a pair of fiercely fought games that went right down to the wire. It was KCKCC’s first two-game sweep since 1999. Both teams are 26-4 and nationally ranked – KCKCC No. 7 and JCCC No. 10.
“We must play really well,” KCKCC coach Joe McKinstry said. “Ben Conrad (JCCC coach) is one of the best in preparing teams to take away the things that teams do well. We’ve played hard and competed but we’ve not necessarily played well. It’s going to be tough. We’re going to need our best game yet.”
JCCC defeated Fort Scott 75-50 in the first round of the playoffs Wednesday while Labette was defeating Hesston 104-54. Labette (21-10) will play at Highland (23-4) Saturday in the other semifinal.
The championship game will be played Tuesday at 5 p.m. in Hartman Arena in Park City, Kansas, with the winner advancing to the national tournament to be played in Harrison, Arkansas, March 19-22.
JCCC leads the all-time series with KCKC 65-23 but only 2-1 in postseason play. The Cavaliers won 71-51 in 2015 and 81-38 in 2017 but the Blue Devils prevailed 63-56 in the 2016 Region VI championship game. The win ended the Cavaliers perfect 31-0 season and catapulted the Blue Devils to the national championship. The national tournament was played on JCCC’s home floor and no team came closer than 14 points of the Blue Devils, who won four games by an average of 19 points.
This year four of the Top 10 teams in the NJCAA DII women’s rankings are in the Jayhawk: Highland No. 6, KCKCC No. 7, Labette No. 9 and JCCC No. 10. In the last five national tournaments, the Jayhawk has two national champions (KCKCC 2016, JCCC 2015), two seconds (JCCC 2017, Highland 2014) and one third (Highland 2018).